I heard Mazie chewing on something....

[MazieDog]

A couple nights ago, I brought Mazie in and put her to bed (she sleeps on my bed) and sat back down at the computer to do my nightly forum reading and then an hour or so of gaming. Anyway, I heard her chewing on something, so I got up to find out what it was. Didn't find anything and thought maybe she swallowed it. Went back to the computer and then heard it again, but this time I heard a "pop! crunch!" ... This time, I knew she had something, so I went over there, held out my hand and said, "give it." She gave me those puppy-dog eyes like she didn't want to give it up, but she eventually spit it out in my hand.... It was one of her baby teeth! She's 20 weeks old as of today and weighs 43 pounds... Does this sound about the right time for her to be losing her baby teeth?

I'll stop by Petco next week and pick up some more chew toys for her so she has something to chew on other than the furniture, linen, paper, my arm, and whatever else she can find. What kind of toys would you recommend? Thanks in advance!

[Carrie]

A-w-w-w....she's growing up..... losing her baby teeth...normal.
I like Kongs because they're hard, hard rubber and I like Nyla bones with those little nubs. There's one kind which gets chewed up right away, but the really hard ones which are like regular white Nyla bones around the edge and ends and then these colored nubby things in the middle section which are good on the gums. And I think they sell specific teething toys which are water filled and you freeze them, since cold things feel good on gums. You can take a rag and soak it in tea, twist and freeze. BUT with that, I caution that you really supervise while she chews on it because if the threads come out and she swallows those, that's not good or a piece of the fabric. But for about 10 minutes while you're watching TV or something and you can keep an eye out, they're nice and suppose to feel good on the gums. I don't know what it is about the tea, but that's what I've heard.

Another thing I use to do was actually stick my finger in along side the teeth and rub the gums gently. If the pup would wait to start gnawing on me, he'd discover that it felt good and would not gnaw too much. If he would bite down too hard, that was the end. I was up and gone, doing something else without him. If he held still and relaxed and didn't bite down, he enjoyed this and learned not to bite me too hard. Just more bite inhibition practice. You want to be able to stick your hands in puppies mouth without getting chomped.

Well, good luck.

[iloveamlet]

awwww. amlet is so little that i never have even seen one of his baby teeth!!! we have light carpet, usually covered in some type of paper he has shredded so i dont think i'd ever see one of his tiny little teeth. yeah, frozen kongs are really good and amlet loves nylabones but the medium or hard are the best. i bought amlet a hard one and he won't touch it, but he loves the medium cause they have some give to them. amlet ate a lot of the puppy one and they aren't exactly supposed to be eaten, they are really soft. once in a while he actually gets the edible ones too. they have teething rings at petco too, which i'm sure are great frozen too. they have quite a few good teething things...we have lots of them cause he's going through the same thing!!

[MazieDog]

Thanks for the tips! I'm looking at the Petco online store right now to see what they've got in stock so I know what to look for when I go there Tuesday. I'll even take her with me so she can pick out what she wants. I'll keep these toys inside because she likes to give her outside toys to the neighbor dog because she doesn't have any..

I took a sock that has no match to it, tied a knot in the end of it, and used it as a makeshift tug-o-war toy. She seemed to love it, so I'm gonna soak it in water and freeze and see how she likes it.

Once again, thanks for the tips!

[kelly bell]

I take Rauligh to Pets Mart with me and he sits in the baby seat. I'll pick up an intresting toy that will be good for his size and if he seems intrested in it I'll put it in the basket. If he's still looking at it I'll put him in the basket with the toy so he can check it out more. If he doesn't like it then I'll put it back if he does then he keeps it.

[kelly bell]

Also, all the dogs I've seen seem to enjoy Puppy Kong. You can put little treats inside the toy or squit stuffing in it. They have two stuffings that I've seen one is good for breath and teeth and the other is good for the coat. Rauligh and Lilly like the peanut butter one.

[MazieDog]

I'll be sure to pick up a Puppy Kong at Petco tomorrow then. Does it come with the stuffing, or do I have to buy that seperately?

Mazie is a little too big for the baby seat, so she'll have to suffer with walking on the leash. I'll do the same thing, too. If I give it to Mazie and she plays with it, I'll ponder buying it. If she grabs it off the shelf, and yes she's done that a few times, I'll check the price and probably buy it. We went there after a training session one day and there were treats all over the place.. She was in Heaven! Of course, before she had any of the treats, I made her sit, crash, and wait.. I gave the OK command and the treat was gone.

[Barrett]

The kong stuffing is expensive and gives my dogs loose stools. I use canned food to stuff the kongs and then I freeze them. It takes longer for them to get the goodies out and it is a nice treat for summer time or teething.

[MazieDog]

Thanks for the advice, Barrett. I'll give that a whirl.