by katiek0417 » January 31st, 2009, 4:26 pm
Cy has 2 broken canines...Jue has no canines...and Asja broke one last weekend...
In both Cy's (who actually had slivers going into his gum line, etc) and Asja's case, Chuck (who does Schutzhund with his dogs) told us that unless the broken teeth are bothering the dog, let it be.
Here's the thing, you get a root canal - the dog doesn't work for 3 weeks...
Same thing with the titanium tooth - first they get the root canal - then a few weeks later, get the titanium tooth. With the replacement, however, you run the risk of it breaking off, and breaking part of the jawbone with it. In addition, you run the risk of changing the dog's bite...
Now, the thing to consider is this: once a dog that does bitework has broken one tooth - it runs the risk of breaking more a lot easier than a regular housepet...the reason is because more pressure is being put on the remaining canines.
However, as Greg always says: if you want a dog with pretty teeth, don't do bitework!
Personally, I chose not to do anything to Cy's mouth. Both his lower canines are broken - and they're rather ugly - but, his grip has never changed, he never shows pain, or nothing.
Another thing, if you take Blue out and do bitework, and his grip has changed, of if he yelps, or gets chewy, it might be causing him pain, and you may have to consider the root canal earlier....
These are all the things that Chuck has had me consider (and he sees most of the police dogs in the area and most of the sport dogs in the area - so he's seen more than a few broken teeth in his time - and has had to deal with it with his own sport dogs)...
"Rumor has it, compulsion is evil."
Katrina
Sacha CGC - Dumb Lab
Nisha CGC, PDC, PSA TC, PSA 1 - Crazy Malinois
Drusilla SLUT- Pet
Nemo - Dual-Purpose Narcotics
Cy TC, PSA 1, PSA 2, 2009 PSA Level 3 National Champion
Axo - Psycho Puppy
Rocky - RIP My Baby Boy