Is Your Puppy Teething?

These Tips Can Help You Both

So your new puppy is teething…it is painful to him/her, and it can be painful to you if he starts gnawing on your new shoes or the legs of your chairs.

Puppies get their first, or baby teeth, when they are between 6 – 8 weeks old, which is when they are younger than most of their new families will bring them home. But, like in humans, these first teeth don’t last their lifetime…in just a few months, those teeth will fall out, and their new, permanent teeth will begin breaking through their gums. (That just sounds painful!) Typically the teething process begins at the front of the pup’s mouth and moves toward the back.

Symptoms of a teething pup…

When your puppy is teething, some of the things you may notice are bleeding  or swollen gums, biting, chewing or drooling, not eating, whimpering, and definitely missing teeth. Your puppy is uncomfortable to say the least!

The nice thing is, and it’s good to remember, this phase doesn’t go on forever, but only lasts for a short time and all the symptoms will go away. But it’s also important to remember that how you deal with it, can make a difference in your dog’s behavior in the future.

How you can help in the teething process:

• At the top of the list is patience! Your puppy is not being bad, he is dealing with his discomfort the best he can.
• If he nips or bites at you, don’t get angry or punish him, sometimes just walking away when he does this will teach him that you don’t like it and he’ll get the picture.
• To give him some relief you can gently massage his gums with your finger, (but don’t let him bite on you).
• Keep anything of yours that is chewable up and out of his reach.
• Be sure your pup has plenty of chew toys such as hard plastic toys, Kongs, rope toys, and other chews. And rather than give him all the toys at once, put all but one away and rotate them for him to use…that way they will be more novel and interesting to him. Soft toys or stuffed animals can also feel good on those sore gums, just monitor him with these so he doesn’t rip the stuffing out.
• Provide your puppy with plenty of edible chews to satisfy his urge to chew and relieve his pain.
• If your pup will let you, rub an ice cube on his gums for a short period of time, you can also freeze something like apple juice (100% juice) or chicken broth and use this to rub the gums.
• Wet, freeze and tie a washcloth in a knot for him to chew on, it can be very soothing on his gums.
• There are some good teething gels for puppies on the market that can give relief by numbing the gums.
• If you are going to leave your puppy alone, leave him in a crate.

At BowWow Fun Towne, we take your dog’s safety and health seriously, and have strict guidelines for our canine guests to have the proper vaccinations