Tips

Providing good oral care for our canine family members can actually extend their lives by as much as three to five years. In order to successfully clean your dog’s teeth, you must get your dog used to having its mouth handled by lifting its lips and examining the teeth. Do this 2-3 times per week, and each time, give your pet a small treat and lots of praise after you have finished. Your dog will be more comfortable with the teeth cleaning process when it knows there will be a treat when it’s over.

 Introduce toothbrushing slowly to gradually accustom your dog to having you handle its mouth.

You’ll need a dog toothbrush (a washcloth or gauze pad wrapped around your finger also works well), and toothpaste specially formulated for animal use. Dogs cannot spit, and human toothpaste is not safe to swallow in large quantities. Your dog will most likely swallow whatever you use to clean its teeth with, so it is important to buy toothpaste that has been formulated specifically for dogs. A good alternative for cleaning your dog’s teeth is a solution of vitamin C and water in a ratio of half teaspoon of vitamin C to a cup of water.

Position yourself on the floor, with your dog in front of you. With smaller breeds or puppies, you can hold the dog in your lap. It may be necessary to start with gauze and work up to the toothbrush. Lift your dog’s upper lip and clean your dog’s teeth in a circular motion, making sure to brush at the base of each tooth where it meets the gum line. The toothbrush bristles should be angled at 45-degrees to the tooth surface. Also, make sure to clean your dog’s back molar teeth, which are more likely than the front teeth to develop problems. Gently force the bristles into the area around the base of the tooth and the spaces between the teeth with about ten short back and forth strokes, focusing on the outside of the upper teeth.

Do only one or two teeth the first few times. As your dog becomes comfortable with teeth cleaning, brush more teeth in each session. Clean your dog’s teeth twice a week. Always give your dog a small treat after each session.

 Hard bones are the primary cause of your dog’s teeth breaking; knuckle bones are soft.

Giving bones to your pet to chew on is an effective method for keeping tarter from accumulating and aids in keeping your dog’s teeth clean.Raw knuckle bones (the joints), from your local butcher or meat counter at the  supermarket, are great because they are soft  and allow your dog to scrape its teeth into the bone, nicely cleaning food and tartar from teeth. These bones still have some tendons and muscle meat. They will clean your dog’s teeth and  provide a nice oral workout as well as a healthy amount of natural calcium. Your dog will enjoy a good knuckle bone. It will be content and relaxed while chewing, and a little sleepy afterwards. Keep your dog on a towel that is easily washed.

 Cooked bones can splinter and cause mouth injury as well as intestinal problems.

Supervise your dog to prevent it from swallowing a large piece of bone, which may cause choking or digestive problems. Give your dog bones that are too large to swallow and NOT cooked. Do NOT give unthawed frozen bones to avoid the possible breaking of teeth. Raw carrots are a good substitute for cleaning your dog’s teeth.

see other article about cleaning dog ear

Keeping the dog’s ears clean is important because a damp environment creates an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and fungus, often leading to painful sensitivity, redness, swelling and infection. Avoid dog ear infections by practicing preventive care. That means regularly examine and clean your dog’s ears. Cleaning your dog’s ears is important for good grooming and overall health. This is especially true for canines with pendulous ears, lots of hair in their ears, allergies or other medical problems that render them susceptible to ear infections.

Some guardians never check their dog’s ears unless the dog is shaking or scratching them.

That’s unfortunate because, by that time, there is usually an ear health problem requiring veterinary intervention to determine if the dog is infected, infested or needs treatment.

Before cleaning the dog’s ears, inspect for potential problems. Take note of any matter in and around the ear canal, particularly excess wax. A dark wax may be a sign of ear mites.

 Do not use water when cleaning your dog’s ears.

A weekly ear cleaning with an approved cleansing solution, or a mixture described at the bottom of the page that you can prepare at home, minimizes or prevents dog ear infections.

If ear problems are discovered, soak a cotton ball thoroughly in the ear wash. Squeeze out excess and gently clean dirt,

 Unless the ear is infected, the dog will probably enjoy this part of the cleaning.wax and other matter from the exterior area of the ear, and consult your veterinarian. Hold the ear flap up so the ear is tilted up; fill the ear with cleanser until it runs out. Do this while holding a towel to catch overflow from head shaking. Gently massage the base of the dog’s ears so you hear a squishing sound. If your dog attempts to move around the ear may be infected or you may be massaging too vigorously to free the discharge, so be very gentle. Aggressive pressure is not required when cleaning your dog’s ears.

