Every so often, people will ask me something like, “What’s a good puppy schedule?” or “What should I expect in everyday life if I have a puppy?”
People are often surprised at A) how much puppies should sleep (a young puppy — 3 or 4 months — should be sleeping 18-20 hours a day. We keep them up longer, but it’s unnatural! They get worn out and manic, don’t learn as quickly and act up more! Think about babies and toddlers: they don’t want to sleep, but if we put them down they sleep anyway and they behave better. Puppies are the same) and B) how much time you spend playing with them.
This is my personal puppy schedule, when I either own or board a puppy. It might give you an idea of what life is like! This applies most to puppies 4 months and older; younger puppies need more frequent potty breaks, and less time out. Those “Tie her to you” moments should be “Back in the crate to nap” moments! Older puppies might get more freedom, if they’ve figured out not to chew and pee for the most part!
J
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cash, training, training in unusual conditions, walking
Cash has this tendency to get excited when he sees me get his leash out. Now, this wouldn’t be so bad because he’s good at controlling himself even when he’s excited, but he whines.
I mean, whines like you wouldn’t believe. It’s this engine-breaking sort of noise that drives me INSANE, and it continues from the instant he sees the leash until we get ten feet down the road.
Cash is a king shepherd. The breed came from interbreeding German shepherds, malamutes, and great Pyrenees into a whole new breed, recognized by the American Rare Breed Association. Of those breeds, the German shepherd is prominent — and do you know one of the things they’re known for? Oh, yeah. Vocalizing.
I’m noise sensitive. I don’t do well with whining. Or barking. Or shrieking. Or anything else like that, really. So Cash’s hysterical whining when we walk? I don’t do so well with it.
The usual fix for this sort of whining is to wait to move until the dog goes quiet. There are, however, a few problems with this if you’re me (or like me):
1. It takes the dog so long to go quiet that I’ve failed in non-reacting because it got on my nerves.
2. It takes the dog so long to go quiet that I had to leave because I was going to be late for everything else, so we either skipped the walk entirely or I left before he went quiet.
3. Every time I move when he does go quiet, he starts whining instantly and… see above.
I was talking to Quin about all this, because the whining drives her insane, too, and she started offering suggestions.
Q: What about scolding him?
J: No good. It’ll increase the anxiety and he’ll whine more.
Q: Oh. I guess the same goes for popping the leash or pushing him back?
J: Yeah.
And then Quin came up with a brilliant idea. It was this: get Cash’s leash out. Put it on him. Walk back into the house and continue doing whatever I was doing before. When he settles down, take it off him.
This was brilliant. More than that, it started working that very night! I’d been trying to fix this problem for months with no success, and this was so smart and so simple that I wondered that I hadn’t thought of it before. Leash him when I’m wandering around, so he learns to not get so excited at getting leashed, that very likely nothing fun is going to happen. Leash him ten minutes before I leave and continue about my business, so he has time to settle down before I pick up his leash and we go for a walk — rewarding the quiet behavior without driving me crazy or making me late.
It’s brilliant! And it’s worked! Now I know how my clients feel when I walk in, suggest something, and it works. So simple, and yet so clever!
J
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: dogs with disabilities, training, training in unusual conditions
A while back I wrote about playing seeing eye dog for a… well, a dog. Toby isn’t thrilled with the idea of learning new tricks at his age; he keeps trying to convince me he’s far older than ten! But despite his disinclination, he’s learning.
One thing that’s helped in working with a blind dog is wearing bells on my hip. I took several bells and tied them to a carabiner, and whenever I go to work with him I clip them onto my belt loop. It lets him know where I’m at, when I’ve stopped, and if he’s about to run into me! I didn’t realize how much it was helping until I forgot it one day, and he was all over the place.
He’s also figured out how snug his collar should be, rather than simply pulling on me all the time. He now walks so that it’s loose but still snug enough that he can tell my direction, should I change direction. He’s figured out that when it pulls to one side or the other he should walk in that direction, and when it stops and pulls up he should stop and sit down.
Best of all, he’s learned two really helpful commands: “step and “get in the car.” He knows that if I say “step” the next step will be either up or down, and he’s learning to take his time about figure out which it is! If I say, “Let’s get in the car,” he’ll go where I lead him (toward the car), then check it out with his head until he knows just how high it is. He’s hesitant about jumping in (I would be too!), but he’ll put his front feet up so I can lift the back end easier.
