Thank you to those of you who played along with my little quiz that I posted here on Friday. You put your thinking caps on and sent me your answers. Some of them you got right and of course, the others you got wrong. Someone got 99% of the answers correct. Everyone got one of the questions wrong. That was the question about who wrote the memorial for LaMar Kuhns and her husband read it at the Arizona National Specialty show. Many of you thought it was Connie Beckhardt. See the correct answer below. So here are the answers to my little quiz.
The handler that said “I can finish anything” was Jimmy Moses. Someone wrote to tell me that Jerry Guzman says this as well. Come to think of it, probably many handlers would say this to someone when asked if they could finish their dog.
The handler that said, “Give me a spooky dog to show. They always move, was LaMar Kuhns. I don’t know how well he’d do with a dog like this today as the judges are not as tolerant of spooky temperament in their ring.
The two litter sisters that were Grand Victrix was Anton’s Jenny and Anton’s Jessie. Everyone got that right.
The person that wrote the memorial tribute for LaMar Kuhns was Jane Dove and her husband Sylvan Dove read it at the 1984 National Specialty show in Arizona.
There were two writers of “This is the German Shepherd” book and they were Ernest Hart and William Goldbecker.
The editor of the GSD Review in 1985 was Lois Fryslin.
If a dog produces his phenotype, this means he produces himself……what he looks like.
The GSD Specialty club that Ed Barritt still belongs to and still stewards at most years but no longer lives in that state is the Mohawk Hudson Club in New York.
If your dog is diagnosed as having SIBO, those letters stand for “Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.”
The first ROM import since 1967 was Ch Jim v Fiemereck ROM
The people that used to advertise in the GSD Review and put on the bottom of their ads, “Records live, opinions die” were Ralph and Mary Roberts.
The Grand Victor whose father was a Grand Victor and he himself produced two Grand Victors and one Grand Victrix who lost one of his Grand Victor sons to bloat was GV Ch Mannix of Fran-Jo ROM.
The person that writes “Inside the German Shepherd Dog’s World” is me!
The person that writes the National Specialty show blogs is Evan Ginsberg
The German Shepherd Dog family of handlers are the Dancosses……Henry, Sandy and Leslie.
“Rex the wonder dog” was owned by breeder/exhibitor/judge, Joe Bihari.
If a dog is said to have the initials EPI then this means he has Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency.
The white German Shepherd Dog is the dog that is disqualified if he was in the ring. (Note: I said excused…..should be disqualified, but most of you knew what I was talking about).
All of these dogs would be disqualified: nose not predominately black, down with an undershot jaw, dog with hanging ears and the dog that tried to bite the judge.
That’s it for today, so once again, thanks for joining in.
My rating: refreshing your memory on trivia about the German Shepherd Dog: (4)
Showing posts with label dog bones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog bones. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT
Thank God it’s Friday and where the heck did the week go anyway? This is the weekend of the Canadian National Specialty show and a lot of my friends are up there enjoying that right now. Everyone seems to have fun at this show. Good luck to all the exhibitors! One of my friends and her husband take their motor home up there every year. I always wanted to travel cross country in a motor home and just take my time and take in the sights along the high way. Oh well, maybe one day when I get rich and famous!
Speaking of rich and famous……I’m going to make this plea this coming week on a couple of lists that I belong to. I just put it on my Facebook page yesterday afternoon. I need your help, so I’m networking it here as well. I wonder if any of you can give me advice or lead me in the right direction. Recently I wrote an idea for a television reality show. I’ve had it copyrighted with the Copyright Office and also have a registration number from “The Writer’s Guild of America.” Because of my research on the internet, I was led to believe that MTV accepts unsolicited material so I wrote them a letter with my concept for the show. When I didn’t hear back from them, I called them and they told me they no longer accept unsolicited material and in fact haven’t done so for the last two years. They advised me to get an entertainment lawyer or agent. I contacted a lawyer that I know lives in California (non-entertainment) and he was kind enough to inquire about this for me. He was told the same thing that studios don’t accept unsolicited material. So what I need is an agent or an entertainment lawyer. Do any of you guys know anyone that fits this description…….friend, family member, associate, friend of a friend, distant relative……..anyone at all that can guide me in the right direction? No scratch that…….anyone who can get me into a production company??? PLEASE WRITE TO ME PRIVATELY at: uwish@hvc.rr.com Mucho thanks!
