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

snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
Charlie said:
The thought of using a Dremel sends shivers down my spine!
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I use clippers too on occasion, but I find the Dremel so much more precise and I can take off such a tiny bit, far less than you could with clippers, just by its very nature. And since you should file after clipping anyway, it just cuts out the middle-man :D
I'm regularly Dremelling my own fingers, and it doesn't hurt at all. The potential for heat build-up is an issue, as @Emily_Babbelhund said, so you need to keep it moving and I tend to touch it on the nail in three different goes (left side, right side, top) in a rolling movement for each, so it never stays in place for any length of time.
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
snowbunny said:
I use clippers too on occasion, but I find the Dremel so much more precise and I can take off such a tiny bit, far less than you could with clippers, just by its very nature. And since you should file after clipping anyway, it just cuts out the middle-man :D
I'm regularly Dremelling my own fingers, and it doesn't hurt at all. The potential for heat build-up is an issue, as @Emily_Babbelhund said, so you need to keep it moving and I tend to touch it on the nail in three different goes (left side, right side, top) in a rolling movement for each, so it never stays in place for any length of time.
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AGREE AGREE on all this. :nod:

Clippers are much easier to mess up than the Dremel and more likely to cause pain. It's easy to keep the Dremel from building up heat, I do the same thing you're describing with the 'touch move touch move touch move'.


For teeth, I was reminded how important cleaning is today as I had Chihuahua Fine as a house guest. Her poor little teeth. Even though she is fed a very high quality kibble diet plus a daily (tiny) Greenie, her teeth are in horrible shape and she has lost a few more since I saw her in winter. Her human thinks brushing is too complicated to try despite my evangelising.

Now Chis (as well as many small breeds) have notoriously bad teeth vs. Labradors, but it's so worthwhile to do toothbrushing. Clean teeth contribute to heart health, reduces the chance of pain from dental issues and makes all those 'besitos' much nicer too. If you have your dog's teeth cleaned at the vet, it also saves your pup going under GA and saves you money. Plus they love it...win, win.

I'm also a huge believer in dental scaling and actually really like doing it - but start with the brushing or just getting your dog to like your finger smeared with yummy paste in his mouth. Baby steps. :)

However/whichever everyone decides to do (teeth and/or toes), good luck in July and start your engines tomorrow if you're not already at it!

Now I just have to come up with suitably ridiculous Bavarian prize. :D
 
snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
For those who need to do their dogs’ nails “for real” during the nail a day challenge, you need to make the picture look very different to how you’re doing your one a day. Today, I did all of Willow’s. The picture for “you don’t have a choice” is J sat next to her, giving her the treats (at my say-so), compared to it just bring me and her when we’re working on our consent picture.
Even so, I give her the choice to continue throughout: after every foot (or more frequently if I think she needs it), I use her reinforcer to lure her off the sofa and then it’s her choice (no cue at all) whether she gets back up.
This works as her way of saying, even though it’s not her favourite thing, she’s ok for it to continue, and also releases a bit of pressure from her in the same way I use other “pressure on / pressure off” scenarios for her.

It’s really effective if you want to try it. The most important thing is that the dog gets a reinforcer whether or not they choose to get back into the situation, so you know they are not doing it only to get that reward.
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
snowbunny said:
I was actually thinking of this today when I was doing Shadow’s teeth, as he has a bit of plaque on the gum line of his canines. Can you recommend a scaler? He doesn’t mind me trying it with my nail, but it’s not very effective!
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I got mine years ago in the Nurnberg train station from a weird guy who was always there selling scissors and medical instruments. I'm thinking Amazon would do a bit better for you. :LOL: Mine just kind of looks like this. The tips are flat, not pointed. I hold it with the curve flat on the tooth at the gum, so no 'pointy bits' scraping the tooth or poking the gum line. It is the side of the loop/curve that does the work.

I would have never thought to do it, but I was so traumatised by Brogan's one and only professional cleaning under GA that it was the vet who suggested I take a small metal spoon and remove any tartar buildup myself. I was totally taken aback but then gave it a try and was hooked. I was thrilled with my train station find as it was so much easier than the spoon.
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Day 1....abject failure! I’m trying to get Kipper used to the Dremel (cheap version) so was aiming for a comfortable sustained paw touch with my hand, while holding the Dremel in the other hand. I was also hoping to use consent as @snowbunny described, so Kipper lying on his bed, me throwing away a treat and him choosing to come back. That worked, but it was far too exciting - he’d leap back on the bed, slam his paw into my hand with a tense claw and then keep pawing until I threw a treat away from the bed :confused:
So tomorrow I’m stepping back to a calm paw touch, no Dremel. We’ll see how that goes...
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
@Natalie , Carbon is very jealous of the Minion toothbrush. "Que bonito" he would say!

@snowbunny thanks again for setting up the online calendar. I'm all checked off for toothbrushing today. Keeping it simple. :)

@HAH I can empathise - some of this stuff Carbon gets too excited about as well. My trainer suggested using lower value treats, even though I always tend to think higher is always better. Apparently not? Also starting again at the hand touch sounds like a good idea.
 
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HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Emily_Babbelhund said:
My trainer suggested using lower value treats, even though I always tend to think higher is always better. Apparently not? Also starting again at the hand touch sounds like a good idea.
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Spot on Emily, this sounds eminently sensible - I’ll try a combination of lower value treats and a more basic starting point tomorrow. I might also try and video it for amusement ;)
 
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