Just like human babies, your puppy will go through a teething period. Pedigree Pets takes a look at puppy teething and how you can help your new family member through this painful puppyhood experience.
It is no surprise that puppies love to chew…on anything! In the small space of six to eight months your puppy will gain and lose approximately 28 milk/puppy teeth and acquire a whopping 42 adult munching machines!
This can cause a whole lot of discomfort to your growing puppy, and the only way to alleviate this pain, is to chew chew chew.
So, how can you help your puppy through this painful process? It’s important to provide a good selection of chew toys of different textures and toughness for your puppy to explore. You may find your pup prefers to chew on soft toys, or the much harder bone-like chews.
Other tips include:
- Bones – raw bones provide a wonderful chewing resource to a teething puppy. Always ensure you supervise your puppy when eating a bone and remove once the knuckle has been chewed away. NEVER feed your puppy cooked bones as these can splinter and cause a whole host of problems.
- Toys – there are ample safe chew toys on the market that are specially designed to massage gums, provide relief with chewing and help your puppy along their teething journey. It’s a good plan to have a selection of chew toys and rotate them daily. This will not only extend the life of your dog toys it will also keep your puppy interested in them for longer. Always ensure that they are size appropriate and remove any broken or damaged toys immediately.
Training & Teething?
During teething some dogs may find inappropriate objects that give them some sort of relief from the pain associated with this normal puppy process. This can include skirting boards, chair legs, or even the side of the prized leather couch. This can leave some dog owners frustrated.
The key is training and teaching your puppy the right and wrong things to alleviate their chewing needs. If you notice your puppy chewing on your best shoe, remove the shoe, a quick “AH AH” then replace with a chew toy - “GOOD DOG”. Remember that allowing your puppy to chew on an ‘old shoe’ will also reinforce that shoes are OK to chew – your puppy cannot tell the difference between your best Italian leather shoes and the old dirty trainer outside. It’s always best to stick with specially designed dog toys.
During this time, it’s a good idea to:
- Keep your shoes and other ‘non chewing items’ away and out of reach. Shoe boxes work wonderfully here.
- Encourage the children to pick up their toys and also remove inappropriate chewing items from the puppy. Puppies seem to adore chewing all sorts of kid’s toys especially Barbie Dolls.
- Do not punish your puppy for chewing inappropriate items – stick with the consistent “AH AH”, replace, “GOOD DOG”.
- Consider crating or popping your puppy in their safe penned area when you cannot 100% supervise them.
With patience and love your puppy will quickly learn the right and wrong things to chew.
Happy Teething!
