When most dogs are faced with any sort of grooming, they tend to shy away, whether it be brushing their fur, getting a bath, clipping their nails, or having their teeth brushed. Rhea, however, is a different sort of pup. The eight month old Pomsky, which is a cross between a husky and a Pomeranian, loves to hop her paws onto the edge of the sink and have her teeth brushed by her owner.
Rhea got into the habit when she would watch as Alexa Schmidtlein, her owner, would get ready for bed each night by brushing her own teeth. “Rhea enjoys being a part of our daily and night routines. Each night she would be in the bathroom while we would brush our teeth,” the Topeka, Kansas resident shared.
Now that Rhea has begun a routine of her own, she eagerly waits for Schmidtlein to brush her teeth each day. “Every night while I’m brushing my teeth, she will hop up and rest her paws on the counter while I prepare her toothbrush and there she will wait for me to brush her teeth,” Schmidtlein told reporters.
Schmidtlein is no stranger to raising pups, as Rhea is far from her first Pomsky, so she knows just how out of the ordinary this eagerness is. Dogs generally tend to try to pull away the minute you try to stick the brush in their mouth, often requiring an extra hand in order to actually complete the task of brushing.
“We have several dogs and none of them look forward to it at all. I’m lucky if they even cooperate at all, but Rhea actually looks forward to it every night,” she said. Rhea takes her grooming routine one step further, by even having a preferred brand of toothpaste. Schmidtlein didn’t comment as to whether or not the pup refuses other toothpastes, but did share that she prefers Young Living Thieves toothpaste.