A Simple Introduction Program to Brushing Your Dog’s Teeth:

Check out our VIDEO for a live demonstration (or see below)

 

Week 1: Becoming Familiar

Sitting on the floor with your dog, set the toothbrush out and dab a small amount of dog toothpaste on your finger. Allow your dog to sniff/lick/explore the brush and the toothpaste. Decide on a reward for exploring the equipment and praise your dog for any exploration, however small. The main goal is to start small and build to the next step. The first time may seem like nothing was accomplished, but you have to remember, this is just one tiny step toward the end.

 

Week 2: The Toothpaste

Get your dog used to the taste of the toothpaste and used to you manipulating their mouth by dabbing a small amount of toothpaste onto their canine tooth (the large, pointy tooth most visible in the mouth). Again, you’ll want to sit on the floor with your dog, no matter how small or big, to allow them to have as much control over the situation as possible. Remember to reward your dog for its tolerating this new exercise! A nice piece of boiled chicken might do the trick (made without spices, onions or garlic).

 

Week 3: The Toothbrush

While sitting on the floor, apply some toothpaste to the brush and allow your dog to lick it off for around a minute. There’s no need for brushing teeth yet. And always remember to reward your dog for being awesome!

 

Week 4: Brushing

Once your dog has gotten used to both the toothpaste and toothbrush, you can start to actually brush their teeth. When you’re sitting comfortably on the floor, hold the brush firmly in your hand and gently move their jowls (lips) out of the way to expose their teeth. Make small, circular motions on each tooth in turn; a forty-five degree angle is best. It’s only necessary to brush the side of the tooth you can see. The first day of this week you might experiment with doing 1 tooth and build up the next day to 1-2 teeth and so on. To get the very back teeth, you can take the side of the jowls and introduce the toothbrush to the rear teeth without actually seeing these teeth. It might take a few more weeks until you and your dog are able to complete the whole mouth but then you'll be able to brush normally from then on. As always, reward your dog after the process is over. This time, they just might deserve a tiny piece of hotdog! :)

 

Tips for very timid dogs and reluctant teeth brushers: you may have to lengthen the amount of time spent on any or all of these steps. Until your dog is completely comfortable with one stage, do not move on to the next and if your dog becomes upset in any way, you might need to go back one step to help them regain their confidence. As with all dogs, you want this experience to be positive and voluntary. Do not hold your dog down or force them to comply with teeth brushing. This will only make the experience into a battle and will usually escalate into your dog not accepting teeth brushing at all.

 

 

Check out our VIDEO for a live demonstration