Bringing a new puppy home is an exciting time for any family and learning to care for your puppy can be just as rewarding. Puppies start to develop their first teeth while they are still as young as 3 weeks old and they will have a full set of teeth in just a few weeks unlike a human baby who can often still develop milk teeth up until 2 years of age. When they are around 4 - 6 months old they will start to develop permanent teeth.
It’s never too early to start caring for your puppies' teeth and one of the best ways to do this is to give them natural, healthy dog treats. Not only does this help to clean their teeth but it also helps to stop them attacking things around the home at least for a little while and keep them full for longer as well as being good for their teeth. Our Antler treats are perfect for puppies as they have a very sensitive digestive system and the Antler treats are very easy for them to digest. These type chews are a more sensible choice for puppies, especially when compared to the bones or milk-based products on our offering.
One of the surest signs that your puppy is teething is their incessant desire to chew anything and everything in sight! Fortunately, just like human babies this doesn’t last forever and there are ways to handle it without your whole house being destroyed.
If you don’t give your puppy a range of chew toys then prepare to be disappointed when some of your favourite personal and household items get chewed as puppies don’t have any preference, they just want to chew something.
Any pet shop will have a wealth of chew toys for puppies and you can also take your vet's advice on which are the safest toys to buy and any have an extra supply as some dogs destroy these toys faster than you can buy them! When you take your puppy for grooming, the groomer may also be able to suggest some suitable toys.
If you have a wide enough range of toys for your puppy, you can rotate them to prevent boredom and to give them a longer life span also.
Puppies will experiment with biting their owners through play but do your best not to encourage this because puppies don’t stay small for long and it’s no longer fun being bitten by an adult dog, even if they are only playing. If you let your puppy know early on that it’s not ok to bite you or anyone else then they will learn quickly.
Fortunately, puppies do grow out of biting and chewing everything when they get to around 18 months old. If all of your furniture is still intact by then you have done pretty well. Just like human babies, puppies use their mouths to explore their environment and often develop a taste for chair legs, table legs and much more.
If you want to get started early with oral health for your puppy, then invest in a doggy toothbrush and paste from when your pet is just a few weeks old and let them get used to it from a young age.
Be reassured that this is just a stage and because a puppy bites and chews everything in sight does not mean that you will have an aggressive dog on your hands later on.
