How To Survive Your Puppy's Chewing Without Moving Out!!

 

I’m sure you’ve heard the awful stories about raising a pup and all the chewing that goes on from the minute you bring her home until when? A year later? How are you going to survive your puppy's chewing? Yes, one of the biggest challenges in raising your new baby is dealing with chewing. During the first year of your puppy’s life, significant changes are occurring in its mouth that are necessary to know.

Losing Baby Teeth

Dogs have two sets of teeth: 28 baby teeth, which will be replaced by 42 permanent teeth. Puppies have baby teeth that erupt right around 3-4 weeks of age. They’re almost clear-like, small, but sharp as glass. By eight weeks old all the baby teeth should be in place. Teeth is the main reason mommy dogs begin to wean their pups at about five or six weeks of age! Ouch! Sometime between 8 and 12 weeks of age, the roots of the baby teeth start to reabsorb, and the teeth loosen and begin to fall out. Puppies do not have molars that's why there's room for twice as many permanent teeth when the times comes. Typically for most breeds, all permanent teeth should be in by eight months of age.

Adult Teeth Worries

Start an at-home dental care program as soon as your puppy arrives home, but also be aware if the permanent teeth are growing in correctly. Are there any baby teeth that didn’t fall out to make way for the adult teeth? Having two teeth crowded into one space will cause dental problems. Food can get caught between the teeth and cause periodontal disease. Baby teeth will need to be removed surgically and often the veterinarian will do this during the spay/neuter surgery, typically around six months of age.

Chewing Days Aren’t Over

Adult teeth are now in and the chewing stops, correct? No, sorry dogs are as individual as we are and most will take longer than others to stop chewing on everything under the sun. Be sure and provide lots of appropriate things to chew on such as:

• Chew Toys
• Frozen Kong stuffed with PB
• Chicken soup frozen in ice cube trays
• Beef Chews

Now that your puppy has cool items to chomp on it’s up to you to remove the other tempting chewable items around the house. Pick things up off the floor and make sure your shoes are behind a closed closet door. I lost many a shoe to Keira’s chewing before I realized it was something I should have been preventing. Also, if items are at you pup’s eye level, move them to higher ground for the time being. If you’re going to leave for a long while, walk your pooch to a puppy-proofed room in the house. Don’t worry, every dog has this day. It’s a teething phase they all must go through. Be patient because they will out grow this crazy stage! How did you cope with this stage? Share with readers below!

[Tweet " Is your puppy chewing you out of the house and home? http://www.rosadoodle.com/puppy-chewing/"]