I've always brushed my dog's teeth. Pets Mart or Petco has poultry flavored toothpaste. My Mollie (black lab) is 13 and I've never had to have her teeth cleaned and has beautiful white teeth with no tartar. I also give her greenies. I don't give my dogs bones because our husky cracked a tooth on it which became abscessed and was quite costly but vet was able to save part of the tooth. It was one of the mandibles in the back. Also little dogs with the longer hair around the mouth do get a lot more bacteria development in their mouth which effects their teeth.

This is so confusing. I always thought you should only give them beef or pork bones that won't splinter. I read on the internet somewhere that the best bones are the ones that have knuckles, but I am not sure which cuts of meat that would be. The only one I can think of is the pork shoulder.

I tried to give her the little dog biscuits that the bank gave her, but she wouldn't have anything to do with them. She won't eat the dentabones that are supposed to clean their teeth either. I guess I will try putting them in her bowl. Maybe she would eat them then.

I also found out that giving her the tiny little dog food made for small dogs is probably what caused this problem. She needs large bites so that her teeth have to bite through them and naturally keep the teeth clean.

LOL

OMG, Molly sounds like my Moose (pom) he thinks he is human. They do think they are little humans sometimes.

Raw bones are fantastic for cleaning dogs teeth. But why did you cut most of the meat off? That's the best part! YES you can feed your dog raw beef.

My butcher doesn't have raw beef bones often enough for my group so when he does have them, I stock up and keep them in the freezer. There is only one thing better than raw bones for cleaning teeth and that is FROZEN raw bones!!

And you CAN give raw chicken - bones and all - to dogs. I will add one caveat though. Chicken can be "dirty" and it's best to have a trustworthy source of raw chicken before you embark on a raw chicken diet. By trustworthy - I mean very clean, and very fresh. Your local grocery store is not the best option. The only people I know who currently feed a raw chicken diet are owners of large dogs with jaws more than capable to break all the bones and chew them. I'm not entirely sure about smaller dogs with raw chicken.

NO raw pork or pork bones for dogs.

Cooked bones ... ALL cooked bones are a no-no for dogs. The ones that don't splinter (round bones from the femur) have lost all their nutritional benefits so you might as well just give them to the dog raw. Pork and Chicken both have the tendency to splinter. I have no idea about any other meats (lamb, duck, venison, etc) so no comment on them.

I do not do the raw food thing with my dogs, but know lots of people that do. Last year I was put next to a raw food vendor at the dog show, and they were handing out frozen duck wings.