Teeth

Rarely do we get strays around our neck of the woods and when we do they somehow find our yard. Somehow? Hello... dogs live here and that's why they come here. Fence... really want a fence!

So, there was this little Pomeranian cutie-pie sniffing around my petite back yard the other day. I went out to great the little fellow and he came right over with little hesitation after I gave my "I'm harmless" postures. Groomed to some extent, wearing a (tagless) collar and quite elderly was he. "Must belong somewhere", I hoped and went back inside for him to wander back to where he belonged.

Meanwhile, my dogs were going nuts with this diminutive intruder.

My son followed suit to announce, "stray dog!" in the yard. So, out I went to chat with him about the little beast who at that time had decided "it's all good!" by trying to hump my very tall pre-teen. It was then that I noticed this dogs teeth. Did he have a canine tooth missing? Oh yeah, you bet he did! And the others were so rotten I can't imagine how they were staying in his mouth. ICK! Besides this little monster being adorably cute, his mouth was a trash pit and made me ill to look at it. Long story short, the dog disappeared and hopefully found its home.

I decided shortly after to clean my dogs teeth! Now, I do this very regularly and I know and understand that this can be a challenge to most owners because dogs simply aren't nuts about having us put a fist in their mouth (exaggeration, but you know what I mean)!

TTouch and common sense to the rescue!

Common sense: Dogs need to have their teeth cleaned. We as conscious beings know this. We know what happens to teeth that are neglected and the diseases that can result from it. News flash.... dogs get it too! No big surprise there, is it? They have teeth, they eat, they get tarter build up. Tarter can lead to gum disease. Gum disease can lead to other ailments such as liver problems and other colorful goodies your vet could tell you all about.

But the average doggie does not understand these truths (do any?), they just don't want YOUR hands in THEIR mouth. But as a considerate and caring human, should you take their feelings as a guideline and honor it? Would you do so if it was your child whining how he just doesn't like the toilet as much as his diaper?

Time to put on the big girl panties and teach Bowser how much fun tooth cleaning can be. Yeah, you'll be lieing a bit, but you CAN make it fun.... sort of. Okay, fun enough for them to comply and that's all you really need.

Let's talk about teeth cleaning products and choices. There are many OTC brands to choose from out there, then there's RX brands (vet), and finally the "whole hog" tooth cleaning done by your vet.... which does involve anesthesia and is only a few chapters short of actual surgery.

On one end of the spectrum are the OTC brands, they are the bottom feeders of tooth cleaning products. They will do an "okay" job, they're cheep and they will need to be used OFTEN to see any results. On the other end is the vet cleaning which does an amazing job but is rather costly, involves a day visit at their office and being "put under" for the procedure.... this is a "big" deal. Inquire with your vet about specials he or she may offer (mine does a reduced cost for the entire month of February every year).

Then, there's the RX brands such as "Oravet". This is not as inexpensive as the marginal cleaners in the pet shops, but is far cheaper than the vet cleaning and does an amazing job of removing tarter buildup.

Read that again..... Oravet does an amazing job of removing tarter. And, it's easy to use. EASY.

TTouch: "But, Bosco won't let me put my fingers in his mouth". Oh yes he will. Believe it. Gentle ttouches along the gum and lips will accustom Bosco to having his mouth fooled with. Although the paste comes with a wand for application.... I find "the finger" works better as the dog accepts it more readily and you can feel where you're applying the paste ~ and really rub it on there.

With regular use of Oravet, you can reduce those necessary vet cleanings to every-other-year or so plus not put your animals' health in jeopardy like some proverbial roll of the dice by simply ignoring his teeth.

Yes, you should consider having your animals' teeth professionally cleaned at regular intervals. Consult your vet. Since I have been using Oravet for the past 2 years, no one has had tartar buildup to the degree of needing that annual cleaning. Yet. The Oravet (for me) began as a take home/followup item after the last professional cleaning. I was so impressed with the outcome that I get a refill package every few months. My animals are small so we don't use an entire tray with every cleaning and I simply replace the foil lid and it keeps till next time.

My vet was impressed. She openly wished all her clients knew how great Oravet is and would use it. So, I'm here to tell you, it's great! You should try it. Just one package and see how it goes. No, it isn't dirt cheap, but you're not going to use the box up for at least 2 months and that's only if you use an entire tray to clean your dogs teeth each and every week....which may be the case if you have a HUGE dog with HUGE teeth.....the tray is a generic size, you see.

