The Bavarian July Toe and Teeth Challenge - with prize drawing!

[Jacqui-S]

I'm not doing well.
Lilly is a lot less happy with the toothbrush than the finger stall thingy I used before.
Hmmm....
any tips?

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I do it at night because that's when Carbon is most chilled out. Also because he likes to sleep with his head resting on my neck so it makes overnight doggie breath nicer.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

any tips?

@snowbunny mentioned she just rubs Ginny's gums with her finger and a bit of toothpaste. Maybe that would be an easier place to start?

Does Lilly not like the taste of the toothpaste? Or just not want you anywhere near the inside of her mouth regardless of the taste?

 

[Jacqui-S]

I've moved to a toothbrush AND had to get new toothpaste.
Will try the new toothpaste with the finger thing. See if she will lick off the toothbrush just.

 

[snowbunny]

@Jacqui-S I saw a good video on early stages of tooth brushing; I’ll try to dig it out for you. From memory, the guy started off with peanut butter (or something else gooey and high value) on the toothbrush and just having the dog lick it off.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Better success this evening but the video would be food if you can find it @snowbunny

 

[HAH]

Day 5
Tonight we had a good session on feet (we haven’t started teeth yet, maybe tomorrow). We revisited comfortable foot holding with lots of breaks to check consent, and then we moved comfortably to me handling each toe quite firmly and extending the nail with slight downward pressure for short periods. I’m thinking about when we get to the dremel, this will be a useful move to get precision trimming. I did notice he’s slightly less easy with his left paw than his right, I’ll take this into account and go gently with building this up. Also, I’ve been ignoring his back feet do will bring them in tomorrow

 

[snowbunny]

Here’s the teeth video, @Jacqui-S

 

[Jacqui-S]

Interesting, thank you Fiona

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I did notice he’s slightly less easy with his left paw than his right, I’ll take this into account and go gently with building this up.

Strange, Carbon is exactly the same way - that front left foot is his 'Eeek, don't touch my paw!" foot. He's getting better with it but it's slow going.

The front right paw, however, is turning into the "Hey, hold my paw NOW" foot. Luckily he's not pawing at me (yet) but just trying to lay it in my lap.

We missed the tooth brushing last night because we fell asleep on the sofa and it was all I could do to get my own teeth brushed before stumbling into bed. Carbon and I have such exciting Friday nights!

 

[HAH]

Isn’t that curious, Emily? I guess it’s part of their left paw/right paw preference, it’s fascinating when these activities highlight them. And we also have the “right paw! This paw! You want this one?! Yes? Yes?!” enthusiasm...

Day 6
Tonight we worked on getting back feet up to speed, and I was pleased he was pretty chilled. I got to handle individual toes, and he didn’t register much - I don’t know if that was being relaxed, or just not registering back feet! I’m still rewarding very frequently, so I’m not sure whether to try and slow this down as we progress, or whether to keep a high rate and then fade once we’ve got the behaviours. My instinct is leaning towards the latter... he’s getting more comfortable with his front left too, so hopefully we’ll bring them all in to the same level eventually. No teeth work tonight, maybe tomorrow.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

No teeth work tonight, maybe tomorrow.

I was the opposite: skipped the toes, did the teeth.

 

[HAH]

I was the opposite: skipped the toes, did the teeth.

Brava

 

[snowbunny]

I forgot Shadow’s toothbrush and the Dremel, epic fail!

 

[HAH]

I forgot Shadow’s toothbrush and the Dremel, epic fail!

Maybe you could do it in mime?

 

[Emily]

Maybe you could do it in mime?

And video it of course

 

[Stacia]

Despite chaos and me feeling emotionally wrecked and worried, I have still done a nail every day, so far!

 

[HAH]

Despite chaos and me feeling emotionally wrecked and worried, I have still done a nail every day, so far!

Phenomenal job @Jelinga - you definitely win this week’s virtual bottle of gin for grit and tenacity x

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Despite chaos and me feeling emotionally wrecked and worried, I have still done a nail every day, so far!

That's amazing! I'm going to remember that this evening when I think, "Oh, I'm just too tired".

 

[HAH]

Day 7 (motivated by @Jelinga )
We worked more on rear feet, got to quietly holding the dremel (off) in one hand and handling toes with the other hand. Called it a day after we’d had our 4th break and Kipper seemed to take a bit longer to come back. ‘All done!’ and a scatter felt like good timing.