Now back to the doggy stuff. A couple of days ago I asked my readers what state did they think should be the official state of the German Shepherd Dog. Naturally I got answers from people who thought that the state that they lived in should be declared the official state of the German Shepherd. I heard from those from New York, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, etc. Oh and even someone wrote to me saying British Columbia, Canada should be the winner! The most responses came from New York. Two people wrote to me to tell me that New York tried to make this their official dog after the 9/11 incident but for some reason it hasn’t passed yet so one of the ladies that wrote to me just wrote a letter to her state Senator to inquire about it. She told me when she hears from him, she’ll let me know. Speaking of 9/11, this is a story that I wrote all those years ago concerning that horrific event in our countries history. Have a great week-end everyone!
THE MAJESTIC LADIES
By
Barbara J. Galasso
From a distance you could hear the steady humming of a jet that grows increasingly louder as it speeds ever faster towards its target. Closer now; the humming is replaced with a roar. Deafening, crashing, and crushing…..no time to prepare. Just a blank expression; not even recognition of ones surroundings. Jet fuel leaking, angry black smoke rising, red hot fire spreading. Steel beams collapsing, walls surrender, little Joey’s framed picture falls to the floor, a telephone rings from a forgotten desk in the corner of the office. Voices scream, crying and shouting. “Get out, get out” is the last words some hear as the voice succumbs to the dead of silence. The falling, the awful falling. The walls cave in; the floors disappear as the majestic ladies tumble to the ground, floor by floor, stairwell by stairwell.
Thick black choking smoke. Flames dance across the bleak landscape. Debris, so much debris. Crushed stone, twisted cables, a set of keys, a wedding band, and a scrap of paper with a note saying “Don’t forget 2:00 meeting today.” A cell phone rings among the trappings of the fallen buildings. A German Shepherd rescue dog lays exhausted by the feet of the dirt covered fireman who sits in shocked bewilderment among the rubble that was once known as the majestic ladies.
In other parts of the country, two more jets are racing towards their destiny and a place in the history books. No survivors, all victims have succumbed to their fate in a lone field or the side of a building. The majestic ladies are not alone in their heroic defeat.
Oh America, your innocent, your brave cry out for justice. Hear them shout from the top of a snow capped mountain, or your painted valleys awash with a tapestry of colors, or through the deep crevices that reverberate through your canyons. Hear them in the whisper of a gentle breeze that caresses a lone tree top that sits in a barren meadow. With each new dawn that starts the day and when dusk follows her lead, those who have gone before us prepare for their day of reckoning. They can no longer be silenced by the deafening thunder of a jet. The souls of the past beg to be remembered. Peace escapes them as they search for America to be vindicated.
The flags will be flown at half mast today as the breeze catches the fabric with her stars and stripes that ripple ever so gently across the clear blue sky. Wave high, wave proudly Old Glory, as we’ll never forget what you stand for and represent. The majestic ladies stand ever tall in our hearts. And if one walks past ground zero late at night and you listen long and hard enough, you may still hear the echoes of life begging to be remembered. One may think they can still hear the telephone ringing, faxes sending, copying machines copying, ideas exchanged at the board meeting…..business going on as usual. “Hey Jane, what did you do over the week-end?” someone asks. “No dear, I won’t forget to pick up a container of milk on my way home tonight,” another softly whispers in to the phone. A secretary types her boss’s presentation papers for the meeting early this afternoon. She accidentally types in the wrong number. She goes back and corrects it. She changes the 0 to a 1. “There now, that looks better,” she compliments herself. Her boss comes over to her desk and reminds her, “Don’t forget, I need to get out of here by 3:00 this afternoon. It’s my son’s birthday and I promised my wife I’d get home before rush hour traffic.” The secretary nods her head up and down in acknowledgment of his request. She makes a mental note to herself; “Today is not a good day to ask for that much needed raise. Tomorrow” she tells herself. “I’ll do it the very first thing in the morning.” She turns back to her paper she’s typing and dates it September 11, 2001. “Gee, I’d like to get out of here early myself,” she chuckles. The majestic ladies hear her. She’s about to make history.