Think of it this way; you brush your teeth, why shouldn't your dogs have clean teeth too? Sure, they don't live 80+ years like we do.... but they'll be happier, healthier years if their teeth are not an issue. And then think of those brown/black rotten teeth in the mouth of that elderly Pomeranian with his swollen, red and bleeding gums. No dog chew is going to clean your dogs teeth as properly as they proclaim. You don't rely on bubble gum to keep your teeth clean, do you?

Happy cleaning and feel free to contact me if you'd like some moral support. Give us a brag once you've tried it and seen the results.

The Great Dog Food Debate

Ol Roy vs premium dog food (or any "cheap" food vs the premiums). You'd think that feeding grocery store/pet store dog food would much, much cheaper to feed your pet with no doubt nor debate. Open your umbrella and be willing to capture new truths.

Truth is that feeds (like Ol' Roy) contain a LOT of corn and fillers. That's what makes it cheap, there's much less of the ingredients a dog NEEDS to be healthy. Corn is a glycemic, a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are sugars. Sugar is a fuel that spikes the blood sugar followed by a sugar crash. A dog who consumes a high carb diet will need to eat a LOT to fuel the body, because it's not going to be as filling as higher quality, healthier ingredients. Think of eating a plate of cornbread day in and day out vs a hearty steak with a baked sweet potato. The steak will fill you and fuel you much more and for a longer period than the cornbread will. Other misleading ingredients may include an animal "meal".... that means the leftovers of that animal (bone, skin, fat, gristle, etc.)....not the flesh which is what your pet needs. I agree that "meal" is a good thing, but it's not the protein you'd like to believe that it is. It's more like the A1 that ads "oomph" to the steak.

Dogs switching to a higher quality diet will have a few days of adjustment. Pavlov's theory plays a part in that: dogs switching from an 8 cup-a-day diet to less than half that will feel cheated at first. Sugar addiction is the other factor. Soon though, they won't be begging for more and will feel more full, possibly leaving uneaten food in the bowl. That's okay! They aren't living on corn and floor sweepings anymore.

Once the dog has adjusted to the new, higher quality diet the owner may notice a drop in feed costs. Sure, the better food is much more expensive at the cash register, but the dog is eating much less.... which typically produces a significant savings. Don't you wish your gas tank were as easy to fix? .... Another benefit is much, much less fecal waste because the dog is using what he's ingesting rather than having floor sweepings express through his GI to your back yard.

Health benefits are the other effect. A high glycemic diet can well bring on diabetes which is a forever adjustment in diet and care and yes, more expense. Daily insulin injections, specialized diet and regular monitoring. Other effects can be arthritis and an increase in dental issues.

We don't feed our children a diet of candy, so why feed the dog something equally as harmful?
Even if you do feed a quality food, do check the ingredient label. I was shocked to learn that the specialized "diabetic" kibble sold only by a prescribing vet is actually more harmful as it's first ingredient is.... you guessed it: CORN. Even the vet was unaware of the negative effects of corn on a diabetic. Don't blame the vet... blame the pet food manufacturer. A prescription diet that is more harmful than a quality feed from a reputable dealer. Never take a bag of food for granted.

How do you find these higher quality feeds? I did a search on a specific brand and found ("Canidae", "Taste of the Wild", "Evo", etc.) a feed store near me; paid them a visit and received helpful advise, lots of education and made a few new friends to boot. I dare ya, give it a try and enjoy a healthier pet.

Mental Musings

I've lived along the main channel of the Tennessee River for 20 years now and in all that time I've never had a fenced yard. I would prefer a fenced yard, but the layout of my house, driveway, front walk and that lake make it awful hard to figure out just 'where' to put a fence that will do its job but not impede with the regular comings and goings of the human inhabitants.

Studying energy medicine had given me some new insights and ignited some odd experiments. Have you ever heard the quote, "Change your mind - change your dog"? That's where I'm headed with this. Hang in there.

Okay, so let's go back a year or so. I was taking the three dogs for a walk down our quiet, wooded lane (where a fenced dog is an exception rather than the rule). We got to dead end of our lane where a lovely Australian Cattle Dog lives and who happened to be out in his yard when we arrived and he came running to check us out.

My body went into reaction/alarm mode. I stiffened up, my heart began racing, my body was preparing for battle. "Wait-a-minute!", I suddenly thought to myself. "I'M the human. I'm the animal with the larger brain here. I'm bigger than all these guys. I am in charge here and I'm going to handle this!"

