All 3 hounds in to the vet this AM for the annual once-over... fortunately this time my folks are here to watch the toddler instead of taking her with me also. Have I mentioned that they think of a vist to the vet as a wonderful cat-hunting expedition?

I ran them on the cart for a couple miles last night including a BIG steep hill climb so they're looking slower than normal this morning. In GSP-land this is A GOOD THING.

Rawhide has actually provoked vomiting, diarreah-ridden choking scares in my crew, so we've made them off limits. We also have to monitor raw bones since the power chewers of the group go through them too fast and get sick if left to their own devices. The best luck has been with cow hooves, although we haven't had those in a while.

Still.... with as many sticks and pine cones they've torn up a person would still think they'd have very little tooth left, much less plaque....

I'd consider 'drop antlers' as they're called around here, except the only one I ever found is a prized trophy over our kitchen window- lol!

Anya chews the tar out of anything and everything she can get a hold of so I wonder if she's just naturally more of a plaque-builder (my mom is a dental hygenist and says that much of this in humans is just genetic). Serveral vets have also warned me that the smaller females I've got will probably need more mouth attention than big ol' Rogan. ????

I've done some home scaling on Dulcie over the years with a couple of my mom's old instruments she gave me, but I had figured at some point that the lil' ol' dog would need a more professional job. She's 10 years old so I don't think we've done badly. Anya I'm just going to get done at the same time and have it over with.