Yesterday we went on a walk that included a LONG flight of stairs. There must have been fifty of them! For the first third, when he realized it was a flight, he tried to charge down. For the last two thirds, he stopped and listened to me every step of the way, taking one at a time and waiting for my cue. It was fabulous!
In short, being a seeing eye human isn’t half bad, and Toby’s doing fantastic. Hooray for collars, leashes, and bells!
Jenna
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cash, dogs that have been rehab'ed, lily, puppies, training, what dogs learn from each other
For the last month I’ve been boarding a puppy named Daisy. Now, Daisy has all sorts of issues arising from congenital aggression (i.e., a problem in her brain makes her aggressive). One of the many issues facing Daisy is the ability to deal with other dogs in a mannerly fashion.
Now, she really likes dogs. I mean, she really likes dogs! But if they start to play too rough, it can overwhelm her and trigger her aggression. When she started boarding with me, my dogs, Cash and Lily, would play with her. Over the first few days they would play too rough (Cash, a 107-pound king shepherd, Lily, a 65-pound pit bull, and Daisy, a 20-pound welsh terrier), and Daisy would panic and try to make them back off. When they backed off, she would continue to attack. (That’s when I would step in, usually with a squirt bottle!)
Cash and Lily worked with Daisy patiently, rarely losing their cool. Now, I noticed that she was getting much better with them. She’d learned that when she played too rough, they’d yelp and if she didn’t back off, the other would cut in and shoulder her away until she backed down. (Cash and Lily quite often work as a team this way. It fascinates me to watch!) Soon, she’d learned that if they yelped or tried to bully her away, she needed to back off. Getting pushier wouldn’t work; they wouldn’t stop until she settled down, but they’d remain calm and keep from triggering her aggression.
The next thing she learned was that if she got hurt or scared, she should yelp, and they’d back off. Once she’d learned this, her aggression lessened greatly. She’d never attacked my dogs with intent to hurt, but certainly with intent to scare: a small but significant difference in the dog world!
For three weeks, she got on quite well with my dogs. I was always there to step in (if I can’t see them, I’m listening for them) so that if someone yelped, I went out quickly to see what was going on. Nine times out of ten they’d already solved the problem, and were milling around sniffing each other carefully. The tenth time a sharp hist noise settled them down quickly.
Well, one of the things we’ve been working toward is getting Daisy into Doggieville, a fantastic doggie daycare (among other things) center in Mountain View. My thought is that if other dogs can help Daisy remember she’s a dog, and wear her out at the same time, her mother’s job will be MUCH easier! It’ll also give her mom a nice break from running home to check on Daisy, who can’t be left for more than 5 hours at a time (yet).
Today (or rather, as of this writing on Jan 27th!) was Daisy’s evaluation, and let me tell you, I was biting my nails! She’s been doing fantastic with my dogs, but my dogs are supremely well behaved and there are only two of them. I didn’t know how she’d do with A) a bunch of dogs and B) dogs that aren’t so well mannered. Anna and Chris (head trainer and owner, respectively) brought in one dog at a time to see how Daisy would do, slowly increasing the number and type of dogs in the room.
My biggest concern was that Daisy wouldn’t do well with a dog that was in her face or chasing her around, and we figured that out right away! One of the dogs they brought in was determined to let Daisy know who was boss, and barked and chased and barked and chased. Daisy handled it like a trooper, though, using everything Cash and Lily had taught her; she retreated, played elsewhere, retreated, played elsewhere, and finally hid behind Anna’s legs when it was too much.
I was also quite proud because at that point I leaned down, touched her lightly and said, “Just settle, sweetie.” She did, which I knew she would, and the other dog went trotting away. Daisy followed a moment later. Chris commented, “Wow, her off switch is really good!” I gave a big grin, because we’ve been working on that quite a lot! One of the things about a dog who doesn’t turn themselves off is that it’s more important for them to listen to us when we ask them to focus and calm down, so we can help them when they’re not sure what to do. Daisy did that excellently!
Daisy’s now been enrolled in Doggieville, having gotten along with all the dogs and handled all the stress with the grace and playfulness Cash and Lily have taught her. Thank you, Cash and Lily!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: dogs with disabilities, training, training in unusual conditions
I’m working with a dog right now who’s ten years old, and blind. Now, the only thing I need to do with this dog is leash training, which is nice. He’s a English setter, and boy can he pull! Being blind hasn’t deterred him from lunging to the end of his leash and heaving on whoever is holding it!
