Dog owners should know that regular cleaning of their dog's teeth is extremely important for their dog's health. 
As with humans, dogs develop plaque.
​Plaque is a gummy substance that forms on the teeth within a few hours after a meal.
Within 24 hours, plaque begins to harden by combining with salts that are present in the saliva. As the plaque continues to accumulate and mineralize, it eventually transforms into tartar. Tartar, also called calculus, is rough and porous and can develop above and below the gum line.

​There are two ways that tartar harms the teeth and gums.
First, tartar forms a rough surface serving as a place for bacteria to grow and multiply in the mouth. Bacteria can cause inflammation of the gums (gingivitis), which often results in painful bleeding. Gingivitis often progresses to periodontal disease, which leads to further inflammation, pain, and tooth loss (see handout "Dental Disease in Dogs" for further information). As tartar builds up along the gum line, it pushes the gums away from the roots of the teeth. As the gums recede, they expose the sensitive, enamel-free part of the tooth which causes sensitivity and pain and of course your dog will have a really bad smell from the mouth.

What we do? :)
Every few weeks we give our dogs to chew a raw bone (more about that you can read in our blog - "Bones do and don't"). It is important that the bone is previously frozen and defrozen on the room temperature.
When chewing the bone, your dog will perfectly clean the molars, premolars and incisors but since the dog does not use canine teeth for chewing, this is the only tooth you should try to clean.

INCISORS
​​Dogs have a total of 12 incisors in their mouths consisting of six incisors in their upper jaw and six incisors in the lower jaw. These single-rooted teeth have several functions.
​If you watch your dog chew on a bone, you'll likely notice that he doesn't seem to use his incisors much, but if you give your dog a bone with some meat attached, you may notice that he'll use this front teeth to rip and scrape the meat off the bone. 
For sake of comparison, the action is similar to when we remove kernels of corn on a cob.
On top of being used to scrape bones, those incisors also come handy for removing burrs from the coat and carrying objects around.

CANINE TEETH
Right next to the incisors are a dog's canine teeth.
Dogs have four canine teeth, two in the top and two in the bottom.
When the dog's mouth closes, these canine teeth should intersect nicely when they meet in a scissor bite. Canines are those sharp and pointy single-rooted teeth that are common in meat-eating animals.
​What are a dog's canine teeth used for? A dog's canine teeth were very important for survival purposes, as they allowed dogs to inflict several stabbing wounds to their prey. They also helped in catching and holding prey and tearing carcasses apart.

PREMOLARS
Dogs have a total of 16 premolars, eight in the upper jaw and eight in the lower one.
They are located behind the dog's canine teeth. Also known as cheek teeth, some of the farthest premolars are only seen when a dog's lips are pulled back. ​If you watch your dog chew on a toy or bone, you'll likely see him tilt his head to the side so that he can use his premolars.
 In the wild these teeth are used to rip meat away from bones. The arrangement of these teeth somewhat resembles shears with a serrated blade, an arrangement that helps dogs break food into smaller pieces, courtesy of these teeths' sharp edges.

MOLARS
There are four molars in the dog's top jaw and six molars in the lower jaw. Often people become aware of their existence only when the vet mentions that one or more of these teeth need extracted.
What are a dog's molars used for? We can get a clue from these teeth's flat surfaces. Dog molars are crafted so to allow dogs to grind foods like their kibble and crush bones. 
Mother dogs also rely on their molars to snip off the pups' umbilical cord.

You can buy this tool on ebay, Amazon and other selling platforms. 
To take a tartar from the tooth, use the tool with wider end and just scratch down the tartar in direction from the root to the top of the tooth. 
Of course you should do everything slowly. Let the dog smell the tool and prepare treats. Take one stroke of the tool on the tooth, give the treat to dog immediately and continue like this...and in about 15 minutes, the canine teeth will be clean.

It happens more often in winter because ears are cold, but winter is not only cause for this injury.  
 It can also be playing with another dog or striking their ear tip on a hard object while shaking their head or the like but most of these injuries happen during the winter.

The ear tip is a vulnerable piece of skin that can be damaged easily and once damaged, bleeds readily (and sometimes profusely) and is slow to heal.

