A visit to the Doggie Dentist.

As some of you know, I adopted a puppy in June.  After losing my two dogs in the same year to old age and cancer, my heart and home was missing a dog.  My new puppy is a Shetland Sheepdog named Trent, whom I adopted from a breeder in the Traverse City area.  Trent was retained by the breeder for the show ring but when it was clear that he was going to be too small to be a show dog, he was offered to me.  I adopted him at 5 months of age and he is a little cutie.  It was quickly apparent his size wasn't his only problem. His upper left canine tooth was coming in at a terribly awkward angle.  It was growing in towards his nose and rapidly pushing the lower canine tooth out to the side like a tusk. He was developing a  problem chewing and his bite was way off.  So I called a friend of mine Dr. Jim Clarkson.  Dr. Clarkson has a special practice in a animal dentistry west of Ann Arbor.  I asked him to see what he could do to try to save Trent's teeth.  Dr. Clarkson and the team at Westarbor Veterinary Hospital fitted Trent with braces.  He has some buttons cemented to his teeth and rubber band chains to pull the teeth into proper alignment.  So far the braces are working beautifully and Trent is tolerating them well.  The good news with the doggie braces is that they only need to be on for weeks, not years.  The bad news is that when your puppy finds a pencil on the floor and chews it up, he can pop off his brackets.  That means another trip to the doggie dentist.  Sigh......