Thursday, August 11, 2011

WALRUS LIPS?

So, three guesses why I've been showing up so late the last few days. Hint: if you guessed dentist - you're right.

Today was tooth #19's big day. Nothing too exciting, my human said. But all the recent tooth drama has her all freaked out about teeth. Especially my teeth. Because I guess she brushes hers like all the time but still has problems - and my teeth haven't been brushed in 3 years, 1 month and 16 days. Which basically means never.

Hence the freak out.

We have the special little toothbrushes and the supposedly tasty toothpaste (both chicken and peanut butter flavors) but none of these things have ever passed my lips. According to my human, this is because I have lips like a walrus.

Yup. Walrus lips. Like this:



Apparently these walrus lips make it completely impossible for anything but food and water to get in my mouth. Which means no brushes. She's tried opening my mouth gently. Tried prying it open and sticking things in it. She's even tried sneaking up on it when I'm asleep - but the walrus lips do not budge.

My human says she doesn't even know if there are any teeth in my mouth to brush. I tried telling her my mouth is empty so she'd leave me alone (even though I have the same number of teeth as Dutch) but she's still totally obsessed with trying to brush my teeth.


How many of you have been toothbrushed? If you have, I'm supposed to ask if there's some secret she needs to know. If you haven't, has your human accused you of having walrus lips??

Do I really have walrus lips???


34 comments:

wombat said...

Puglet, if you want cleaner teeth without having to open your mouth, tell your human to buy some of those dental wipes for dogs. They're soaked in stuff that kills the bugs that live on your teeth. She can stick her finger inside the walrus lips and wipe your teeth with it even if your mouth is closed.

A dog dentist (that's a dentist for dogs, not a dentist who is a dog) told me that it's most important to clean the outsides of teeth. The insides get rubbed by the tongue so much that not much gets a chance to grow on them.

Payton said...

Don't worry, Pug! Walrus lips are common among us pugs. It's a safety feature so our humans can't just get into our mouths whenever they feel like it! I think it's part of our oath as a pug to not let people look at our teeth, and clip our nails, and clean our folds...all that hygienic stuff. Unfortunately for me, my parents don't give up that easily and have tortured me way too often with all of these things...including the teeth brushing. I started to get better with the idea cause I really liked the mint toothpaste they used, but when that ran out the store didn't carry it anymore. Now I'm stuck with those other flavors...which you'd think I'd love, but nope. Oh, well. Good luck!
Love,
Payton

Payton said...

PS. Hope that this is the last dentist trip for your human (and tooth #19)! And my parents could never use those wipes that wombat talks about cause I would totally bite their fingers!

Anonymous said...

Hey Puglet,
Well lets see, I doubt if Ellie would like to be told she has Walrus lips.. thats sort of not girly.

As for us boys who cares what kind of lips we have. Our mouths open for food, food, food, treats or drinks, not flavored toothpaste goop.

Toothbrushes will never pass our lips and mom knows that. Our mouths clamp shut tighter then alligator jaws with walrus lips attached.

Ellie, Emmitt and Eli
PS, Eli is missing the big pointy teeth on the bottom, no wonder he leaks when he drinks.

Ollie said...

Puglet,
I don't get brushed as often as my human would like (she says she's too tired and lazy when she walks through the door at 7pm every night) but I dont mind it thanks to the delicious toothpaste flavors like malt, chicken, beef and my favourite, peanut butter.

However, I get the dental wipes and mouth spray every morning. I also have a tartar prevention additive in my drinking water.

This has been our routine forever and I've never needed a cleaning. Last check up vet said I still don't have any tartar. So I guess some of this stuff must working.

Pepper the Pugalier said...

Puglet, the last time I was at the vet, she discovered I had dirty teeth. And a broken one! I had to come back a couple of days later and they gave me needles, put me to sleep, and when I woke up, my mouth was HURTY!!! The vet stole my tooth!!! It was my favourite one too. :( She also cleaned the dirties off, but it left me pretty sore for a couple of days. Now Mommy brushes my teeth so they don't get dirty again. I hate it and try to run away, but I never get far.

Good luck with your teeth. I hope they don't steal any!

Pepper the Pugalier

moPSY+MISIOber said...

First of all, I'm more like Ollie's human, too tired and way too lazy to do pugs brushing. Secondly my trio would hate to brush their teeth and I would have triple hysteria. So we have from time to time brushig teeth treats (which I think do nothig but trio loves them) we eat dental higiene food, and when there is a need of any serious vet treatment I ask to do tartar as well which helps a lot. And you don't have walrus lips :) hugz Pug!!

Anonymous said...

Hey puglet,

My humom doesn't brush my teeth very often (I don't let her get near them - walrus lips to the rescue!). However, the vet says my teeth look GREAT! My secret? Compressed rawhide sticks. More chewing = cleaner teeth. So I like to think!

-Annie in Reston, VA

Crabbie Chris said...

