How to photograph canine molars?

[kellip171]

So there was a very nice post from /@legend28 about trying to get your dog comfortable with mouth exams

Teach Your Dog to Accept Mouth Exams - Keystone Training

I'm going to start this but what I noticed was that the video shows how to get them comfortable up until the premolars with a closed mouth.

I plan to have a partner use a 4k camera and take stills from that to get photos of my dogs teeth but unless I can catch him yawning, the strategy the video shows won't show the very back molars. And based on how his mouth has opened, the gums cover up part of the teeth that I want to document.

I have had to force open his mouth before to feed him medication but I don't think that's a good idea for this case.

Any ideas on how to warm him up to far back mouth exams?

Thanks!

 

[gdssldier]

@kellip171 Have you seen some of the examples linked in the r/dogtraining husbandry wiki page? For instance, asking him to target (touch) the top of his nose to your hand, and also his chin to your hand, then asking him to do both at the same time and spread the distance between your thumb and fingers, he'll need to open his mouth to be able to stay in contact with both at once.

 

[kellip171]

@gdssldier It has been a while since I jumped on that page, it has improved a lot since then!

spread the distance between your thumb and fingers, he'll need to open his mouth to be able to stay in contact with both at once.

I can picture this and I'll start giving this a try, if I'm visualising this correctly, I should eventually be able to have his mouth open and still while the camera points to the inside.

Thank you

 

[hangngand]

@kellip171 I’ve always made a point to get into my dogs nooks and crannies all the time. So now when I actually need to look at something, they are very comfortable with it. Both of my dogs recently let me shave their feet and in between their toes. I did get the side eye, but that was about it!

 

[kellip171]

@hangngand Yeah I didn't make this a habit at a young age and now I'm working more to get him comfortable. Thankfully he's (most of the time) try to cooperate

Did you do anything special or was it due to desensitising them at the puppy stage?

Feet shaving on the back legs is still tough for me, he's quite ticklish but he tries his best to power through it

 

[hangngand]

@kellip171 I got them at 4mo and 10mo old, so they weren’t totally babies. But yes I did. I think some of it is just their natural temperaments, and they want to please. They also know that mom is the “ouch” fixer and soother, so that also helps. I always make sure to lay on the praise, and start with small things and work up to bigger in the beginning. You mention looking at his molars. I would start handling his lips/front teeth while also giving some neck scratches and verbal praise. Depending on your dogs temperament, these things take time.

 

[yozjif]

@kellip171 A little peanut butter always helps! Get them used to licking it off your finger. Eventually put your finger in their mouth and rub some peanut butter on their teeth (for safety don’t put your finger between the upper and lower teeth!). Then run your finger and peanut butter along the top set of teeth until you feel the back molars. Eventually they will let you lift their lip up and stretch it back (into a smile) and you can examine the back molars.

 

[kellip171]

@yozjif I do recall having a similar reaction when I was using the doggy toothpaste, and he'd try to open his mouth to lick around the paste

Thanks, this might help getting a visual on the outside of the back molars and I'll try and use that targeting trick to get the inside of the back molars.