Similar to people, your dogs teeth need to remain clean, and free from decay and infection. When they eat, plaque can collect on their teeth. Left unchecked, the plaque can turn into tartar. Eventually, an infection can emerge causing severe discomfort and pain for your dog. Many owners, perhaps from negligence, fail to keep their dogs teeth in good condition. Below, we will describe a few measures you can take to help ensure that your dogs teeth are clean, healthy, and free from problems.

Brushing Your Dogs Teeth

Your dogs teeth need to be brushed a couple of times each week at a minimum. This helps them to remain clear of plaque, and thereby prevents the build up of tartar. When you brush his teeth, do not use the toothpaste from your grocery store. The mint taste may be pleasant for you, but it can be excruciating for your dog due to his heightened level of smell. Visit a pet supply store to purchase a toothpaste that is formulated for dogs. They will also carry special toothbrushes that are designed to reach your dogs teeth.

Chewing For Good Dental Hygiene

When dogs chew on food or toys, the process can keep their teeth clean. For example, dog biscuits are usually hard and break easily. The small bits from the broken biscuits rub against your dogs teeth, effectively keeping the plaque and tartar from collecting. Of course, chewing shouldn’t take the place of brushing, but it is an alternative for owners who are too busy to brush their dogs teeth. Ideally, you should brush his teeth a couple of times each week and allow him to chew biscuits throughout the week.

Time For The Dentist?

Occasionally, your dog will need to have his teeth professionally cleaned by a veterinarian. Even with diligent brushing and constant chewing, bacteria can build in the crevices between his teeth. With enough time, that bacteria can grow and enter your dogs body, causing harm and impacting his overall health.

Typically, a veterinarian will use an anesthesia to keep your dog sedated during the cleaning process. Then, an x-ray will be taken to examine his teeth more clearly. If the veterinarian does not find any teeth that have been damaged or have become abscessed, he will perform the cleaning. Otherwise, he may suggest that your dog receive a root canal or other procedure.

Only One Set

Your dog has only one set of teeth and can not afford to lose them. To keep them clean and healthy, brush them regularly and give your dog plenty of opportunity to maintain their cleanliness through chewing. Then, schedule a visit to the veterinarian to have your dogs teeth cleaned professionally. Through regular dental care, you can prevent your dog from enduring discomfort and pain.

Having good teeth is not only important to humans it is also important to your dogs health. They deserve to have good dental care because their teeth are used not just for eating but also for cleaning and grooming themselves.

Just like humans a dog teeth can build up tartar or plaque which can cause gun disease. Gum disease is an infection resulting from increase of soft dental plaque on the outside of the teeth around the gums. The bacteria in dental plaque irritate the gum tissue if plaque is permitted to accumulate, will lead to infection in the bone around the teeth.

What effect does this have on your dog? You will notice the dog will have bad breath and the gums will become irritated, they will start to bleed and the dog will have oral pain, your dog could lose its appetite or drop food from its mouth while eating.

As a dog gets older they will require more dental care so that their teeth remain healthy,

so it is important to know that while they are still young, their teeth should already be properly taken care of.

Your dogs Diet

If you have a young dog start them on good quality dry foods. The crunchy texture helps the removal of plaque which moist foods are unable to. The crunchy feature also helps to stimulate the gums so that gum diseases are also prevented.

It is always best to consult your vet on the type of dental care you should be providing for your dog. Some breeds are more susceptible to dental problem than others and your vet can suggest the right food for them

Products For Dog Dental Care

There are many products on the market now available for your dogs dental health, from specially designed biscuits, chewing bones (such as pigs ears), toothpastes and tooth brushes. By using them it will decrease the chance of your dog getting gum or teeth disease. Always use specially prepared dog toothpaste. Because dogs cannot rinse and spit after a brushing, the dog toothpaste must be safe for pets to swallow! Some human toothpaste contains detergents which can upset your dog’s stomachs, and, in addition, large quantities of ingested fluoride can harm your dog. To go with the toothpaste you can use a regular brush or a finger brush. The finger brush can easily be placed over your finger so that it is easier to brush your dog’s teeth. Consult your vet on what they recommend to be the most suitable for your dog’s teeth. Your dog’s teeth need to be cleaned at least twice a week. Do this and your dog will love you for it.

Golden retrievers have a special knack for stuffing their face with stuffed toys. They seem to be born with a craving for stuffed toys. I know my golden, Nikki, already had a penchant for stuffed toys at the age of six to eight weeks old.

She is an amazing Certified Therapy Dog but, she will steal resident’s stuffed toys if I would allow her to. Now, for those of you who are handy with the needle, you could remove the stuffing, and fill the toy with tough fabric instead, that way, it will last forever!

I think that dogs feel closer to being a dog when they actually have a stuffed toy in their mouth. They feel that they have caught it. They can carry it around, they can claim it, they can retrieve it (especially retrievers), and it is theirs. And, it feels good to them. After a while, the smell of this stuffed toy becomes awful to us, but great to the dogs.

Depending on the breed you have, some dogs will kill the stuffed toys, some dogs will love it, sleep on it and snuggle with it. Retrievers will consistently have it in their mouth when you return home.

By far, the cheapest way to keep your dog in stuffed toys is buying cheap, right sized stuffed animals at garage/yard sales. I wash them in hot water, and a bit of Solumel (Melaleuca household cleaner that helps get rid of bacteria and it is animal and nature friendly), this is very important! Then, I remove all the detachable; lose things like eyes, whiskers, etc. These toys are a very cheap alternative to expensive pet store toys.

Be very careful though that you check and make sure that this toy is not stuffed with small, styrofoam beads. Avoid those. You can easily tell by squishing the toy in your hand. Dogs often rip open their stuffed toys, and the styrofoam beads could become a hazard to your dog.

I know of some big dogs that shake their stuffed toy to so much that they are actually killing it. If you have more than one dog watch that the other dog doesn’t get hurt by the toy that is being shaken. It is easy to have your other dogs eye get punctured or hurt.

So to repeat the question, why do dogs like stuffed toys? Well, it seems that we all love stuffed toys. Adults have them, kids love them, cats play with stuffed mice, and dogs claim them to kill it, to claim it, or just to love it.