NO PART OF THIS STORY MAY BE REPRINTED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR!
My rating: Thank God it's Friday: (4)
Speaking of rich and famous……I’m going to make this plea this coming week on a couple of lists that I belong to. I just put it on my Facebook page yesterday afternoon. I need your help, so I’m networking it here as well. I wonder if any of you can give me advice or lead me in the right direction. Recently I wrote an idea for a television reality show. I’ve had it copyrighted with the Copyright Office and also have a registration number from “The Writer’s Guild of America.” Because of my research on the internet, I was led to believe that MTV accepts unsolicited material so I wrote them a letter with my concept for the show. When I didn’t hear back from them, I called them and they told me they no longer accept unsolicited material and in fact haven’t done so for the last two years. They advised me to get an entertainment lawyer or agent. I contacted a lawyer that I know lives in California (non-entertainment) and he was kind enough to inquire about this for me. He was told the same thing that studios don’t accept unsolicited material. So what I need is an agent or an entertainment lawyer. Do any of you guys know anyone that fits this description…….friend, family member, associate, friend of a friend, distant relative……..anyone at all that can guide me in the right direction? No scratch that…….anyone who can get me into a production company??? PLEASE WRITE TO ME PRIVATELY at: uwish@hvc.rr.com Mucho thanks!
Now back to the doggy stuff. A couple of days ago I asked my readers what state did they think should be the official state of the German Shepherd Dog. Naturally I got answers from people who thought that the state that they lived in should be declared the official state of the German Shepherd. I heard from those from New York, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, etc. Oh and even someone wrote to me saying British Columbia, Canada should be the winner! The most responses came from New York. Two people wrote to me to tell me that New York tried to make this their official dog after the 9/11 incident but for some reason it hasn’t passed yet so one of the ladies that wrote to me just wrote a letter to her state Senator to inquire about it. She told me when she hears from him, she’ll let me know. Speaking of 9/11, this is a story that I wrote all those years ago concerning that horrific event in our countries history. Have a great week-end everyone!
THE MAJESTIC LADIES
By
Barbara J. Galasso
From a distance you could hear the steady humming of a jet that grows increasingly louder as it speeds ever faster towards its target. Closer now; the humming is replaced with a roar. Deafening, crashing, and crushing…..no time to prepare. Just a blank expression; not even recognition of ones surroundings. Jet fuel leaking, angry black smoke rising, red hot fire spreading. Steel beams collapsing, walls surrender, little Joey’s framed picture falls to the floor, a telephone rings from a forgotten desk in the corner of the office. Voices scream, crying and shouting. “Get out, get out” is the last words some hear as the voice succumbs to the dead of silence. The falling, the awful falling. The walls cave in; the floors disappear as the majestic ladies tumble to the ground, floor by floor, stairwell by stairwell.
Thick black choking smoke. Flames dance across the bleak landscape. Debris, so much debris. Crushed stone, twisted cables, a set of keys, a wedding band, and a scrap of paper with a note saying “Don’t forget 2:00 meeting today.” A cell phone rings among the trappings of the fallen buildings. A German Shepherd rescue dog lays exhausted by the feet of the dirt covered fireman who sits in shocked bewilderment among the rubble that was once known as the majestic ladies.
In other parts of the country, two more jets are racing towards their destiny and a place in the history books. No survivors, all victims have succumbed to their fate in a lone field or the side of a building. The majestic ladies are not alone in their heroic defeat.
Oh America, your innocent, your brave cry out for justice. Hear them shout from the top of a snow capped mountain, or your painted valleys awash with a tapestry of colors, or through the deep crevices that reverberate through your canyons. Hear them in the whisper of a gentle breeze that caresses a lone tree top that sits in a barren meadow. With each new dawn that starts the day and when dusk follows her lead, those who have gone before us prepare for their day of reckoning. They can no longer be silenced by the deafening thunder of a jet. The souls of the past beg to be remembered. Peace escapes them as they search for America to be vindicated.
