Questions about Brushing Your Dogs Teeth

I'm not too good about brushing my dog's teeth, because I have so many things I have to do during the day. I'm starting to brush their teeth everyday again. I am getting back into the habit. But my dogs have brown plague all over their teeth. That is hard and it won't come off.  Then they also have gingivitis. Whenever I brush their teeth, they bleed pretty bad. When I looked at their teeth, they looked terrible. I feel so bad! This is why it so important to brush your dog's teeth everyday! Make sure you do it! You will regret it!

I brush my dogs teeth everyday. I do it first thing in the morning. I have done it since we got her at 7 weeks old. She sits and lets me do it without any problems. I use a child's toothbrush. I tried one of the battery operated ones but I did not think it was doing a very good job. I use the poultry enzymatic toothpaste from my Vets. She is now almost 2 and had beautiful white healthy teeth.

I forgot to mention in my post when I started to brush her teeth I used the finger tip brush in the beginning from my Vet to start. I handled her mouth and face allot during play to densensitize her mouth area.

i NEVER brush my dogs teeth and they have the whitest teeth i have ever seen. but then again i feed them a raw diet and give them bully sticks that keep their teeth clean. a dog having a small mouth shouldnt mean it has problems chewing, it is a dogs natural behavior to use its back teeth for grinding, just have to get something hard that the dog can chew on like a bully stick that comes in small sizes. works fantastic for my little dogs. but also some breeds need to have their teeth brushed often cuz they are prone to dental problems before they are even 2 years of age, like for instance my neighbors jack russell is super skinny because its teeth are so decayed and he is not even 2 yet. it is so hard for the dog to eat. so yes brushing will help but you dont really need to brush they way we do. as long as you have an enzymatic toothpaste all you need to do is get it onto the teeth or in the dogs mouth and it will start working. at my work we use a peanut butter or a poultry toothpaste and the dogs seem to love the flavors!

Like I have said in a previous posts I brush my dogs teeth everyday. My vet suggested it. She even gave us our first tooth brush and tooth paste. She was 7 weeks old when we starting brushing her teeth. Since we have a dog with long hair that can mat she gets brushed everyday so part of her grooming is brushing her teeth. I takes about 30 seconds. She loves the tooth paste. What really got me going was my neighbor had a dog with really poor oral health and it cost them over $600 to have their dog's teeth cleaned by the vet. There is no history in her blood line of having dental problems but for 30 seconds and she does not fight me I do it just as a preventative. It also helped when she was a puppy with the whole oral stage they go through. My dog is not a big chewer but I have give her bully sticks and antlers and she likes them both, but she will only chew for so long then will leave them for another time.

Apparently some small dogs do have a bigger problem with tartar than other dogs. I just want to make sure I am doing what is best for my dog. She is not big on chewing stuff other than her food. I continue to give her lots of things to chew. I have and continue to give her bullies but sometimes she is not interested in chewing them. She does like and gets raw food. I am interested in people sharing what kind of tooth paste they use or what kind of dental things they use like water additives. I was at a friends house last night and they had a nylabone which Khia seemed to like what do you think about mylabone as a possible chew item?

nylabones are ok as long as they are not the rubber ones. my dog buster had gotten one as a gift and he started tearing chunks out of it and i was worried that he would swallow the pieces. you can also give her frozen carrots to chew on. they are fantastic

The nylabone I got is for strong chewers and it is very hard. Khia loves it. I never thought about frozen carrots. I will give it a try. I know she does very well with carrots and she really likes them. Thanks!