Teeth question - Page 1

Questions towards the bottom of the post..
Background: Before I purchased Jack, he had worn down his teeth chewing on his favorite toys...rocks. I keep him inside with supervised play outside (NO ROCKS). He prefers chewing on rocks and metal to chewing on toys...I've had to remove his water bowl from the crate because I caught him grinding his teeth on it.

Here's how bad it is at 2 years of age:


See how flat those canines are? He's also flattened the back teeth as well.

What sort of protective measures can I take to prevent further tooth wear?
Is future bitework out of the question? Mean that in two ways: would bitework hurt him/do too much damage and can he even DO bitework...looks like he might slide right off the sleeve.

I'm interested in Schutzhund but there's plenty of other things we could try together if it doesn't pan out ;)

Wow!  I've never seen anything like this.  As long as there is no nerve exposed I don't see how bitework would hurt him.  As for sliding off the sleeve, that remains to be seen.  I'm thinking if he as a strong bite he would be ok.  Just keep all of the rocks and metal away if you can and keep encouraging him to bite something a little more friendly.  Good luck.
Deb

Thanks for the response, Deb!
I've asked two vets and they've both said that the teeth look ok, but neither would give me a straight answer about the effect of tugs on the teeth (didn't want to mention bitework...some vets get weird about that) and I think that they just didn't know. Maybe I should ask a dental specialist at the local vet college...

The reason I'm so interested in Schutzhund is that he definitely needs to be doing something more...challenging than he's doing now. I feel like if I could find something to challenge him enough mentally, it might take care of the intensity of his chewing...obedience work and lots of exercise just isn't cutting it. It might not make a difference, he may just be a crazy intense chewer.

...like the breeder told me, he needs a JOB. Mostly just trying to find something a promising young dog can do without further damaging his teeth.

Did you see the recent thread about OCD dogs that eat rocks and metal? I'd be looking for that one if I were you... 

Haha! Thank goodness he doesn't actually want to eat those sorts of things. I can only deal with one neurotic dog at a time :D Did your dog have teeth damage from playing with those rocks?

 Hi,

It is very important that you change the chewing habits of your dog. Let him chew, but you give him what to chew on. Even giving him something like a big bone from the thigh of a cow would be better than chewing on metal. Constant chewing on fences, balls, metal, rocks, or just about anything will wear down the teeth. Doing Schutzhund will wear down the teeth over time. But as far as strength to bite the sleeve, that is as much about the jaw strength as it is the teeth. Teaching the dog proper bite work, using a chamois early on, for example, can also help teach the dog to use his jaw and not just teeth (especially only the front teeth which some dogs try to do). 

I have a female who was injured at about 10 weeks old and the injury damaged her blood supply in the jaw. She is missing a canine above on one side, and another below on the opposite side, as well as several other teeth on all sides and both jaws. Believe me, she can hang on to a sleeve. So Schutzhund for you is not out of the question. But, if you end up with a dead dog because it ate a rock or ingested some metal that is not removed quickly enough, who cares about the sport? Change the habit of this dog ASAP. If you cannot, then put him in a solid sided kennel and remove all other items, including bowls and periodically give him water.

Good luck.

Have you tried giving him a black kong with peanut butter inside?  My girl will continue chewing on hers long after the peanut butter is gone.  You might give that a shot.

hodie-
Er, if you reread my post you will see that I do not let him chew on rocks or metal. Rocks = previous to my ownership. Metal bowl = caught once and never allowed access to again unsupervised (he drinks and then I take it away). My dogs are very very supervised because my collie (different dog) WILL swallow anything and everything.Thank you for the info on Schutzhund bitework etc, that was very helpful! :) One question though: Will jaw strength make a difference for my dog if all of his teeth have pretty much been worn flat? Think old dog teeth. Seems like it could have a different effect than missing some teeth, but I don't know much about bitework...

Debisue -
He's uninterested in Kongs unless someone else has it (game time!) and the only time I have tried peanut butter in it, he had baaaaaad diarrhea. I've tried other things, like pieces of chicken, but he always gets them out and his interest wanes. Maybe if I froze something in it...do they hold up to freezing?

mollyandjack,

Yes, he had worn down teeth from chewing rocks. You could see a black dot on the end of each one. The vet told me that black spot was where the nerve had sealed off, so it wasn't painful. In addition, one canine tooth was broken off when a darling child threw him a rock, which naturally he caught. It was bad and bled (the tooth, not the kid). Well, the vet told me, watch him. Eventually he will have symptoms like diabetes, and when that happens, get the tooth extracted. About two years later, he started acting like he had diabetes, and my new vet said, ok, I'll take the tooth out if you insist, but I don't see what that will have to do with the diabetes symptoms. Tooth came out, and in fact, the diabetes symptoms stopped right away! Just weird.

I also got a 2 year old bitch who had been kenneled her entire life and her teeth were already worn down to about half from chewing chain link. She still loved to bite, although I never let her train regularly. Just gave her a fun-bite once in awhile. She lived to be 9 and none of the teeth ever rotted.