Brushing Teeth

My friend Jolene was telling me the importance of brushing my puppy's teeth and that we should cultivate the habit since young. You see, her 9 year-old Shih Tzu has really bad teeth cos the owners have never brushed his teeth before. They thought dental chews and chew toys are enough to clean the doggy's teeth. But no. To their horror, the Shih Tzu's teeth started to decay one by one and they need to send him to the vet for tooth extractions. Each time the vet will have to administer GA for the dog in order to extract its teeth and as everyone knows GA is really bad for dogs and human. Cos there is a possibility that the dog or human will never gain consciousness....

To avoid bad breath, decaying teeth and gum problems for Chow Chow, we bought him a tube of canine toothpaste and a double-headed toothbrush for some serious dental cleaning action. It was hard initially, cos Chow Chow was turned off by the scent of the toothpaste. We should have gotten him a salmon-flavoured toothpaste instead!

We put a little bit of toothpaste on my finger and encouraged Chow Chow to lick it off but he hated the smell and wander further from me. That leaves us with no choice but to make him sit and hold on to his collar. Hubby grabbed him and tried to soothe him and praise him so that Chow Chow would be less worked up, while I quickly thrust the toothbrush into his mouth and work it in and out along his teeth. Chow Chow liked it better when I allowed him to bite the toothbrush. Maybe since he has a grip on it, he is less fearful and more receptive to the toothbrush. He probably think we are playing with him too. Whatever. I just brush as much as I can along his teeth, upper and lower sets, in and out.

The second time we tried, which was yesterday, he actually stood there and let me thrust the toothbrush in and out of him mouth as he tried to bite at it. There's no need for two people to brush his teeth now.