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Help! My dog ate my toothbrush... Four times.
JimJimBinks
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have a Siberian Husky. He's 4 years old, and very playful/energetic. We walk him every day, sometimes twice a day, and he's always fed. He has two dog toys he loves to chew on, but he doesn't chew on anything else in the house.
Except for electric toothbrushes. He apparently has a thing for them.
My wife and I both use Philips Sonicare toothbrushes. Sams Club sells them for $119 a pair. He's a big dog, he can damage the thing beyond repair in seconds. Unfortunately he only manages to get it when we're sleeping, or when we're at work. He chewed on one when he was a puppy, so we were down to one for us to share (We'd switch out the brush heads.) A year ago, he got his paws on the second one. So we bought a new pair (Another $119.) We decided we'd keep the brushes up high, and always make sure the bathroom door is closed. Six months ago we forgot, and he got one of the new pair, so we shared again.
Today, when my wife left for work, she accidentally left the bathroom door open AND the toothbrush on the sink instead of the high shelf where we usually put it. So we're going to end up spending another $119.
I know an easy alternative would be to not get the expensive toothbrush, but my teeth don't feel anywhere near as clean when I use anything else....
Is there a way to break my dog of this habit, or are we just going to have to become much better at keeping the door closed all the time?
Except for electric toothbrushes. He apparently has a thing for them.
My wife and I both use Philips Sonicare toothbrushes. Sams Club sells them for $119 a pair. He's a big dog, he can damage the thing beyond repair in seconds. Unfortunately he only manages to get it when we're sleeping, or when we're at work. He chewed on one when he was a puppy, so we were down to one for us to share (We'd switch out the brush heads.) A year ago, he got his paws on the second one. So we bought a new pair (Another $119.) We decided we'd keep the brushes up high, and always make sure the bathroom door is closed. Six months ago we forgot, and he got one of the new pair, so we shared again.
Today, when my wife left for work, she accidentally left the bathroom door open AND the toothbrush on the sink instead of the high shelf where we usually put it. So we're going to end up spending another $119.
I know an easy alternative would be to not get the expensive toothbrush, but my teeth don't feel anywhere near as clean when I use anything else....
Is there a way to break my dog of this habit, or are we just going to have to become much better at keeping the door closed all the time?
JimJimBinks on
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Also, get some bitter apple spray and soak the thing, apparently it taste horrible to them but isn't dangerous in any way.
Make sure that his normal chew toys don't resemble the toothbrush in any way. Also giving him too many different chew toys can make it hard for them to figure out what is a chew toy and what isn't.
Be patient and train him.
Just seems strange to me as I grew up always having a toothbrush holder and it was automatic it went back in the thing the second you rinsed it off after brushing. I don't think I've ever left a toothbrush lying around.
That would encourage you to put them somewhere safe
"Shut the door or it will cost us $120"
This, I mean, it really isn't hard to put the toothbrush out of the dog's reach or shut the door.
Soaking something you're going to put in your own mouth in a spray designed to keep things out of dogs mouths seems like a poorly thought out plan.
My wife uses one of these (goddamn dentist convinced her she needed it when I wasn't around to go $120WTF), and it came with a solid blue case that fits the brush and 2 extra heads. Keep it in the travel case maybe?
I have a direct method of confronting my pets when this shit goes down: take item, show to them.
A) Dog is cowering: loudly say NO! and hold it in front of them - they know they did something bad.
That's why I said my plans required a sacrificial toothbrush.
Oh, and needless to say, the thread is incomplete with pictures.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
They're pretty awesome, and every dentist I've ever talked to likes them too. After losing 4 to a dog I'd probably stop buying them, though.
After reading jclast's post I went to home depot last night and bought a spring for the door that forces the default state to be closed. I didn't even think of doing this. I keep forgetting I can make any modifications I want to a house I own, I guess I'm still in the mindset of a renter.