Kate Jackson: To brush your dog's teeth, they need to be comfortable with you messing with their mouth. It's best to start this when they are a young puppy.
The process is desensitizing them to you touching and opening and looking in their mouth.
Dancer over here is seven years old and he has never had his teeth brushed, so it's going to be a little bit more difficult to get him comfortable at doing this.
You are going to need to start with some dog toothpaste. They make them in beef and chicken flavor. Start by putting a little bit on your finger and letting your dog lick it off your finger.
The toothpaste should be a treat for your dog. Make sure you use dog toothpaste and not human toothpaste. Human toothpaste can make your dog really sick.
You are going to want to start with a finger toothbrush like this. The bristles are nice and soft.
You are going to put some of the dog toothpaste onto the toothbrush and let your dog lick it off of the toothbrush.
So when you have done this for a few days, you are going to be ready to start brushing the front of their mouth. Try just for a couple of seconds, once a day.
: Good boy! That's a very good boy.
Kate Jackson: After brushing the front of their mouth for a couple of days, and they seem comfortable with that, you can start to brush towards the back of their mouth.
: Yes, that's a good boy. Very good!
Kate Jackson: You are going to brush in circular motion, paying most attention to the canines and to the back of your dog's teeth. Don't worry so much about the inside; their tongue will keep that a lot cleaner.
Once your dog is comfortable with the little toothbrush, you can always graduate to a big dog toothbrush. Although this one works great as well.
After every brushing, make sure you praise your dog like crazy and give them loads of treats. For WebMD's 1 Minute Trainer, I am Kate Jackson.
: Who's my good boy?
