Please, help!

[mustlovedogs]

Ellie cannot STAND getting her teeth brushed...she hates it! Can someone please give me tips as how to get her used to the toothbrush being in her mouth? She tries to bite me when I try to brush her teeth...and I don't want her to get gum disease or anything like that. Please, any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

Have you tried giving her a raw bone to chew on? :)

[dragondawg]

Ellie cannot STAND getting her teeth brushed...she hates it! Can someone please give me tips as how to get her used to the toothbrush being in her mouth? She tries to bite me when I try to brush her teeth...and I don't want her to get gum disease or anything like that. Please, any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I have tried a couple of times with my dogs past and present the brushing trick, and didn't have too much luck with it. Why? Because they would try to eat the doggy toothpaste faster than I could brush with it. In fact they would lick or try to eat the toothbrush before I could even get the thing into their mouths! Basically I concluded all I was doing was feeding them a tube of wonderful tasting doggy toothpaste.

The best and only way to treat and delay the return of gum disease is to have the teeth cleaned by the Vet usually every 4 yrs. Basically if you see red on the gumline it's probably needed. Think about it this way, even if you brush your teeth, the only way to get the tartar removed from under the gumline is to visit the dentist. The same holds for your dog. My previous dog of 11 yrs had her teeth cleaned twice. My present two 3 yr olds aren't to that stage yet.

[mustlovedogs]

Thank you both! :) I think I will buy a toy for her that cleans her teeth. Thanks again! :)

[Kfamr]

You could try getting finger brushes.They are not as effective as regular brushes but are better than none.

[butrrfly23]

Nylabones! They do wonders on my dog's teeth. I tried toothbrushes as well and had to laugh at the previous post because my dogs did the same thing. They just wanted to lick and eat the toothpaste and we were accomplishing nothing.

I had a problem with my Pit Bull because he kept chewing up every toy we tried for him, including the black and red Kongs, so I started the dogs on nylabones (the ones for powerful chewers) and the great side benefit was that their teeth are always super clean. The vet always remarks about how clean I keep their teeth. Wish I could take credit for it!

[mustlovedogs]

Nylabones! They do wonders on my dog's teeth. I tried toothbrushes as well and had to laugh at the previous post because my dogs did the same thing. They just wanted to lick and eat the toothpaste and we were accomplishing nothing.

I had a problem with my Pit Bull because he kept chewing up every toy we tried for him, including the black and red Kongs, so I started the dogs on nylabones (the ones for powerful chewers) and the great side benefit was that their teeth are always super clean. The vet always remarks about how clean I keep their teeth. Wish I could take credit for it!

Thanks! :D Maybe Nylabones will work for Ellie! She really loves to chew on rawhides, and things like that, so I'm sure she'll like Nylabones. Thanks again! :D