Dental care

To keep the teeth of your dog clean, it may be necessary to frequently provide a bone to chew or to brush his teeth regularly. If however, brown spots appear, you can easily remove them with your fingernail or a scraper if you're there on time. If they are left, the plaque will change quite quickly to hard tartar and gum may become infected. For your dog, this is very painful. Ultimately, it can result in receding gums and heavy inflammation. Not infrequently, pulling the affected teeth is the only solution. Regular monitoring of the teeth is therefore wise. If you find that your dog starts to have a smelly mouth, it is almost certainly time for a cleaning.

With the arrows, you see that there is a brown-yellowish plaque. At this stage, the damage is still relatively soft and you can quite easily remove it with your fingernail or a sharp object.

Personally, I prefer a special denture cleaner (hawksbill) for this. It allows you to treat more difficult to reach areas.

To be able to do this without the dog struggling, he must first get accustomed to the routine.

A dog that does not allow this will have to visit the veterinarian and be treated under general anesthesia. Anesthesia always has some risk.

In all, physical care of your dog is very easy if he permits it without a struggle. If you begin with brushing his fur when he has painful tangles, or cleaning his teeth when there is already inflammation, then you cannot count on the cooperation of your dog. He will soon learn to hate it when you get the brush and or start fidgeting in his mouth. Chances are he will growl next time or worse.

It is therefore important that the puppy gets used to the actions that he has to undergo later in his life. Look in his ears, pat his tail slowly, take his feet one by one in your hands, lift his lips briefly, get his mouth wide open and put something sweet on his tongue as a reward, pat his coat with a soft brush. Use no force, make it fun for him, do everything in a playful way and repeat regularly. Later, you will have the convenience of a dog that meekly allows grooming and handling, not only in the daily care but also at the vet.