Treatment varies depending on if the skin has been torn, cut, punctured or if the tip has just generally eroded (sometimes called an ulcer).
If you notice a sore on the tip of the ear, you must immediately start treatment so that it does not get bigger, because every time the dog shakes its head, the scab will burst, the iho will bleed again and the wound will deepen and this can be neverending and can last for months with possible erosion of the top of the ear.
It is important to apply the bandage for as long as the dog will leave it on, then replace as soon as the tape appears to be loosening/peeling away from the skin.
Total treatment time is often 3-to-6-weeks, then several more months of daily vitamin E oil and lanolin, Melem cream, Elisabeth Arden -  8 hour cream or any other cream with similar texture to help support the new, healthy tissue.

When the ear has the wound even if it is protected with bandage, there is still danger that it will be hurt again if your dog shakes the head.
So it is good to get a "snood" for the head which will definitely slow down ears when shaking head and keep them protected.


WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR THIS BANDAGE?

Medical tape
Sterile gauze or cotton wool
Ointment which helps speed up and improve the process of reepithelialization and tissue renewal or just a natural honey.


veterinarska-praksa-uvodic.webnode.hr/ 
​is producing Ointment speed renewal cream upon a request!




HOW TO DO IT
Clean the wound, apply small piece of sterile gauze or cotton wool over it.
Cut the medical tape to a length of approximately 5 cm.
Glue the tape starting on the inside ear, then fold it over the top of the ear (where the wound is located) and glue the rest of the tape to the outside of the ear. 

It is important to apply the bandage for as long as the dog will leave it on, then replace as soon as the tape appears to be loosening/peeling away from the skin.
Total treatment time is often 3-to-6-weeks.
After the wound is healed, continue to apply oil and  cream on the top of the ear for at least month to help and support new tissue of an ear.​

If somebody told us that we would have to buy coats for our dogs, and then for Ridgebacks....we would say: "Gimme a break!"
But the fact is, Ridgebacks do need a winter coat to protect them when the temperatures are really low.
Since they have no undercoat, they literally freeze, especially if they are not active outdoors.
So yes, it would be a good to buy a coat for your dogs to protect them from the cold.

BE COOL AND CONFIDENT IN PROCEDURE!
Ridgebacks are experts in reading our body language and energy.
If your dog reads your inner panic or stress, be sure that the dog be also bee stressed!

When you trim your dog’s nails, hold the clippers at a 45-degree angle.
Clip each nail carefully so that you don’t accidentally cut into the quick, which is the live part of the nail. 

NEVER PUT THE WHOLE NAIL INTO CLIPPER!
​​CUT IT PIECE BY PIECE TILL YOU DO NOT GET CLOSE TO THE LIVE PART OF THE NAIL!

Otherwise your dog will fell the pain and then it is probably The END...
Finito! Good bye.....
Drama is ON forever probably if the dog starts to connect the pain with clippers!
​This means stopping before you reach the pink part if your dog has white nails.
For black nails, stop clipping when you no longer see a whitish interior.

What if you cut too much and the nail starts to bleeding?
Your dog moved at the last second, you couldn't see what you were doing, you sneezed at the wrong time—whatever the reason, there's no need to panic if you cut the nail too short.
​Simply press a pinch of styptic powder, corn starch or flour to the nail and apply pressure until it stops bleeding, and let the God help you that your dog does not get in drama!
You can also use the antibiotic powder TYROSUR which we recommend to have it at home for any need!

The perfect cutting range ends right before the blood supply.
Front paws are more likely to get overgrown nails and should cut more often that the rear paws!
You should always cut parallel to the bottom. 

WE RECOMMEND

Millers Forge Nail Clipper With Safety Stop

We looove the Millers....They are pretty silent and do not disturb our dogs, and they are easy to handle!
 The blades are sharp and cut smoothly and easily.
Even with lots of use, the stainless-steel blades always held up great, maintaining their sharpness for many years. Millers are comfortable to hold, quiet to use, and easy to maneuver around each nail thanks to the size and thinness of the blades.
​These nail clippers also have a quick-guard safety feature and safety lock for safe storage.

or

Nail grinders are great for dogs that don't love clippers as well as dogs with black nails since you can't see the quick.

THE MOST IMPORTANT IS TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!
FIND OUT WHAT YOUR DOG LIKES MORE....NO MATTER IF IT IS THE GRINDER OR CLIPPERS, THE NAILS WILL HAVE TO BE SHORTEN EVERY MONTH.
MORE YOU WILL WORK ON THIS IN EARLY DAYS, THERE WILL BE LESS STRESS FOR ALL OF YOU!
YOU DO NOT DO DRAMA, JUST THE NAILS :)!