The flags will be flown at half mast today as the breeze catches the fabric with her stars and stripes that ripple ever so gently across the clear blue sky. Wave high, wave proudly Old Glory, as we’ll never forget what you stand for and represent. The majestic ladies stand ever tall in our hearts. And if one walks past ground zero late at night and you listen long and hard enough, you may still hear the echoes of life begging to be remembered. One may think they can still hear the telephone ringing, faxes sending, copying machines copying, ideas exchanged at the board meeting…..business going on as usual. “Hey Jane, what did you do over the week-end?” someone asks. “No dear, I won’t forget to pick up a container of milk on my way home tonight,” another softly whispers in to the phone. A secretary types her boss’s presentation papers for the meeting early this afternoon. She accidentally types in the wrong number. She goes back and corrects it. She changes the 0 to a 1. “There now, that looks better,” she compliments herself. Her boss comes over to her desk and reminds her, “Don’t forget, I need to get out of here by 3:00 this afternoon. It’s my son’s birthday and I promised my wife I’d get home before rush hour traffic.” The secretary nods her head up and down in acknowledgment of his request. She makes a mental note to herself; “Today is not a good day to ask for that much needed raise. Tomorrow” she tells herself. “I’ll do it the very first thing in the morning.” She turns back to her paper she’s typing and dates it September 11, 2001. “Gee, I’d like to get out of here early myself,” she chuckles. The majestic ladies hear her. She’s about to make history.
NO PART OF THIS STORY MAY BE REPRINTED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR!
My rating: Thank God it's Friday: (4)
Friday, October 30, 2009
HOW ABOUT A TRICK FOR A TREAT?
Many of us try to feed the best dog food that we can afford. I try to feed my dogs natural or holistic types of foods. I was in the supermarket yesterday doing my grocery shopping and I always see what coupons (I’m a coupon Queen) I have for my dog’s snacks. Let me tell you, I must have read practically every ingredient label on the boxes of dog biscuits or treats they had on the shelves. Most all of them list wheat as the first ingredient, and then you’ll see the other unsavory ingredients like corn, by products, soy, etc. listed next. So here I am writing about the benefits of feeding natural ingredients in our dog’s food and I’m looking for dog treats in the grocery aisle of the supermarket!
Two days ago I got an e-mail sent to me from the Director of Brand Marketing for the dog food that I recently reviewed called Organix. He sent me an article that his company Castor and Pollux who produces this food was just honored by Dog Fancy magazine as the top new product for dogs. This product is called “Good Buddy Mac and cheese” dog biscuits. I admit that I've never used it for my dogs yet. Part of the sales of this dog treat goes to feed shelter animals. This company donated meals for 750,000 shelter animals last year!
Buying treats in the pet stores can be very expensive and it’s rare to have a coupon to buy them with. One of my dog’s favorite dog biscuits from these types of stores is the Canidae dog biscuits. These are the ones that snap in half so you can divide them among two dogs. They go nuts for these cookies. But they’re not cheap.
Some people give their dogs fruits and vegetables. I read that some breeders give their dog’s sweet potato’s which is a healthy alternative for snacking. If my dog’s are in the mood and nothing else is being offered to them on that day, they’ll eat carrots. My dogs are excellent eaters so they’ll eat most anything that’s offered to them, but carrots they can take or leave.
Even if you buy your dog’s treats in a pet store, always read the label. It doesn’t mean because it’s more expensive that it’s any better for them. They can still be selling the same ingredients in their biscuits as you would find in the grocery store only with a fancier label.
I’m not a baker. I like to cook, but I won’t win any awards for my baking expertise. There are recipes for dog biscuits that some people will bake for their canine friends. This way you know what’s in his cookie and you don’t need to use any preservatives. This is probably a whole lot cheaper to do than to buy the commercial brand of treats and a heck of a lot healthier. As I’m writing this, I’m thinking of doing this myself if I can find an easy recipe to follow. I’d probably save myself a whole lot of money! Does anyone have any great recipes for dog cookies or treats? Here are a couple of recipes that I found on the internet you may want to try.
