Brushing Isaac's Teeth

A few days ago, I decided I needed to start brushing Isaac's teeth.  I haven't been doing so.  I asked his trainer and the director of the program from which I got Isaac and they both felt that giving him hard bones and dental chews would be sufficient, along with the occasional dental cleaning from the vet.  And until now, his teeth have been beautiful.  White, clean looking, just beautiful.  And no bad breath. 

He gets his teeth examined annually by the vet, plus they were examined by a doggie dentist when he got his eye exam a few months ago.  He's always gotten a good report.

Well, a few days ago, I noticed some yellowish-brown plaque on one of his big canine teeth.  That worried me just a bit.  I want his teeth to stay in good shape.

So I decided to get him a doggie toothbrush and some doggie toothpaste.  Off to Petco we went.

In addition to the toothpaste and two doggie toothbrushes (one that fits over my finger and one that looks more like a human toothbrush), he got a dental treat shaped like a big toothbrush.  He enjoyed the treat very much.

Unfortunately, he did not feel the same about the doggie toothpaste.  My plan was to let him lick some of it off my finger first, then later to let him lick some off the doggie toothbrush that fits over my finger.  Well, he did not even want to smell the toothpaste.  I mean, he must have smelled it and found the smell unappealing, but he was not interested in sniffing it.  He literally turned up his nose.

I'm going to try a different flavor of toothpaste.  A few people also suggested using coconut oil in place of toothpaste, and I know Isaac likes coconut oil (I feed it to him sometimes because it's good for his skin and he eats it off a spoon like it's a treat), so I might try that.  I'm not sure how good it is at removing plaque and stuff, though.  But maybe it's the process of brushing that helps the most, no matter what you brush with.

In the meantime, I am getting Isaac used to the toothbrush.  He showed in interest in that after I tried to give him the toothpaste he didn't like, but later, with a tiny sliver of hot dog on the toothbrush, it suddenly became much more interesting.  So he has been eating tiny bits of hot dog off the toothbrush.  And he has allowed me to lift his lip out of the way and gently rub the toothbrush over his teeth for a few seconds.