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A devoted dog owner does everything humanly possible to ensure their dogs hygiene. However, one area that bewilders dog owners is how to brush my dogs teeth?

Why Brush A Dog’s Teeth?

Dogs suffer from a variety of tooth problems, just like their owners:

1. Loose teeth
2. Abscess teeth
3. Cavities
4. Periodontal disease

The common symptom of periodontal disease is bad breath. In fact, 98% of all dogs with bad breath suffer from periodontal disease. If there is a delay in treatment, the bacterial infection can develop and spread to the dog’s kidney, liver, heart and brain.

Thus, it becomes important to brush the dogs teeth.

Steps In Brushing A Dog’s Teeth:

Many dog owners take their dogs to the vet for a regular teeth cleaning. Many vets offer medical plans for pets that include this important routine. Usually they will put the dog to sleep or medicate the dog to avoid bites. This is safer for the dog and the vet. However, if you cannot afford to do this and/or choose to do it yourself, below are the steps to take in cleaning your dog’s teeth.

1. Allow a vet to check the dog’s teeth before brushing. Otherwise, brushing may be painful, and it will associate brushing with pain.

2. The dog needs to be used to the owner checking its mouth regularly. Reward the dog for cooperation.

3. Get a pet dental kit from a pet store. It needs to have a pet toothbrush, pet toothpaste and a finger toothbrush that the owner can wear on a finger and brush the dog’s teeth.

4. Human toothpaste is not edible and dogs are likely to swallow toothpaste. Therefore, try to buy beefy flavored toothpaste that the dog can enjoy. In addition, avoid toothpastes with detergents, salt or baking soda. Instead, try to buy toothpastes containing fluoride and enzymes, as they are good for dogs’ teeth.

5. Ease in the brushing process. On day one, merely wipe the dog’s teeth with gauze. Later, adapt the pet to warm water brushing. Finally, add toothpaste.

6. To brush the dog’s teeth, place the brush bristles at a 45-degree angle to the teeth, at the border where the teeth meet the gums. Gently, move the brush in an oval motion, to complete ten back-and-forth motions. Then, move the brush to cover at least 3-4 teeth at a time.

7. Remember to brush the dogs teeth all the way to the back, which is where most problems develop.

Other Important Tips:

A dog’s dental hygiene will not be flawless, if you only brush the dog’s teeth. Try some of these tips to ensure a good dental health for the dog:

1. To avoid the onset of periodontal disease, take the dog to a vet for regular checks.

2. Vets can also clean the teeth occasionally to remove tartar deposits.

3. Feed hard foods to the dog or give bones or hard toys to chew on.

These are certain systematic ways of avoiding dental problems, but do not forget to brush your dog’s teeth regularly.

If your dog is about fifteen weeks old or more than that, then he should not be having this habit of biting or nipping. A lot of dog owners are still striving to curtail this issue of biting of their dogs which are more than fifteen weeks old, such that most of them have gone to the extent of putting a muzzle over their dogs mouth in order to deal with the biting. Before your dog reaches fifteen weeks, you should give appropriate training and basic common commands so that it stops this irritating habit of mouthing. However, if this habit persists or you have taken in a dog that is over 15 weeks old or the dog is new to its home, you can try out the following to make it stop biting the hand and fingers.

a) The very first thing to do to curb this habit is to stop immediately all the dog games involving rough play. Whenever a new puppy or dog is in the home, we generally play games like wrestling and tug-of-war which are sadly not good for the dogs. As, if the dog still bites, it is imperative to stop the above game activities. These games send a wrong signal to the dog that it is okay to indulge in rough play with anyone whenever it wishes. You need to be extremely cautious not to let your dog become hostile to young kids and strangers.

b) It may be okay to allow gentle and soft biting from the puppies which are still very young. But for dog over 15 weeks, biting of all forms should stop at all cost, even if it is a simple harmless nibble on your hand or finger tips. You need to stop the dog by commanding it to stop biting firmly and at once take away your arm.

c) You can try out a method that will shock your pet dog to refrain from biting. This method is quite harmless and involves a spray bottle by which you can spray water quickly on the head or body of the dog while it is biting or nibbling. This shall startle the dog to stop this habit. This ploy is very effective and is many times the only thing needed to stop this mouthing issue.

d) A method of putting across your message is through disciplinary and firm commands. It can be applied to puppies or dogs of all ages and for all purposes too. Hence, whenever you feel the dog is going to bite your hand, it is okay to quickly say firmly and loudly No Bite! command to your dog while staring at the dog. You need to remember two things while using this method. Firstly, you should not say the command loudly such that the dog gets scared and misses the point. Secondly, you should stare at the dog for sometime only as you are trying to make the dog focus on you. If you stare for long, the dog will think that you are confronting it.

