How to Cope with Teething Puppies

You love your new puppy beyond words, but you have some choice terms for his incessant chewing. Relax. Puppies must chew during the teething stage to ease the pain caused by their erupting teeth. It's a phase, and will pass, but it's important to make sure your puppy tries out his new choppers on appropriate materials and not on you or other family members. Shoes, handbags and similar items are also at risk.  
 
Puppy Teething
 
Puppies don't have teeth at birth. The initial, "baby" teeth begin coming in at about 3 weeks of age for most puppies, and they have all of their first teeth by the age of 6 weeks. At about 12 weeks - when puppies are often in their new home - the baby teeth start falling out and the permanent teeth begin erupting. First to appear are the incisors, followed by the fangs, or canines. Next to arrive are the premolars, with the molars coming in last. The entire process takes several months, but your dog should have all of his permanent teeth by the time he's 8 months old. In the meantime, you have to deal with his need to chew.

Best Chew Toys
 
Ask your veterinarian for chew toy recommendations. You want to ensure that the chew toy is safe for your puppy, with no choking hazards.  Avoid buying cheap chew toys. Even if they aren't dangerous - and many are - they don't last long. A well-made chew toy may cost more, but it will last longer and give your puppy much more chewing time. Quality chew toys aren't brittle and easily snapped. Instead, they are flexible and firm. Chewing on a firm object helps relieve teething mouth pain. Set Up for Success
 
Set your puppy up for success during the teething process with some simple do's and don'ts:
.   DO provide him with plenty of suitable chew toys.
.   DON'T give him old shoes or any household items to chew on. Your puppy doesn't know the difference between a worn-out sneaker and Manolo Blahnik.
.   DO put shoes, leather goods and other potentially chewable items away from the puppy's reach.  For a puppy, anything left on the floor or an easily accessible sofa or chair is fair game. While you may concern yourself more with the loss of shoes, etc., it's the smaller items that are likely to cause a health hazard. That includes rubber bands, hair clips and power cords.
.   DON'T allow your puppy unsupervised run of the house. It's just asking for trouble. When no one is home, put him in a crate with water and plenty of appropriate chew toys. 
Considerations
 
Generally, the smaller the dog, the longer the teething process lasts.  That might result from the pain caused by 42 adult teeth trying to fit into a tiny mouth. Dental disease especially strikes the toy and miniature breeds, so it's important to learn to brush your pet's teeth every day and take him to the vet for annual checkups. While larger dogs go through the teething stage more quickly, that's not true of every breed. "Mouthy" breeds, such as various types of retrievers, may continue to chew voraciously until the age of 2, even though all of their teeth have erupted. Just be patient and continue to supply him generously with chew toys. Many dogs enjoy a good chew toy well into old age, even though their teething stage is long gone.