PUMPKIN WAFERS DOG TREATS
• One 15 oz. can mashed pure pumpkin (NOT the spiced pie filling)
• 3/4 cup cream of wheat (or rice cereal if wheat-sensitive) you can mix this dry--no need to cook it first
• 1/2 cup dry powdered milk
Directions: Preheat oven to 300 F.
Mix all ingredients together. Drop small spoonfuls (about half of a tablespoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
FROZEN DOG TREATS (You can make these in ice cub trays)
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 ripe banana --
• 16 ounces plain yogurt
Mix the peanut butter, honey, and fruit together until well blended—mash with a fork or use the blender. Add the fruit mixture to the yogurt and mix well. Freeze in ice cube trays. Crack trays and release treats as needed!
Mix all ingredients together. Drop small spoonfuls (I use about half of a tablespoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
For any treats that you make (besides the frozen ones), you can store them in an air-tight container or put in the refrigerator.
I’m sure your dog/dogs will love most any treat that you give them. For my readers who are pet owners, please never give your dogs CHOCOLATE anything and no grapes or raisins either. Someone told me recently that they give grapes to their dogs and they’re little tiny toy dogs. I told her not to feed them grapes anymore especially the size of these little guys. They can be toxic! If you are unsure of what to avoid when feeding your dog, just do a search on the internet and it will list all of the foods to avoid giving to your dog.
Watch out for the trick or treaters tomorrow night. Make sure your dog doesn’t get into the kids candies and tell the children to leave the treating of the dogs to the adults.
I think giving dog’s snacks as a reward or training incentive is good for them. Or you can do what I do, give it to them just because I like to spoil them.
My rating: healthy, natural dog snacks: (4), supermarket brand snacks: (1 -2), homemade dog treats: (4)
Two days ago I got an e-mail sent to me from the Director of Brand Marketing for the dog food that I recently reviewed called Organix. He sent me an article that his company Castor and Pollux who produces this food was just honored by Dog Fancy magazine as the top new product for dogs. This product is called “Good Buddy Mac and cheese” dog biscuits. I admit that I've never used it for my dogs yet. Part of the sales of this dog treat goes to feed shelter animals. This company donated meals for 750,000 shelter animals last year!
Buying treats in the pet stores can be very expensive and it’s rare to have a coupon to buy them with. One of my dog’s favorite dog biscuits from these types of stores is the Canidae dog biscuits. These are the ones that snap in half so you can divide them among two dogs. They go nuts for these cookies. But they’re not cheap.
Some people give their dogs fruits and vegetables. I read that some breeders give their dog’s sweet potato’s which is a healthy alternative for snacking. If my dog’s are in the mood and nothing else is being offered to them on that day, they’ll eat carrots. My dogs are excellent eaters so they’ll eat most anything that’s offered to them, but carrots they can take or leave.
Even if you buy your dog’s treats in a pet store, always read the label. It doesn’t mean because it’s more expensive that it’s any better for them. They can still be selling the same ingredients in their biscuits as you would find in the grocery store only with a fancier label.
I’m not a baker. I like to cook, but I won’t win any awards for my baking expertise. There are recipes for dog biscuits that some people will bake for their canine friends. This way you know what’s in his cookie and you don’t need to use any preservatives. This is probably a whole lot cheaper to do than to buy the commercial brand of treats and a heck of a lot healthier. As I’m writing this, I’m thinking of doing this myself if I can find an easy recipe to follow. I’d probably save myself a whole lot of money! Does anyone have any great recipes for dog cookies or treats? Here are a couple of recipes that I found on the internet you may want to try.
PUMPKIN WAFERS DOG TREATS
• One 15 oz. can mashed pure pumpkin (NOT the spiced pie filling)
• 3/4 cup cream of wheat (or rice cereal if wheat-sensitive) you can mix this dry--no need to cook it first
• 1/2 cup dry powdered milk
Directions: Preheat oven to 300 F.
Mix all ingredients together. Drop small spoonfuls (about half of a tablespoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
FROZEN DOG TREATS (You can make these in ice cub trays)
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 ripe banana --
• 16 ounces plain yogurt
Mix the peanut butter, honey, and fruit together until well blended—mash with a fork or use the blender. Add the fruit mixture to the yogurt and mix well. Freeze in ice cube trays. Crack trays and release treats as needed!
