How to know when your pup starts teething?

J

jerros

Forums Enthusiast
My puppy Vash is 10 days shy of being a full 4 months old. I took him to the vet yesterday for another round of vaccinations, the vet noted that he had just began to get his real coat *sniff* bye bye puppy fur. Then it was off to his first day of doggie day camp.

I noticed some strange behavior from Vash after I brought him home from day camp. He's always had a bad habit of mouthing on my hands when we are playing, "Ignoring him" hasn't really solved this problem. But yesterday he straight up lunged at my hand and ignored the toy we were playing with.

Then later in the night he started to whimper. Now in the 2 months I've had him, he's only whimpered when he has to go potty...but last night he would go potty, come inside, whimper and then look for something to chew (usually my hands).

I haven't seen many other signs of teething that I'd consider unusual, as a puppy he always enjoys putting stuff in his mouth.

I kind of feel bad, I know he was trying to tell me something, I just don't know what it was. The food/water/potty bases were all covered so I began to think that perhaps the adult teeth were starting to come in and cause him some pain.
 
Sounds like it could be the start of teething. Bailey really liked ice cubes when she was teething. I also wet a wash cloth and freezed it. She liked to chew on that too.

Instead of ignoring him when he mouths on you, have you tried screaming "AW!" and then stop playing with him? That worked like a charm with Bailey. She wasn't a mouthy puppy, but the few times she tried, I screamed AW! and she immediately stopped and looked at me like "oh geez. are you okay?"
 
take4roll10 said:
Sounds like it could be the start of teething. Bailey really liked ice cubes when she was teething. I also wet a wash cloth and freezed it. She liked to chew on that too.

Instead of ignoring him when he mouths on you, have you tried screaming "AW!" and then stop playing with him? That worked like a charm with Bailey. She wasn't a mouthy puppy, but the few times she tried, I screamed AW! and she immediately stopped and looked at me like "oh geez. are you okay?"
Click to expand...


I have tried the yelling ow thing, followed by stopping play. It works on occasion, most of the time Vash will just wait for me to play again and when he realizes I'm not going to will go off and do something that I have to react to. So he hasn't really learned his lesson.

I've also tried to substitute chews and toys for my hands, and that seems to be fairly effective, though it's only a matter of time before he's looking for hands again.

It's not just a hands thing either, he'll go after my hands, feet, and when I'm laying down with him he's tried to nibble on my ear, nose and chin.

I'm going to be taking him to a puppy class soon, and am hoping the trainer might be able to help me out a bit with this problem. I'm not terribly concerned about him actually biting me as he's never sunk his teeth in deep enough to cause harm to me. I am a bit worried that he might think it's ok to bite someone other than me if this continues though, and honestly I'd prefer not to be a chew toy :)
 
Last edited:
Sometimes with Emma I had to gently hold her bottom jaw, not enough to hurt her or long enough that she was scared, but just long enough that she knew she was bad. I also told her no or bad and she learned. Also saying Ow does help at times, as does walking away. The trainer I was going to take her to seemed to be against withdrawing from play with them.
 
I think redirecting when a dog is teething is a great idea. Like Randi said, a frozen washcloth works well. Lexi never mouthed me, but was always pawing at her mouth and making angry noises, so I knew she was teething. It started around 4 months, and she just lost her last tooth a few weeks ago.
 
Signs of teething are variable,some show almost no signs and others quite a few. Generally , sensitive around the mouth, pawing at the mouth, chewing more, smell from the mouth, redness of the gums, restlessness, whinning, the teeth themselves start to change color and become more clear at the tip and red purple near the gum line.

A cold chew toy helps, like Randi said a wet washcholth popped in the freezer or a slightly damp cloth toy popped in the freezer are the best.

I do the yelp when my pups mouth me , works good to about 4 months, then redirection to another toy, removing attention(crossing arms and turning my back to leaving the room) work great. With Diva, the decitated herder, I used a spray bottle to stop ankle biting and jumping up and biting me in the bum/hip. She was still doing this at 6 months and I needed to up the ante. Also a competing behavior such as down worked well when she was older and got too wild.
 
Ginny mostly chewed raw hide while she was teething and its still what she prefers. I had a teething toy that I periodically froze but she never seemed to have a preference and didn't seem to be in much pain.

Sadie on the other hand suffered throughout teething. She went off her food and was lethargic for about a week. Wetting her food with warm water helped a bit. She refused to chew on anything so I eventually bought her a huge carrot, which I cut in half and chilled before I gave it to her. She'd chew it till it was warm,then I'd put it in a plastic bag and put it back in the fridge. I did this a few times and when the carrot started to look nasty I threw it away and started a new one.

Throughout teething I was constantly finding teeth all over the place or blood dripping from Sadie's mouth, probably because she didn't chew on much. I was glad when she finished teething.

Both teethed between 4-6 months old.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top