Hey if I have snowshoe feet, you totally have walrus lips!!!! Haha
I haven't had my teeth done, but I chew so many dead animal parts, my teeth look as clean as a puppies. Maybe you should convince your mom to let you chew dead animal parts too. Cleans them right up and super yummy.
Can I just add, I totally want to chew on your walrus lips.

Anonymous said...

This is so true!! I have four and I can never get their mouth to open, so I can have a look!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Puglet,

Well, let*s face it - we do have kind of walrus lips. My Mum likes them and thinks they are so cute ... they look sort of toothless, she says.

We once visited a vet who called my theeth "typically pug, crooked, uneven and .." We were both shocked and never went back to her for being very impolite.

My teeths might be uneven and crooked, but very white. In the evenings while we are relaxing I chew on my many bones and stuff. Some of them are tooth cleaners - they leave me with perfect white teeth. My favorite bone is white and huge - my Mum laughs her head off when I carry it around in my walrus lips.

Toothpaste? Toothbrush? No way .. we tried, and ended up in wild races around my home.

We hope #19 is ok - greetings from Berlin with a toothless walrus grin or so it seems

Carlos Santana

Anonymous said...

Hi Pug,
We get (somewhat) regular teeth brushing. My mom says the secret is poultry flavored toothpaste and a finger brush. It slips over her finger, but has rubber bumps on it, so kinda fits in our mouths okay. She is pretty liberal with the toothpaste, we get to lick her finger first and while we are busy trying to slurp it down, she sneaks in under our walrus lips on the sides and scrubs our molars. She says it is harder to get the tiny front teeth, but with more toothpaste applied, she trys.
Hope that helps.
-Tobee (and Zoe)

Pugs2Luv said...

This is a problem at our house too. We are very anti-teethbrushing and our human is kinda a pushover when a raging pug objects to something. But, our human too is experiencing major teeth drama and is starting to freak out about our teeth as well. She says it is even more critical since we getting up there in years, whatever. When our human is brave enough to brush a raging pugs teeth, she does not dare use a brush that can be easily destroyed(as we have done in the past) and she will no longer use those rubber fingertip thingys unless she would like more blood loss. Nope she uses those loofah gloves that humans take a shower with. We apologize in advance if your human tries this method but it seems to work the best in a bad walrus mouth situation.
Luv, Zoey & Phoebe

Anonymous said...

No way, no how...no toothbrush is crossing our walrus lips! (our human can verify that one). Result, Tessa had 8 teeth pulled this spring (in defense of our human, she was rescued with "stinky breath" already). Now she has tongue "containment" issues...her tongue tends to hang out, looks pretty sexy to the boy dogs! Pearl had a few pulled when she first came to live here, but hers are "Pearly white,", lots of chewing on dental treats and bully sticks.

Anonymous said...

In the wonderful documentary about designer Valentino, Valentino: The Last Emperor, he has a pug wrangler. This man brushes the pugs teeth. He and the pug both survive.....See the movie just for the scenes of the pugs hogging the seats on his private jet.

Tiffy said...

I don't have walrus lips but I'm still not going to let anyone brush my teeth. The doctor said my teeth look good and they work good so why mess with them? I say just ask your human for more bones to chew and you should be good to go.

Tiffy

Julia said...

My mom sneaks up on me with a finger brush when I'm sleepy. Like, really, REALLY sleepy. Mostly passed out. That, combined with a lot of chewing, seems to do the job. Another pug I knew, Elfie, had to have all of her teeth removed but one. But she also lived to be 18 years old!

Pancake

SpencerBartholomew said...

What up Pug! My mom bought me a toofbrush too but I won't let her near me with that thing. She says I have teeth like a shark. She tried another approach and bought some "fresh breath" toothpaste treats. Blah! No good.

Fritter from the Lo-Flo said...

My mom gives me dental chew stix. They take me awhile to eat and freshen my breath and removes the yellow crud from my teeth!

Loaves said...

Puglet, you have the cutest little flappers, flabbins, as I like to call them. But, um, you do kinda look like a walrus, with our lips and whatnot. Funny how pugs seem to resemble so many animals...piglets, grubs, walruses, loaves of bread, ginger bears... ; )

Jen said...

Hi Puglet!!!

My human mom always tells me I have a Predator face and lips. I don't think it's very nice, and wish she would tell me I have walrus lips instead. But the nice thing my human does is gives me and my GSD sister lots and lots and lots of raw hides to chew on. There's always at least 4 lying around on the floor in our house because my sister goes through them in minutes. She also brushes my and my sister's teeth twice a week. I've never been a fan of it, and in fact, still hate it, but now that I am going on to the big 2-1 (in dog years) I have learned to just let her do it. The more I fight, the longer it takes, and that also means, the longer I have to wait for a yummy; and I'm like you, I LOOOOOOVE yummies, especially bacon!

Licks and sticks,
Napoleon Bonapug

Sabrina said...