Immediately my body relaxed. My dogs were looking at me in surprise. I stepped forward and placed myself in front of Elvis, turned to him and let him know, "I've got this". His body softened and he let me take the lead. I turned to face, "Cobber" and giggling with relaxed ease, I calmly told him to, "go home!". And.... to my amazement, he did. No altercation happened, no barking, no pulling on leads. All was calm and this was a deeply profound experience for my three dogs. A brief encounter that radically changed my life.

Fast forward to the present day and here I am becoming something of a "dog whisperer", as I have been dubbed on occasion, and that old saying rang in my head one day, "change your mind - change your dog". While learning energy medicine and other wonderful things that are all things "dog", I have experimented with mental intentions towards dogs...... in this case, I "think" a command and you know what? Each and every time, the dogs respond to the thought!

Now, I've been hesitant to share this, after all, it's a large chunk of reality that we humans find hard to digest, because "we" don't read minds or hear thoughts. Mostly. So, rather than hop on the believing band wagon, I've continued testing this theory and I'm getting to the point where believing is as basic as believing in water..... you'll still get wet when you jump in.

After a couple of weeks of carefully monitoring my thoughts when it came to my dogs, and receiving exceptional feedback, I decided to really put this theory to the test. What if I imagined my yard to be fenced? A sort of mental barrier between the house and our neighbors and especially the road.

Jazz accepted this mental barrier right away. Nestle would run up to the road on occasion, but I would immediately think thoughts of, "danger!" and "come back here where it's safe!".... and he would do so right away. It's been (at this writing) about 5 weeks since I put the mental fence in place and the two dogs still enjoy dashing out the front door, but they don't keep going. They stay in the yard and they stay with me.

Early in this "mental fence" stage, Nestle would leave the yard and stand in the road contemplating wild ramblings but would come running back the moment I mentally asked him to. After a few successful experiences like this one, I decided I'd test him to see if it was all just a fluke or if he really was hearing my thoughts. The next time Nestle left the yard and stood in the road I yelled the mental thought, "I'm going to KILL YOU! Get back here!!"..... and he ran off and was gone for well over an hour.... only when I sent Jazz to go find him did he come back. ..... Lesson learned. I have not used negative mental thoughts towards the dogs since and Nestle has not run off since.

Yesterday was the biggest test. I'd left the little doggie door open for the cat and Jazz & Nestle had a free pass to the outside world. A neighbor dog came into our yard and out they ran to meet him. Normally this would result in running amok through the neighborhood for a prolonged period which would include hunting feral cats, squirrels, etc. But, it didn't. In fact, Jazz & Nestle never left the yard and they came in when I asked!

I'm still taken aback by this. Try some mental intentions with your dogs and see what happens. Your thoughts should be as clear as verbal speech and without distractions to be most effective. I discovered when I began trying this that my dogs looked at me with a sort of astonishment....like speaking for the first time, or something.

Elvis Update

A few days after my last entry I successfully trimmed Elvis's toe nails with my Dremel tool for the first time..... ever!

Elvis is 7 1/2 years old. He has always fought me on nail trimming and has easily won these encounters since being old enough to really throw his weight around.... that would be since he was about 10 months old. I have over the years tried muzzling him; I have worn a bike helmet to prevent his head slamming into mine.... which has happened, and boy did that hurt! I have sat on him and I have restrained him. All to no avail. For the past 5 years the vet has trimmed his nails. I have not even been able to touch his feet or toes in all that time. Needless to say, every tactic I used years ago made his experience terrible and he wasn't going there again. Overcoming this seemed an impossible task only a few months ago.

Since October, I've had less than half a dozen TTouch sessions with Elvis..... where I actually worked with him for 20 minutes or more. Each time he relaxed and accepted more TTouches and accepted having his feet handled more and more. His warning growls reducing every time.

The nail trimming adventure was amazing. He accepted the noise and vibration of the tool fairly quickly and as TTouch increased his trust a thousand fold, he showed no tension or resistance to the Dremel making contact with his toenails. Once he realized the Dremel would not *hurt* like a traditional nail tool, he relaxed. ** I can not use a traditional nail tool after having incurred tendon damage to my hands in a bike accident.

I look back and recall how Elvis used to be with nail trimming. It would terrify him so much that he would loose all self control and reason. It was horrific and at his size.... dangerous.

TTouch works wonders.