Mix all ingredients together. Drop small spoonfuls (I use about half of a tablespoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
For any treats that you make (besides the frozen ones), you can store them in an air-tight container or put in the refrigerator.
I’m sure your dog/dogs will love most any treat that you give them. For my readers who are pet owners, please never give your dogs CHOCOLATE anything and no grapes or raisins either. Someone told me recently that they give grapes to their dogs and they’re little tiny toy dogs. I told her not to feed them grapes anymore especially the size of these little guys. They can be toxic! If you are unsure of what to avoid when feeding your dog, just do a search on the internet and it will list all of the foods to avoid giving to your dog.
Watch out for the trick or treaters tomorrow night. Make sure your dog doesn’t get into the kids candies and tell the children to leave the treating of the dogs to the adults.
I think giving dog’s snacks as a reward or training incentive is good for them. Or you can do what I do, give it to them just because I like to spoil them.
My rating: healthy, natural dog snacks: (4), supermarket brand snacks: (1 -2), homemade dog treats: (4)
Monday, September 7, 2009
CANINE TEETH AND HEALTH
Anyone who has owned a number of dogs over the years will have lived with one or two that seems to have chronic bad breath. Nothing is more “yucky” then when your dog comes to give you a big slobbery kiss and his breathe just about knocks you out! We shouldn’t be surprised. If we can have bad breathe, so can our dogs and they eat a lot more unsavory “tidbits” than you or I do. For some reason when it comes to the care of our dogs, many of us forget to take care of our dog’s teeth. How often do we check his mouth and look at his teeth?
I had a big hunky male one time that had a stinky mouth. When he sat down next to me, which was often because he thought he was meant to be a lap dog, the smell that assaulted my nostrils was far from pleasant. He was a gentle giant so opening his mouth and looking at his teeth was no problem. He would get a brown stain on the top of his teeth running along his gum line. Looking back at what he liked to chew, his favorite toy was his Kong toy. Those toys are not good chew toys because they really can’t chew down on them like they can a bone. He didn’t like Nylabones, so that wasn’t an option. He was ball obsessed. So I had to take him to the vet to have his teeth professionally cleaned. They would knock him out and he’d come home with his “pearly whites” and all would be fine for awhile. But the stinky mouth returned and we would have to take him in to the vet periodically to have his teeth cleaned.
So what do you do to insure that your dog has good oral health? It’s very important to check your dogs’ mouth and teeth to make sure they are healthy. Red, swollen gums and tarter build up can produce gingivitis and disease. What can happen if your dogs’ teeth are not taken care of? The tarter build up can push the gums away from the teeth. This can allow food particles to get trapped and the tooth can become loosened and fall out. If tarter is not removed from the teeth, infection can occur. If not treated the infection can get in to the blood stream leading to disease of the kidneys and infection of the heart valves.
Sometimes the dog will have mouth problems not due to tarter build up. If you have a dog who loves to chew on sticks and stones and whatever else he can wrap his jaws around, it is the wise owner who checks on this type of dogs mouth more than usual. It is not unheard of that a dog will get a piece of the stick caught in between his teeth and infection begins.
There are a few different ways to help insure that your dog has good canine health. Training him at a young age to have his teeth brushed is wise, but let’s face it; it can be difficult with a squirming youngster. But like everything else, it all comes down to training the dog. Giving your dog bones to chew on helps with tarter build up. Also, like I had to do with my dog, taking him to your vet to have a professional cleaning will insure that he is getting the most thorough cleaning and inspection of his mouth. The drawback with this is that he’ll need to be put under anesthesia. Also it's very expensive. Then, there is the dog that is fed a raw diet. Many people believe that a dog fed this kind of diet has the healthiest teeth and gums because a raw diet consists many times of bones.
If you decide on your vet cleaning your dogs’ teeth and mouth, it will normally consist of four steps: scaling – removes the tarter above and below the gum line, polishing – smooths the surface to help prevent plague formation, flushing – removes dislodged tarter and the bacteria that accompanies it and fluoride for teeth sensitivity, strengths the enamel and future plague formation.