If you don’t hear the squishing sound, you may not have enough cleaning solution in the ear or you are not creating enough movement.The cleaning will start at the part that protrudes from the side of the head or flops over, and also the external part of the ear that is gnarled, fleshy and, in some breeds, hairy around the entrance to the ear canal. From the external opening, the L-shaped ear canal descends vertically before taking a 90-degree bend for a horizontal jaunt to the ear drum. You should clean up to the external ear canal and no further — the vertical part before the 90-degree bend! Use your finger as a gauge to a safe access area to clean into the external ear canal — as far as you can see with a flashlight — and gently clean with a cotton-tipped swab only if you have been instructed by your veterinarian. Otherwise, use cotton balls or soft cotton cloths around the entrance to the ear canal, with a gentle, veterinary-approved cleaner. Be careful not to rub too hard as you can do more harm than good by rubbing the ears raw, leaving a nesting ground for bacteria and ultimately infection. Hydrogen peroxide is sometimes recommended but should be avoided because it leaves excess moisture and that can lead to the very difficulties you are trying to prevent. Finally, use an ear drying powder or cream and fold ear flaps back for about five minutes to dry canals.

You’ll be surprised at the amount of debris you can remove.

If you would prefer to make your own dog ear cleaner, here are three good dog ear cleaning recipes your veterinarian will approve of. Choose one, don’t use them all at the same time, and never use them to treat an ear infection.

Recipe #1: Mix one part white vinegar with one part rubbing alcohol (50/50 mixture) in a squirt bottle and shake well.

Recipe #2: Mix 50/50 vinegar and water, massage it in the ear for 60 seconds, clean the dog’s ear with cotton balls (not Q-tips). If your pet requires medication, apply it afterwards.

Recipe #3: For cleaning and to get rid of ear mites, soak a few crushed garlic cloves in oil (mineral oil, olive oil, or almond oil)overnight. Garlic helps kill the bacteria that can lead to ear infections. Put 3-5 drops of oil in the ear canal after thoroughly cleaning your dog’s ears. Do this once a day for at least a month. Oil will smother and starve the mites.

Use dog ear cleaning recipes only as indicated above. Site owners or their agents will not be responsible for any injuries resulting in the use or misuse of the recipes. Use with your own discretion.

Relate article: How to cleaning dog’s teeth

It is unrealistic and unfair to discourage your dog from barking if it’s trying to alert you to something; this can have dangerous consequences. Along with training, a Citronella Bark Collar is the most effective and humane solution to stop diagnosed problem barking.

If you are dealing with an uncontrolled and excessively barking dog, and you want to know how to stop the seemingly continual dog barking, it’s important to understand the facts surrounding the problem before deciding on a solution.

 
Certain breeds of dogs have a propensity to bark more than others but that alone does not answer the questions, is it excessive and if it is, why? A dog does not bark without reason. Barking could just be vocalizing hunger, or asking for some needed exercise or a bathroom break. Attention-getting barking arises from internal distress. Barking intended to sound an alert arises from a passing person, other dog or vehicle as the case may be.

The question becomes: is the barking appropriate?

The family comprises the dog’s pack. Expect your dog to bark and maybe not stop barking if left alone for long periods of time. Barking that starts after you are gone for 20 minutes or so and continues incessantly could be separation anxiety, a psychological condition that requires some extra attention.

Anxiety stress is not pleasant for your pet and homeopathic remediesto reduce stress and anxiety while promoting relaxation are available to assist in the solution.

Training And Technology Perfect Together!

The best news of all is if, after careful evaluation, there are indications that the problem is a dog talking back in a dominance tug-of-war for authority then training to control dominance is necessary, but it does not involve physical punishment. Along with humane and proper training methods and behavior management products, the situation is solvable with citronella technology, an important development in canine behavior management solutions.

 Citronella Bark Collar is the Most Humane and Effective
Nuisance Barking Solution.

A Citronella Bark Collar uses technology to deliver a harmless burst of citronella spray to interrupt your dog’s barking.

Trainers have used it with great success.

“I’ve used it with great success with several of my clients’ dogs. Companion dog owners who would never accept any other type of anti-bark collar have no qualms about using yours.” -Terry D. Morrow, Trainer

“It can be used to either interrupt behaviors or to act as a deterrent to discourage behaviors, all without causing the dog pain.” -Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D. Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Animal Behavior Associates, Inc., Littleton, CO

It’s Better Because…

Shock collars are inappropriate and attempt to reduce barking with pain, are less effective and may increase anxiety and aggression, potentially making behavior problems worse.

Ultra-sonic collars are not as severe as the pain of electrical shock; however, behavior experts report that they have 25% the success rate as with the Citronella Bark Collar.

The Citronella Bark Collar spray works with four of your dog’s five senses; he hears it, sees it, feels it and smells it. Citronella is a unique scent, nonoffensive to humans, which most dogs don’t normally encounter so unusual enough to distract the dog from whatever it’s barking at.