My job is to help him learn to walk nicely on his leash. Now, I don’t want to use anything that will deter him from walking in general; he’s already being quite courageous by wanting to go out, still, and I don’t want to lessen that. So no slip chains or prong collars to stop him lunging, despite the fact that he’s nearly pulled me off my feet — no mean feat (pun intended!)!
I also need to find a way to tell him where to be, even though he can’t see me. In this case, whether he walks ahead or beside/behind doesn’t matter so much for psychological reasons, as it matters for safety reasons: I can’t guide him around objects if he’s ahead of me!
To solve the problem of letting him know where I am, I’ve taken to wearing bells on my hip. I’ve only worked with this dog for two days, so time will tell if it works, but the theory behind it is that he’ll hear when I’m walking, when I’m stopping, where I am, and how fast I’m going. (I can tell the same thing by the sound of a dog’s tags when it’s coming up behind me; he can certainly learn it, too!)
I’ve also started keeping his leash snug. Normally the goal with a dog is to walk with a very loose leash, but in this case if I keep a small amount of pressure on the collar, then he knows where I am. If the pressure increases either forward or back, he knows he’s gone out of line. This also means I can guide him with his collar to either side, if I need him to dodge something.
To get some control without stressing him out, I got myself a martingale collar. To him, it’ll feel like his normal flat collar (the collar you put a dog’s ID tags on), but I can bring it up behind his ears, keep it snug enough to A) keep it there and B) let him know where I’m at, and then I can control his head instead of trying to control his very powerful shoulders.
The first day I took him out, I had neither bells nor martingale. The second day it was like a changed dog! I’m hoping things will continue to improve.
There are some other notes to working with a blind dog (and in many respects, any dog with a disability). The first one is – DO NOT PITY THEM! They don’t pity themselves, and you’ll only convince them there’s something wrong with them, when they would normally accept life as it is. Sometimes dogs do get quite anxious as their bodies stop working the way they used to, but pitying them will only make that anxiety worse. Think about being a cheerleader instead: be proud of them for their accomplishments, and praise them enthusiastically while supporting and helping where you need to.
The second note is – they will probably need more support and help than another dog! While we were walking with the blind dog, my assistant trainer, Quin, noted that I was much more careful with him than with a seeing dog. It’s true: if a seeing dog falls behind and whumps my leg, I’m probably going to give them a sharp tug to knock it off. But the blind dog couldn’t see what he was doing, so instead I guided him back where he belonged and praised him for it. Quin also noticed that I was “almost protective,” and that, also, is true! It’s my job, if I’m putting him in danger, to keep him safe. That means also keeping him safe from excess anxiety: I need to steer him around bushes, overhanging plants, posts, curbs, puddles, the edge of the sidewalk where it turns into dirt, and so on. Try closing your eyes and having someone lead you — every new thing is startling.
The third note is – there are a lot more commands you can use! His owners told me they’d taught him “curb” at one point, though he’d forgotten it. We’ve gone back to it and he’s already remembering what it means. I also use it going up and down steps, with one “curb” for each step. I also considered using “Feet” to let him know when the ground was about to change and that it was a safe change, as in when he walks over a pile of leaves. I may yet; I’m debating between a command that will help him, versus people forgetting to use it or not noticing and the ground change startling him when the command isn’t used.
Blind dogs, or dogs with disabilities, are also more likely to rush things. Humans freeze up, but often a dog will rush through. The blind dog, for instance, charges down the stairs from the house. In part he does it because he’s eager to go on his walk, but when I was able to slow him down and get him thinking, I noticed that he also has some anxiety around those stairs — he’s getting them over and done with as quickly as possible! As we slowed down, he started to hear my “curb” command, and he slowed down even more and started to relax. I, of course, praised and praised and praised!
A dog with a disability isn’t always a sad thing. My dog, Sam, ended up in a wheelchair for the last year of his life — and it was the happiest year, too! He was a big, intimidating looking dog. When I put him in a wheelchair, people went from avoiding him to cooing over him, and he LOVED it. He would strut quite proudly whenever I put it on, knowing he was about to get the attention he deserved!