There are many stores and websites that carry canine toothbrushes, paste, gel, etc. to use for your dog. Check with your veterinarian what he suggests you use for your animal. Preventative care is the smartest thing we can do when taking care of our dogs and also the least expensive. It’s the problems that can arise when preventative care isn’t part of our dogs’ regular check up.
Expenses surrounding our dog’s teeth and mouth can be relatively inexpensive when purchasing the brushes, paste and gels. It’s when your dog runs into trouble and his teeth haven’t been checked and infection sets in. Then you can be looking at thousands of dollars in medical bills.
In doing research for this article, I’ve learned that there are dog vet dentists who specialize in the oral care and surgery of the dog’s mouth. Let’s hope that we never have to call upon their services.
My rating: importance of oral health care: (4) preventative treatments: bones (3) brushing(4) vet cleaning (4) raw diet (4)
I had a big hunky male one time that had a stinky mouth. When he sat down next to me, which was often because he thought he was meant to be a lap dog, the smell that assaulted my nostrils was far from pleasant. He was a gentle giant so opening his mouth and looking at his teeth was no problem. He would get a brown stain on the top of his teeth running along his gum line. Looking back at what he liked to chew, his favorite toy was his Kong toy. Those toys are not good chew toys because they really can’t chew down on them like they can a bone. He didn’t like Nylabones, so that wasn’t an option. He was ball obsessed. So I had to take him to the vet to have his teeth professionally cleaned. They would knock him out and he’d come home with his “pearly whites” and all would be fine for awhile. But the stinky mouth returned and we would have to take him in to the vet periodically to have his teeth cleaned.
So what do you do to insure that your dog has good oral health? It’s very important to check your dogs’ mouth and teeth to make sure they are healthy. Red, swollen gums and tarter build up can produce gingivitis and disease. What can happen if your dogs’ teeth are not taken care of? The tarter build up can push the gums away from the teeth. This can allow food particles to get trapped and the tooth can become loosened and fall out. If tarter is not removed from the teeth, infection can occur. If not treated the infection can get in to the blood stream leading to disease of the kidneys and infection of the heart valves.
Sometimes the dog will have mouth problems not due to tarter build up. If you have a dog who loves to chew on sticks and stones and whatever else he can wrap his jaws around, it is the wise owner who checks on this type of dogs mouth more than usual. It is not unheard of that a dog will get a piece of the stick caught in between his teeth and infection begins.
There are a few different ways to help insure that your dog has good canine health. Training him at a young age to have his teeth brushed is wise, but let’s face it; it can be difficult with a squirming youngster. But like everything else, it all comes down to training the dog. Giving your dog bones to chew on helps with tarter build up. Also, like I had to do with my dog, taking him to your vet to have a professional cleaning will insure that he is getting the most thorough cleaning and inspection of his mouth. The drawback with this is that he’ll need to be put under anesthesia. Also it's very expensive. Then, there is the dog that is fed a raw diet. Many people believe that a dog fed this kind of diet has the healthiest teeth and gums because a raw diet consists many times of bones.
If you decide on your vet cleaning your dogs’ teeth and mouth, it will normally consist of four steps: scaling – removes the tarter above and below the gum line, polishing – smooths the surface to help prevent plague formation, flushing – removes dislodged tarter and the bacteria that accompanies it and fluoride for teeth sensitivity, strengths the enamel and future plague formation.
There are many stores and websites that carry canine toothbrushes, paste, gel, etc. to use for your dog. Check with your veterinarian what he suggests you use for your animal. Preventative care is the smartest thing we can do when taking care of our dogs and also the least expensive. It’s the problems that can arise when preventative care isn’t part of our dogs’ regular check up.
Expenses surrounding our dog’s teeth and mouth can be relatively inexpensive when purchasing the brushes, paste and gels. It’s when your dog runs into trouble and his teeth haven’t been checked and infection sets in. Then you can be looking at thousands of dollars in medical bills.
In doing research for this article, I’ve learned that there are dog vet dentists who specialize in the oral care and surgery of the dog’s mouth. Let’s hope that we never have to call upon their services.
My rating: importance of oral health care: (4) preventative treatments: bones (3) brushing(4) vet cleaning (4) raw diet (4)
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