What are heartworms? Heartworms are large parasitic worms that live in the hearts of dogs, cats, and some wild animals. Heartworm larvae make their way to the heart of the animal within about 70-90 days. Providing both male and female worms are present, they will produce their own larvae within 6-7 months following the initial insect bite. Symptoms Your pet will show no early symptoms once infected with heartworms. Blood tests will return normal results. In mild cases of the disease, the animal will develop a cough. Any abnormal persistent cough should be checked by a veterinarian immediately. As the disease escalates with the growth of the heartworms in both size and number, the symptoms increase as well. In cases of moderate infection, your pet will exhibit a cough, intolerance to exercise, reduced appetite, lethargy, and weight loss. A check up at the vet will show abnormal lung sounds while blood tests will show evidence of kidney and/or liver damage. Once a heartworm infestation reaches the severe stage of disease, the animal is dying. Prevention and Treatment If you own pets in an area where mosquitoes are prevalent, seek your veterinarians advice regarding heartworms. Heartworms can be prevented with a once a month chewable tablet that will protect your pet from these as well as other parasites. There are a few options for treatment for heartworms. After the evaluation of heart, kidney, and liver functions to determine if the pet is strong enough for treatment, they are often given an arsenic-based compound to kill the adult heartworms in their system. For advanced infection where the animal is in critical condition, the veterinarian may opt to remove the worms with surgery through the jugular vein. This procedure only removes enough worms to restore blood flow. Following treatment, the animal will be placed on restricted exercise for an extended period of time so the animal’s body has enough time to absorb the dead heartworms without complication. Once heartworm tests return a negative result, then the treatment is considered a success. Conclusion The American Heartworm Society (AHS) states that only 55% of dogs in the United States receive regular preventative care for heartworms leaving 27 million dogs at risk for the disease. Remember, that when it comes to heartworms, prevention is more effective and a lot less expensive than treatment.

When you first bought a puppy, you may think that you are going to be able to enjoy your puppy for a very long time. Dog behavior problems are probably the last thing in your mind. You don’t even want to think about it.

But when your puppy first begins to urinate on your expensive carpet, you will start to realize that keeping a dog is definitely not as simple as just feeding and playing with it. The fact is, being a dog owner means a whole lot of responsibilities. Almost like when you are having kids.

As a dog owner, there are a number of dog behavior problems that you are going to come across. Some of them are barking, aggression, biting, chasing, jumping, digging, chewing, whining and more.

Depending on the dog breeds that you have, some problems will definitely be more urgent than others. For example, it is definitely a bigger problem to have a big aggressive dog than a small aggressive dog.

Not that you should allow your small dog to be aggressive but I believe you already know what I mean. Similarly, if you have a big dog that likes to jump on people, you are going to have a lot of headaches, whereas a smaller jumping dog is probably much easier to handle.

At the very basic level, you will want to make sure that your new puppy goes through house training. Your dog needs to conduct its business every day and you certainly don’t want a mess to be created in your house every single day.

Dogs are plagued by the illnesses that irritate people, such as diarrhea. While adult humans can go a few days with diarrhea without worry, a dog cannot. Just like small children, when dogs suffer from too much diarrhea, health levels are at risk. By making sure that you fully understand the problems that can arise, the causes and what you can do to help your dog stay safe.

Two Types

There are actually two different types of diarrhea in dogs. The first is acute diarrhea. This is a temporary issue that is not generally caused by a serious condition or disease. Acute diarrhea is a way for the body of the dog to expel toxins in the body. When dogs eat things such as grass, sticks, dirt, trash or table scraps there is a chance for acute diarrhea to form. The second kind is chronic diarrhea, which is something that needs to be brought to the attention of a vet. Episodes of chronic diarrhea can last for days on end and can bring the dog into a lethargic state. The causes can be food allergies, bacteria infections, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease and intestinal parasites.

Treatment

Luckily there is treatment available for dog diarrhea but it does include a trip to the vet. The vet may prescribe antibiotics or other medications depending on the cause of the problem. There is also a good chance that the dog will receive intravenous fluids because of the dehydration that normally comes as a part of the diarrhea. The time it takes for the diarrhea to clear up will depend on the type the dog had and how bad the case was. For cases that are very bad, the vet may need to keep your dog for an extended period of time in order to monitor the healing progress so that things do not end up worse.

Preventing

Of course, you cannot prevent everything that your dog puts into his mouth because you are not able to stare at him every hour or every day. But when you are in control, such as feeding times, you need to make sure that your pet is given a well-balanced, quality diet along with a lot of fresh water. Do not feed your pet table scraps and make sure that you are keeping trash picked up and in a secure place where your dog cannot easily break into it.

Now that you have a better idea of what to watch for, what can be done to fix it and what can be done to prevent it, you should feel a lot better. The more you know about taking care of your dog and any health problems that could arise, the more enjoyable your time with your pet will be. You do not have to worry over every little thing, as long as you know the basics and know when it is time to rush your pet to the vet. When proper steps are taken when a dog falls ill, there is an excellent chance of recovery.