Hi! I am Dave Epstein, welcome to Growing Wisdom. In this edition of Growing Wisdom, we're going to be doing a little bit with pets, and you might think, wait a second, pets aren't plants, but if you know what's here in Growing Wisdom we often give you tips that have to do with your pets. This particular one, little bit of dental care, very important for your pet. So I am going to get Ripkin (ph) and we're going to talk about how to brush your pet's teeth.
Alright, so we've got Ripkin here and dogs aren't thrilled with having their teeth brushed. But one of the things that I've discovered is that if you continue to brush them on a regular basis, that they actually begin to get used to it, and that's the nice thing. They don't mind it. When I first started doing Ripkin's teeth, he really did not like this at all. But now, he is a lot better about it.
Now, couple of things, you've got to use a dental canine toothpaste, that's very important, and also use a canine toothbrush, that's a brush, that's a lot smaller. Don't use your own toothbrushes, the bristles are different, these bristles seem to be a little bit softer, and they don't bother the dog's teeth as much.
I put Ripkin upside down and I do that because it's a little bit easier to control the dog, and then I just basically do each side of his mouth. I brush in gentle circular motions, from the back, all the way to those front teeth and including -- and this is what they tend not to like. The nerves in the front are little bit more sensitive, so they don't like those as much, and then I do the lower teeth as well. And again, just gentle circular motions.
It's very important to do this on a regular basis. If you can do it everyday, that's what you want to do. If you don't do it, then your dog is going to get tartar built up on his teeth and eventually they will lose their teeth, and that is not a good thing, it can be very expensive, it can also be very bad for the dog. One of the benefits is that you're removing the plaque and the bacteria, it doesn't get into their circulatory system which can cause damage to them.
So as you could see that was quite easy, it doesn't take that long, and it really is a very beneficial thing that you can do with your dog. And Ripkin, here is a very good sport about it, after having it done so much. Really he's pretty good. What do you think? And you know what, his breath isn't that bad either.
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