How to give a Ring of Confidence to a dog.

Hands up those who remember the Colgate toothpaste ad with the ring of confidence.
Well try and apply that to a dog………… a big dog………….. like Maya.
We had an appointment with the vet today for her annual jabs and he said she is doing well. We’re on top of the eczema issue and if anything, at 34.3 kgs she’s a little underweight. We are therefore upping her food a little but cutting down on biscuits and titbits from whatever we’re eating to rely on hide chews and the little discs she loves as treats.
I’ve found these two charts which I think are reasonable guides:

Note: I’ve added the kilo equivalent alongside the German Shepherd

The vet says we should be cleaning her teeth now and we had already started the ground work some time ago, going through the motions with a toothbrush, even investing in chicken flavour doggy toothpaste, but with everything that has been going on with our own health lately, I am afraid it got put on the back burner.

No longer, and today we started her new teeth cleaning regime.
The toothpaste tube had some pointers on introducing your pet to tooth cleaning which was common sense, practical and sensible.
Trying to prise the canine chops open was a different matter and when success was his, Hubby felt the pressure of our baby’s molars on his finger. He is now sporting a new dent in his forefinger, but no broken skinas it was just a  ‘We’re not going to hurt each other are we’ kind of thing.

Hubby ended up with a kitchenituspilferous solution in cutting the handle of one of my wooden spoons to act as a ‘bite down’. As it turned out, he didn’t need it. By putting a little toothpaste on that a few times, Maya decided she liked the taste and went back for more. Introduce the toothbrush (softest bristles I could get) and a similar procedure, she was soon licking both and quite happy.
Now came the hard bit, getting her to open wide enough to brush those lovely pearlies without getting dented again.
It all went surprisingly well after that, so now as well as the face and bits wash in the morning (yes, she presents herself by the sink in the bathroom to be done), she will have her teeth cleaned too. We may change this to the evening eventually, but one can’t hurry these things. We don’t want to frighten our baby or for her to associate teeth cleaning as a fight rather than a tasty game.

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