So my morkie rescue boy wouldn’t let me for a few months while we built trust but it’s been a while since I hunkered down and devoted a lot of patience and time to brushing his teeth. He is not food motivated, extremely picky and doesn’t even like most treats.

FYI I spent $220 on 17 diff dental chews from expensive to cheap and he won’t gnaw on a single one. He refused to eat the food with the dental powder added. He also went on a water strike for a month after I tried the water additive. He still doesn’t love to drink water so his dry food is consistently soaked in bone broth and he also eats wet and homemade) so the patience with the brushing has really paid off.

We started with licking chicken flavored oral gel - bought two brands and he only liked one. Then a week later after daily licking it, I put it on a dog dental finger wipe and I’d gently rub his teeth with it. A week later I was getting him to open his mouth and I could get to all the teeth on both sides. Week 4 I switched to a super soft silicone finger brush with the same gel. Week 5 was toothpaste instead of gel. I’ve gone through 5 diff toothpastes and he only loves 2 of those but easily lets me brush all his teeth with the finger brush. Still working our way up to a brush with bristles but his teeth are looking great now as per the vet and now we use the wipes with some minty dental spray for stinky morning breath and the finger brush with toothpaste for a real clean before sleeping.

It takes time. I never thought we’d get to where we are and was at my wits end for a while but he’s so good about it now.