Dogs with disabilities need some extra help and new ways of thinking, and it often takes them longer to learn since they’re having to think about so many other things (imagine Anne Frank), but that doesn’t mean they aren’t happy. Take some precautions, learn some new tricks, have patience, and things can be good!
As for the blind dog, I’ll let you know how the bells are working in a few weeks!
Ohhh, puppies. I’m boarding a puppy at the moment, a 9-month old welsh terrier who has some issues her owner needs help with. One of those issues is housebreaking.
I’ve forgotten what it’s like to get up EARLY because the puppy can’t hold it like my adult dogs can — 10 hours regularly overnight, and 12-16 if it’s my day off and I’m feeling really lazy! At 9 months, it’s possible for a puppy to hold it that long if you’ve worked on it. But a dog that isn’t housebroken and isn’t used to holding it — even an adult dog — can’t do that!
The best way to potty train any dog, regardless of age, is crate training. I know, I know — it’s MUCH easier to get puppy pads, if your dog will use them, and do it that way. And if you have a job where you work 8 hours and can’t get away, and no neighbor to let your puppy out after 4 hours, then that might be your only solution. However, puppy pads teach your dog something else: to pee in the house. It’s very common for a dog to look for the next thing closest to a puppy pad when you take the pads away: carpet. Small dogs are especially prone to peeing in the house when they don’t like it outside because it’s too cold or too wet. (Another option is to litter train them, so you never have to worry about it. Yes, they make litter boxes for small dogs!)
If you want your dog to potty outside, the best best best way is crate training. Let’s talk about crate training.
There are some common concerns I hear:
1. It seems cruel.
I know people have a hard time believing this, but a crate for a dog is like their den. Unless your dog has had some major trauma in a crate, and I mean major trauma, once they get used to it they’re not going to have any qualms about spending large amounts of time in one. Puppies especially should be sleeping 15-20 hours a day, depending on the age of the puppy. We keep our puppies awake MUCH longer than is healthy for them, assuming that’s normal. A crate gives your puppy a chance to calm down long enough to get the sleep they need in a quiet, dark, undisturbed place. This will make everyone’s life much easier, and your puppy happier, healthier, and easier to train!
2. My dog/puppy barks and whines and I CAN’T STAND IT!
Okay, I can’t blame you, there. I can’t stand it, either! There are two easy solutions, though, other than the usual “just ignore it and they’ll stop” solution you normally hear. (Trust me, I understand that frustration — I’m a dog trainer, and I can’t ignore it until it stops! I’m very noise sensitive, and it drives me bonkers!)
The first solution is to say, “Quiet,” and then tap the crate on the side. If it doesn’t work, tap a little harder. You can tap hard enough to jiggle the crate just a bit. (I’ve been known to hook the lip with my fingers and pluck the near edge off the ground by a finger’s width.) You’re creating a mini-earthquake, so the dog learns that barking or whining will make the world shake a tiny bit. It’s not comfortable!
Concerns: I have heard other trainers say, “This will make a dog feel unsafe or scared of his crate.” In ten years, I’ve never seen that happen.
The second solution is to get a squirt bottle. I don’t mean a little mister, I mean a bottle from Lowe’s that’s meant to have cleaner or something in it! Something with a powerful stream on it. This stream needs to get through the air, the bars of the crate, and hit your dog with enough force for your dog to feel it! A mist won’t do. You need a squirt! Don’t aim for your dogs face if you can avoid it; we don’t want to hit the eyes. And DON’T put anything but water in it!
Concerns: From trainers, I occasionally hear the same concern as above, and the answer is also the same! From owners, I hear: “But my dog LIKES water.” My dogs both LOVE water! They hate, however, the squirt bottle. There’s a big difference between getting into water willingly and getting squirted with something cold and wet surprisingly. It startles them out of their bad behavior, and that’s all we really want. Even dogs who aren’t particularly bothered by a squirt bottle will usually stop barking; it annoys them into good behavior!
Now that we’ve stopped the barking issue, let’s talk about making the crate an okay place to be. When I start crating dogs, I make sure they have at least two toys in their crate that they like. Every time they go in their crate, they get a treat. I feed them in their crates as well. I also put their bed in their crate (or piles of old towels, if you’re afraid they’ll chew up their bed out of boredom) so it’s comfy. Think of it as a kid’s bedroom: it needs all the stuff in it they might want so they can hang out and ignore their parents!
