Tips for Surviving the Puppy Teething Stage

The puppy teething stage can be challenging to get through. The pain caused by teething oftentimes leads puppies to chew on things they shouldn’t like your fingers, clothing, or furniture, but with the appropriate tips and guidance you can help your puppy through this and minimize any discomfort they may experience. Here is some advice from our trainers at Cornerstone Dog Training to help us dog owners navigate through this stage while minimizing damage, and promoting good beavioral habits for the future.

When will my puppy start losing teeth?

The American Kennel Club states that puppies will start to lose teeth around 3-4 months of age. Once your goldendoodle puppy is 6 months of age all of its baby teeth should have fallen out.

How to Relieve Tooth Pain for Puppies

During this time it can be incredibly painful for your puppy, so your job as its owner is to provide something your pup can chew on to soothe its gums.

Since a puppy is unable to destroy the house with their teeth, we like to recommend this trick for relieving tooth pain. Place raw carrots or cucumbers in the freezer overnight, and in the morning you will have a great soothing treat that is also healthy for them!

Tools you can get to teach your puppy not to bite/nip

Utilize toys and bones to sooth puppies teeth, but be sure not to over use them though! If your goldendoodle puppy always needs a chew toy, that becomes a habit. Obsessive chewing is a sign of stress. They are not stressed because they are not loved enough, but because they are looking for something to do, or have been given too much freedom too soon.

Another amazing training tool we recommend for puppies under 5 months in general is a slip lead. Your number one communication tool is a leash! A slip lead is the ultimate puppy tool because it gives them boundaries and understanding. It is designed to give small amounts of pressure, evenly, in contrast to a normal collar that puts pressure in one central spot. Puppies can get mouthy, and destructive. Dogs do what works. If chewing on the couch relieves teething pain, they will continue to do it, because it is working. We want to correct them with the slip lead if we catch them in the act, helping them understand that is not appropriate (not only is it not good for your couch, but for their stomachs…yikes!)

How to prevent a puppy from chewing on furniture

A lot of the destruction that comes with teething is out of boredom, and overstimulation. You can prevent destructive behaviors by utilizing the crate, your puppy needs it! They are growing rapidly, and they need a lot of sleep. Create a reliable but flexible schedule that you can stick to. You can checkout our puppy schedule for a reccomended puppy schedule. If they are not 100% supervised on the leash, they need to be in their crate. This will not only cut down on destruction, but potty accidents too! For more secrets on potty training, we’ve got you covered!

I gave my puppy a teething toy when they start to chew, but they still chew the couch?

Puppies are really cool creatures, they understand feedback really well. Where training goes wrong is the feedback we, the owners, give. If a puppy is chewing on the table, and we give them a toy to chew instead, we have said nothing about the status of the table. We have only fed the chewing habit something else! When they are done, or bored of the toy, they will go right back to the table. Giving good feedback will help your puppy know what is right and wrong. So next time puppy is chewing on the chair, calmly say “no” and correct with the slip lead. They can either go into their crate or you can do some training before crate time.

The puppy teething stage is temporary, you got this!

It’s good to remember that the puppy teething stage is just a short period of time in their lives. To get through it, you will need the right tools and knowledge. With patience and consistency you’ll both be able to navigate this stage successfully. Keep up the good work!

We know this stage can be hard, if you need further assistance getting through it you can schedule a free consultation with Cornerstone Dog training. We are confident they will be able to help you with whatever obstacle you’re facing!