Hiya Puglet! I have tried to brush Beulah's teeth but she has iron jaws if it isn't food that's passing in. I'm also pretty lazy so I think about how I should brush their teeth more than I do it. So we're onto Plan B which Barney and Beulah and I are all happy with--raw bones on the weekends. Their teeth are nice and clean and mama gets a nice quiet weekend afternoon in the kitchen. So far we are just doing summer weekends so the dogs can eat the yucky bones outside, but I'm working on a plan involving towels in the foyer for the winter. So far so good!

Max the Jack Russell, The Goldfish, Pearl and Goldey and Autumn and Sabrina said...

Hey Puglet!

So sadly, our people didn't find the pug gummies in France when they were there. But, we found out what the pug gummies translation from german is. Jelly Boobs. Um, well,we guess they got the word wrong. Weird transaltion. Well, Max has had his teeth brushed at the vets about twice each year. He says he was too violated in his mouth to remember what it tasted like. ;0) Tell your human to get Greenies, the green toothbrush you can chew on. Here's a link: http://www.greenies.com/en_US/default.aspx We don't mean to advertise. There are apparently easier than brushing, according to my little humans friend's dog.

THE PUGLET said...

Whew. I'm so glad you guys are backing me up on this. Well, most of you anyway. Still not convinced about the poulty-paste (sorry Tobee, but you also like those nasty green bean things) - think I'm going to start lobbying for raw bones! We used to get one every weekend, but that stopped when they wore down Dutch's teeth. The vet thought it was from tennis balls, but Dutch wouldn't let a tennis ballpass his lips any sooner than I'd let a toothbrush pass mine.

Anyway.

I also love the Greenies idea, but my human banned them after I swallowed one practically whole. And then did it again the next time. She says they only work if you chew them and I don't :(

Anonymous said...

Oh Puglet-try this-my mom has tried to brush my teeth and I shook my head, squirted foam out my nose-gagged, ran in a cirlce fell over sideway and moamed real loud. Just be sure to act normal in a minute or you may end up at the vet. keep you head down and act scared for several hours afterwards. It gets less teeth brusing attempts and oodles of loving and lap time

Salty McSalterson said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bCQCnztggQ

If it makes you feel any better, even Valentino's pugs have walrus lips. And they dont seem to enjoy being brushed either.

Anonymous said...

Puglet you have the cutest little walrus lips! Don't let anybody tell you otherwise!

Anonymous said...

Remember yesterday when we talked about things that make us bark? Yeah, teeth brushing should have been added to our list ..... Puggles don't brush and we don't floss either

Roxi, Riley & Lea
The Jersey Shore Puggles

wombat said...

Puglet, I am sorry to say this but... the other thing the dog dentist said was that chewing bones is all well and good, but it's not a substitute for teeth cleaning. He said "You eat cruncnhy food too, but you still brush your teeth, right? It's the same for your dog."

Mimi, Diva Dog Extraordinare said...

well it seems all of us pugs have a mouth lock down. no brushing allowed! my mom laughed at 'walrus lips' cuz sometimes she calls me Pugrus when i lay a certain way. she says she loves my "floppy cheekies" but you are very right, toothbrushing is NOT ok. i don't let her do anything to me! no ear cleaning, nail clipping, toothbrushing or face cleaning! but since i don't go outside like EVER and my wrinkles arent tight i don't need em cleaned often. the groomers do it once a month but have never found anything yucky. and i chew rawhides aaaaaall the time but i still have gunk, so the vet wants to drug me to clean my toofers as mom calls them. i've heard good stuff about something they out in our water. its suppose to freshen breath and help with tartar and doesn't taste funny

Kitty+Coco said...

Dear Pug, I too am a fellow walrus lip pugger. But Mom has gotten the perfect method down for a toof brushing. Horror!!! See, she lifts us the said walrus lip, and slides the brush in. The key is to it is having the right neck hold. You can see it in a post we did. Ugh.
http://kittypluscoco.blogspot.com/2010/07/no-no-coco.html

Barney the Pug said...

Oh man, Pug, we are having the exact SAME problem in my house. Must be the Summer of the Toothbrush or something. But my human will never find my teeth MWHAHAHAHAH!!! I have a master plan to make it so that I get to eat yummy poultry toothpaste everyday without having to ever have my teeth actually brushed. Between the walrus lips and my crazy crooked teeth and my constant wiggling away from her, she will literally never touch one of my teeth ever. Finger brush, real brush...doesn't matter, it won't happen. Ever. Hold out man, it's working for me!

Anonymous said...

Hi Puglet,
My mom brush my teeth one time a week. She put the brush on her finger (its a silicon brush) and I love when she make this with that "chocolate" toothbrush!

Bye,

Fred

Anonymous said...

Puglet,

My vet says my teeth are beautiful and clean. Mom buys me pug-sized Marrow bones from the meat department at our grocery store. I chew and scrape, scrape and chew and voila! Shiny white teeth!
Jax from PA