Once you have all that good stuff in their crate, start tossing treats in there. Leave the door open until they’re comfortable to go in, get the treats, sniff around for more, and come back out. You can give them more treats while they’re in there, too. Once they can do that, start closing the door for a few seconds at a time, giving them more treats while they’re in there. Once they can do that, start leaving them in there for a few minutes at a time. If they’re comfortable eating in there, give them dinner with the door closed and leave them in for ten minutes after they finish.
Build up the time slowly; when they get comfortable, add more time. It generally takes a day or two if you’re home all day and can devote time to it. If you aren’t, or if your dog has some trauma associated with crate training that needs to be overcome, it could take up to a week. I hate to say it, but usually if it takes longer than that, someone is letting them out when they cry — though the person may not even be aware of it!
All right, all that said… I’m going back to bed! All this getting up early to let the puppy out has worn me down!
(Not quite what you were looking for? Wondering how to potty train once Fido’s crate trained? Have no fear, just click here!)
Jenna
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: children, dogs that have been rehab'ed, expecations, philosophy, training, training in unusual conditions
I’m going to give you two scenarios:
Scenario 1:
Matrix is a ten-year-old shepherd cross. She lives with 2 children, ages 4 and 2. Matrix doesn’t much like the children: she growls if they get too close, and has even snapped at them for playing near her. Whenever her owners leave the room, they call her with them because she can’t be trusted.
Scenario 2:
Max is a four-year-old terrier cross. He lives with one child, age 2. He loves children, and his child loves him. They play together and adore each other. Max can be trusted with children, and has never shown any aggression toward them, no matter what’s going on.
Which of these scenarios is better?
Matrix’s parents realized they had a problem, and they called me. We taught Matrix to leave when the children walked up to her. Her owners still call her with them when they leave the room, in case a child trips and falls on her, and when friends come over to play she takes a rest in her own room, protected from the children, with her toys and her bed.
Since Max didn’t have any problem with kids, there was no reason to call a trainer. (I do know Max, as he was in training for leash manners, and I saw him around his boy. There was no doubt they loved each other.) When Max’s boy tried to give him a hug one day, Max was trapped, unable to escape, and nearly crushed by a child much larger than he was. In a panic and hurting, he snapped to get away. The boy went to the emergency room, and Max was put down.
Small dogs and dogs in pain are at great risk from children. My dog, Cash, is 110 pounds and loves kids. That said, if one of them lays on him, he’s too big (and too fit and young) to be hurt by it, and he’s big enough to get away. Most dogs don’t have that ability; most dogs are either too small or too old to escape like that. If your child is too young to understand that they need to be gentle and never hang onto a dog that’s trying to leave, then they’re probably too young to be left alone with the dog. What will your dog do when it’s trapped and hurting? Grab your dog’s leg when they’re walking and refuse to let go, or grab them around the neck and lay on them. Whatever they do, imagine if they did that while your child’s face was next to theirs, because your child was giving them a hug.
Most dogs that bite are already aggressive. Once pushed to that point, they’ll bite more easily the next time because they learn that it works. This bit of truth is wrong, though, when small children are involved. A trapped, hurting dog will bite even if they’re not aggressive. Calling your dog out of the room with you takes two extra seconds, and ensures that your child won’t hurt your dog — and can, therefore, save your dog’s life.
I would like to say this doesn’t happen often, but this winter alone I know of two dogs — friendly, sweet, child-loving dogs — who were put down after biting children who hurt them, trying to hug them. Is a hug worth your dog’s life? Please, teach your children to be gentle. Teach them to let go when the dog leaves. And until they’re old enough to remember to do so reliably, call your dog with you when you leave the room. It could mean the world to your family.
I bet you have presents, complete with wrapping paper and ribbon sitting somewhere around your house right this minute! And if you have a dog, your dog probably thinks those presents are pretty fun toys!
There’s a trick to keeping a dog from going after presents (or food or counters or trash or anything else, really). First off, don’t go showing things to your dog. That makes them interesting! Don’t wander around cooing over those fancy packages, if you can avoid it. Don’t point them out to your pup and then firmly tell him to leave them alone; all your dog knows is that you drew his attention to them, so they must be important!
But most importantly, when you see your dog LOOKING at those things, make a noise that will startle them (clapping, a hissst noise, slapping a newspaper against your thigh, etc) and when they jump away, call them away and praise them for leaving.
