Puppies explore the world with their mouths and for us humans that can sometimes be a very painful experience, especially when puppies teeth are like little needles! So we are here to help get you and your puppy through the teething process as painlessly as possible!

About teething

First we need to understand what the puppy is going through:

2-3 weeks old - puppy’s teeth start emerging.
6-8 weeks old - puppy’s first set of 28 teeth (milk teeth) have all emerged.
12-16 week old - adult teeth start to push out milk teeth, biting behaviour at its worst!
6-7 months old - puppy will have their full set of 42 adult teeth.

Compare this to a human’s teething phase: we only have 32 teeth and go through the process of teething over a 12 year period! A dog has much more teeth to erupt and they do that in around 6 months so you can imagine how painful that must be! Teething also happens at a time when puppies are more adventurous and less frightened so will explore and bite more.

Why do puppies bite?

Puppies bite to explore that world, they don't have hands to pick things up like us so they use their mouths instead. They also bite to play and it is our job to teach them how to play appropriately with us. We like to do this with the use of positive reinforcement and careful management as we want our puppy to have a strong bond with us, this is crucial especially at the beginning of your relationship with your puppy.

Keeping your puppy and your house safe

Management is key here, set your puppy up for success!

Manage the area:

Create a safe space (using a puppy pen, crate or gates) for your puppy that will restrict access to vulnerable or dangerous items (sofa, shoes, cables, etc).
Remove items that you don’t want your puppy to chew
Make sure the area has all the things your puppy will need: comfy bed, water, shade/warmth and most importantly for teething, safe chew items.
Get your puppy used to their safe space by feeding them in there and giving them chews, kongs, etc. so they see the space as a great place to be.
Never use the space to ‘punish’ your puppy, you want them to want to be in there and feel safe in there.

Restricting the access your puppy has in your house makes it easier to supervise them and to make sure they are not chewing the wrong things. This keeps your puppy and your house safe. Your puppy should only really be roaming around when you can give them your undivided attention, otherwise they should be in their safe space.

Safe chew items

Give your puppy a good variety of safe chews, this will help with teething as they will want to chew on a variety of different shapes and textures and each puppy will have their own preferences too. There are loads of great chew toys on offer at your local pet store, try to pick a variety of different types that are suitable for the age and size of your puppy.

Here are an example of natural and safe edible chews:

Himalayan dog chews
Ice cubes
Carrots (frozen or fresh)
Pizzle sticks
Cow hooves

What to do when pup chews something they shouldn’t?

Swiftly interrupt your puppy chewing just by dropping a treat or showing them a chew, this will redirect your puppy away from what they shouldn’t chew and then you can direct them onto something they can. Chewing is self rewarding so you need to make sure to catch them quickly, which is why close supervision is necessary to prevent them from creating a habit.

Overtired puppies

Learning to spot when your puppy is getting over excited or over tired is important. You will start to spot the warning signs that your puppy is about to start biting such as after a play session or when they are getting tired. When you start to spot signs that your puppy is likely to get bitey, show them a chew, get them to sit and then give them the chew.

We don’t recommend shouting or squealing like a puppy as some puppies will find this more exciting and become more aroused by it and likely to bite more.

Resource guarding

This is the other reason dogs may bite and this most often occurs between two dogs rather than dog to human. This is where a dog will guard an object or resource by growling, biting or running away with the item when they think the dog/human is going to steal this item from them. Normally it will be an item your dog deems as high value such a food or a favourite toy/chew.

Important note: NEVER punish a growl as this is the dog's way of communicating, if you stop your dog from being able to tell you it is upset or scared then it is more likely to bite without the warning.

Dog and dog resource guarding prevention:

Always feed your dogs separately - you don’t want to create anxiety or worry in your puppy while they are eating, where they might feel they have to guard their food. Remove the stress and let them eat in peace.
Compensate losses during play - Puppy loses toy to older dog when playing, when the older dog takes a toy from the puppy we recommend rewarding the puppy to compensate for the loss so that the puppy isn’t building negative associations during play. Reward the older dog when the puppy takes something from them too.

Human resource guarding prevention:

Two toy training sessions - easiest with two identical (equal value) toys where you play with one of the toys with your puppy and let them ‘win’ that toy and then instead of trying to take it off them you entice them over with the other toy. You may need to really make it exciting to entice them away from the first toy. Let your puppy win the second toy then repeat with first toy.
Safe space - give the puppy a safe space to take his toys/chews where he wont have them taken off of him or be disturbed while he has them. Keep kids away from this area (use tape on the floor to teach the kids spaces where they shouldn’t disturb the puppy).