Training for dental checks

I have done handling exercises and he would let ne look in his mouth, he wasn't keen on it but tolerated it.

I had to taken him for his first annual dental check at the vets a few days ago. He normally is muzzled at the vets as he hates it but it had to come off to check his teeth. I held his mouth open while the vet just looked. At one point he'd backed himself into a corner and the vet loomed in a bit too close and he freaked out.

Now he hates me going in his mouth. Not helpful as one of the TTouch exercise involves rubbing gums which he doesn't want me to do now. He's more than happy for me to put my hands in his mouth during play, but if I try to do it as a handling exercise, he is now REALLY unhappy about it.

I've been trying to desensitive him but lifting his lip, give a treat, one finger in mouth, give a treat but it's not helping. He'll back off and paw my hands away, today I persisted and he gave me a warning growl. Normally Cain trusts ne to do absolutely anything with him. I don't want to push it to the point where he feels he needs to bite to get his point across.

The thing is that he must have his teeth checked every year for insurance purposes so now I need to know how get him comfortable with me inspecting his mouth again.

I was wondering if I could train him to open his mouth on command as he might be happy if it wasn't held open? I would also like him to be happy with me handling his mouth too though.

Any ideas?

Try letting him lick sticky, yummy things off your fingers so he relaxes with your hands near his mouth. Take it really, really slow and gradually start your TT exercises again.

I would suggest that you go back a few steps & work through the exercises again. Do you use a clicker?

Start by just touching the side of his face, click & treat for no reaction (or good boy, praise, whatever you use). Then hold your finger there gently & count to 2, click & treat for no reaction. Then gradually move your finger nearer to the side of his mouth, , then a tiny amount of lip lifting, then hold lip up etc etc. Don't move onto the next stage until Cain's completely comfortable with what you're doing.

Once you can get to the stge that you can lift a lip & touch a tooth, then try touching the tooth with other objects, e.g. a coin, a teaspoon. Then increase the time you hold up his lips, alternate sides of the mouth, then move to the front of the mouth.

Do everything very slowly at Cain's pace & only for a couple of minutes, say, twice a day (before meals?). Make it fun & pleasant, like a game, so he comes to look forward to the sessions. then if you end with a good exercise, lots of praise & dinner ~ he'll come to associate the few minutes of training with his food.

It may take a few weeks, but as there's no rush, you can go slowly.

Thanks guys that's great advice. Yes I agree that this needs to go very slowly as Cain found the vet check very traumastising he doesn't need another dental for a whole year so we have plenty of time to work on this to get him comfortable so no rush. We do use a clicker for our training, I hadn't thought about using that....doh!

I know his teeth are great and I'm not worried about keeping an eye on them during training as he often hangs his mouth open during a belly rub and I take a good look then.

Has anyone trained a dog to hold it's mouth open on command? Some of the bears I worked with we trained to do so to make checking their teeth easier (as otherwise you had to GA the bear) however I was never involved in this particular training aspect so unsure of the process.

While I obviously need to be able to handle Cain's mouth, I feel it was me physically holding of his mouth open while he was scared that made him feel vulnerable rather than the lip lifts, so I was thinking if he could do this himself and therefore feel in control as well it might make it all less stressful for him.

I was actually thinking about changing vets....do you think tis might help him? He had a vet traumatic first visit for his castration (due to him being in a bad place himself but not helped by a bad tempered make vet) and has hated the place ever since (although has been fine with some understanding female vets). He's ok if the vet takes their time to relax him but when they try to rush through he gets stressed. It's a chain so we don't have a regular vet. I was thinking a smaller practise with a few staff who he could get to know well might help, also a new surgery wouldn't have the bad associations of the first visit.

My dogs have never had a Dental Check. Is this a new thing?
The vet glances at their teeth if they`re ever in, but I tend to keep an eye on them myself.
The only time I`ve had a dog with bad teeth is when I took on a Rescue who had been chewing stones.

It's in the small print for Pet Plan, part of showing that you've taken steps to care for your dogs health (Inc annual dental check and vaccinations) or you can void your insurance

the thing that made me really mad is that when he was castrated in Feb and while he was under nobody noted his teeth condition despite my request for a general health check (as we'd only just got him) Apoarently they would have glanced at his teeth and written if there was a problem but as there wasn't nothing was written, so because there was nothing on his notes about his teeth I had no proof that a vet had checked his teeth. I had to take him in, pay for a consultation and stress him out just because nobody wrote on his notes that his teeth were fine very frustrating, especially as it upset him so much.

Right well I've found some instructions online about how to use a clicker to shape an Open mouth cue and I decided that's definately what I am going to do, starting tonight.

I am of course going to work on the handling exercises to as I feel it's very important that at least I can handle any part of Cain as you never know when it might be important, and I'll still need to lift his lips for the vets. However I am going to put him in control of opening his mouth for the vet who can stay well back and use a torch I am determined that by this time next year for his dental check, we'll have this cracked, because I'm not putting the poor lad through it again.

Personally I blame the vet as she took no time to greet or relax him. I've had different vets in that surgery who really took time with him and one evencommamd that I remove that unnecessary muzzle! Cain loved her and rolled over for belly rubs! This vet just went too fast for Cain and next I will speak up and not be rushed! When our TTouch practitioner came he allowed her to rub his guns despite her being a total stranger, so I really think it was the vets attitude. But I reckon this can be fixed with time. Poor Cain, that's one more fear he has now

Bless Cain. I'd definately say change vets if you feel Cain's not comfortable - or even if you're just not comfortable with them. Hopefully you'll be driving soon and that will open up a few more vet practices in the area you can try out!

What is different with your approach between handling during play and handling during an excercise?

Something you are doing is switching him into a different "Mode" and gettign a different response.

Why not build upon whatever it is you are doing in "play" that allows him to handle his mouth?

The difference is that he chooses to open his mouth during play. Hrs always been mouthy as I expect he was taken away from his litter mates to young and his previous owners didn't teach him bite inhabition. When I approach his mouth without him initiating is when he objects. I've been trying to rub him gums just a little when he's mouthing but once he realises what I'm doing, he pulls away.