Note that I said to do it when your dog looks at the packages. If your dog gets used to ignoring them completely, then when you leave they might visually check it out, but they won’t tear into things. If you let them look, then when you leave they’ll still take it one step farther: tearing into things! You always want to correct for better behavior than you really care about, so that when push comes to shove and the line gets blurred, it doesn’t get blurred very far, and your dog walks away still well behaved!
Meantime, have fun opening presents!
J
The Pet People of Los Gatos asked me to write an article on how to properly walk your dog. I did so, and I’ll re-print it here for your edification!
Many people think that taking Fido out for his daily walk means he’s going to drag you down the street, pausing to sniff and pee, taking a look at the world and everything in it as it goes by — and that this is good for him.
The truth is, this kind of walk will only wind him up without giving him enough exercise, and teach him that the world is over-exciting and the person on the other end of the leash — you — can be ignored.
Pet People would be happy to put you in touch with trainers who can teach you and Fido how to walk together, but in case that’s not an option or you’d like to give it a go yourself, here’s a guide toward proper dog walking that will exercise your dog’s body and mind.
So lately, I’ve been working on a new goal: to brush my dog’s teeth daily. I’ve been doing pretty good at it, too; it’s hard to create new habits (for both us and our companions!), but I’m working on it!
As it happens, my dogs are really good about having their teeth brushed, but if your dogs aren’t, there are some things you should know (including how to make it happen).
First, dental cleanings are supposed to happen every two years, unless you brush your dog’s teeth. That’s several hundred dollars saved every couple of years — I like that!
Second, chewing rope toys (or toys with thread) brings a very slight chance that the threads will wrap around the base of your dog’s tooth and kill the tooth within six months. It’s a very slight chance — let me repeat, VERY SLIGHT — but since my dog, Lily, chews cloth and rope like it’s going out of style, it’s a chance I don’t want to take!
Now, teeth brushing for a dog is much simpler than for a person. You stroke each tooth 3-4 times with downward strokes; no scrubbing needed. (Though… I still scrub. If my dogs will tolerate it, and they do, I figure I might as well! I scrub the insides of their teeth, too, though I’ve never heard anyone saying that’s nesecary.)
If your dog is like most dogs and doesn’t want to tolerate teeth brushing, training them otherwise is simple, though it takes a few months and some patience. Each step should be completed at the dog’s speed: when your dog will tolerate step one, move on to step two, and so on. Let it take as long as it needs; in some cases, this could take weeks.
Step 1. Touching your dog’s muzzle.
If your dog really won’t tolerate this, start at the top of their skull and stroke downward, then give them a treat as you reach their muzzle or right after you’ve petted. When they’ll allow that, try rubbing the sides, and treat. When they’ll tolerate that, you can segue into the next step by rubbing their lips hard enough to lift slightly. Don’t expect this to work overnight; more like a week!
Step 2. Showing teeth.
You need to see your dog’s teeth before you can brush them. Once you can rub their muzzle, start lifting their lips to spot the teeth. Again, lift and treat. When they’ll let you lift, then work on lifting for longer. If your dog isn’t nippy, you can always try to hold their head somewhat still, but do so in a happy, laughing, having-fun kind of way. If they’re really determined to fight you, you’re pushing too hard and need to back off. Creating a real fight will only make the whole thing something your dog wants to avoid! You can also start putting toothpaste on the tips of their teeth; dog toothpaste tastes good, and it’s an instant treat and incentive to let you touch their teeth.
3. Brushing!
Once you can lift your dog’s lips enough to see canine teeth, you can start brushing! Use a dog toothbrush, your finger, or a little finger-cover. Stroke down over one tooth, praise and treat! Don’t worry about getting the gumline or anything like that; that can come later. By this time, you can start using toothpaste, and that’ll help in both cleaning and treating.
As your dog gets better about letting you stroke, stop treating for every stroke and start using the toothpaste as a treat. Lots of praise and love, and bit by bit work up toward the gumline and start including the back teeth.
Some things to remember: don’t start a fight. If your dog is truly uninterested, slow down to an earlier step or take a break. You can use some slight restraint, but as soon as your dog starts to really pull back, stop. Restraint makes a dog much more likely to fight! Use dog toothpaste; human toothpaste is bad for dogs. Dog toothpaste tastes like chicken or peanut butter, and it’s an automatic treat!
All that said… off I go to brush my dog’s teeth. Good luck!
Jenna
