Our dog toothbrushes are a great way to brush your dogs teeth with the fine all natural wood handles and soft bristles that will be true to our name—gentle on your dog’s gums. There’s just one problem, they won’t let you brush their teeth without a fight! We’ve come across this problem plenty ourselves, and are here to offer you some tips and strategies for getting your dog to let you brush their teeth.
Timing is Everything for Brushing Your Dog’s Teeth
Picking a relaxing time to brush your dog’s teeth is crucial. Getting a dog to sit still can be difficult, them allowing you to go into their mouth and poke around is even more so. Naturally, picking a time when there isn’t much stimulation and they are as calm as possible is going to make the task much easier to accomplish.
Take it Step by Step
Have your dog try the toothpaste beforehand by letting them lick it off your finger and the brush. Many people have told us that our edible toothpaste has been incredibly helpful in them getting their dog to let them brush their teeth because it tastes delicious!
Next, place some toothpaste on the toothbrush and just try to brush the outside of the top teeth by lifting the lip up. This is the easiest area to brush initially, be sure to praise your dog for being brave and sitting still!
Ordinarily, treats are used to reinforce good behaviors, while that may seem counterintuitive initially, its best to forego the practical aspect of cleaning your dog’s teeth when first training them to get their teeth brushed. Its more important that they learn to view it as a positive thing than to have clean teeth the first few weeks of training. Try our calming treat 10 minutes before your dog’s brushing.
The actual brushing itself is as you imagine, up and down and side to side. The trick is to base the process off of what your dog will allow. If your dog will only let you brush the front top of their teeth, then do that and slowly make headway over the course of many days. The hardest areas to brush are typicaly the inner parts of the teeth, as the dog needs to open their mouth wide a lot. However, consider that much of the damage to dog’s teeth occurs on the outer parts since the tongue comes less into contact with them.
Like many things we train our dogs to do, training your dog to allow brushing is just a matter of consistency and slow progress. Starting at a very young age—such as 8 weeks old will be ideal. Much like trimming nails, it’s best to start early.
Why Should You Brush Your Dog’s Teeth?
Periodontal disease is not just an issue that affects people, dogs are just as susceptible to it. The presence of tartar and plaque that can develop in our dog’s mouths is evidence enough that there can be huge improvements to how we take care of our pups. Hard food will not help to keep your dog’s teeth clean from tartar.
Dental pains can be a truly miserable experience, some simple brushing just 3 times a week can keep your dog from knowing the pain of a toothache or worse, gum disease. Periodontitis affects the entire body as our mouths are the first stop before anything enters our body. Periodontitis can negatively affect your dog’s heart, kidney, and liver.
Natural Edible Dog Toothpaste
Our natural toothpaste can make the task of brushing your dog’s teeth less of an ordeal and more of a treat!
Contact Gentle Earth Pets today for more information about our products. It is our mission going forward to create natural, healthy products for dogs as well as work towards a sustainable future. We look forward to hearing from you!
