Teething & Barking

[jillybean]

Chloe is almost 4 months old and she's teething! As far as I can tell, 3 teeth have fallen out already. She's biting me like crazy! I can't spend time with her unless we're playing games or out walking because she keeps trying to bite me if I sit down or just walk around. I've been trying to keep her distracted with frozen kongs, pigs ears and bones but she seems to prefer to bury them rather than chew on them. Instead she'd rather dig holes or rip plants out of their pots Any suggestions on how to keep her busy, and to help with the teething?

This past week she's also started barking early in the morning, at nothing in particular. She'll just stand with her nose in the air and bark, usually around 6am. This could go on for 20mins or so, but she usually stops if I stick my head out the window and yell at her. She usually doesn't bark at other times of the day unless someone's mowing their lawn etc, but the early morning barking doesn't seem to be directed at anything. What can I do to discourage it? I'm not enjoying having to get out of bed to yell at her then try to get to sleep for a little while more! I've tried walking her at night, hoping that she'll be tired and sleep through till a little later at least, but no luck.

Thanks all!

[persephone]

Hi..don't know about your pup, but ,when ours are teething ,they prefer stuff a bit easier to chew..like chicken franes/brisket bones ,,the pig's ears are a bit harsh on gums, methinks;)

And..of course she stops when you stick your head outthe window She has what she wants..your attention! It's a horrible cycle..and I'm not really the one to help you...

[Poodle wrangler]

Beagles are active dogs and she's probably keen to go for a walk and cause mayhem at 6AM .

Ignoring her will work eventually, but if you want peace and quiet go out before she starts carrying on and throw a ball, short walk etc.

Pups can also be ready for breakfast at this time.

You can try the softer "puppy" kongs for teething time. Brisket bones, too.

THe biting may, or may not, be teething- most puppies try this out regardless- you must train her NOT to do it!

Suggestions:

Stern, "no" turn back on pup and ignore for a minute or 2, reward with attention when NOT biting/ being naughty- you can reward just standing still .

Others yelp like a puppy.

Others give a toy to chew B4 pup gets to you.

Keeping her busy?

Short walks- even 10 minutes around the block is good- sights, smells etc. tire the dog, not so much the exercise itself.

Training- only 5-10 minutes with pup and make it fun

Put food (e.g. small brisket bones/ chicken necks) around the backyard for pup to find- beagles like to use their noses.

[littlelabrador]

As poodle wrangler said, i dont know about the biting you being teething. Molly is also teething. I didn't think this happened until a bit later on , but i noticed the other day that she has all these really really tiny teeth coming through her lower gums, so i've been looking each day and they are getting bigger ! I therefore assume that these are the adult teeth coming up. Never even noticed the others disappear, lol. Molly is definitely chewing more, shoes are a favourite thing to try and steal, but she certainly is not biting us. And you know we had all the biting/jumping issues at around 11-13 wks. Shes 17 weeks today.

How does she go with walking beside you calmly ? Molly's hopeless. I've only taken her on 2 walks so far, and both times she just pulled the whole time. Thinking i might get one of those Halti's before i try it again.

[poodlefan]

As poodle wrangler said, i dont know about the biting you being teething. Molly is also teething. I didn't think this happened until a bit later on , but i noticed the other day that she has all these really really tiny teeth coming through her lower gums, so i've been looking each day and they are getting bigger ! I therefore assume that these are the adult teeth coming up. Never even noticed the others disappear, lol. Molly is definitely chewing more, shoes are a favourite thing to try and steal, but she certainly is not biting us. And you know we had all the biting/jumping issues at around 11-13 wks. Shes 17 weeks today.

How does she go with walking beside you calmly ? Molly's hopeless. I've only taken her on 2 walks so far, and both times she just pulled the whole time. Thinking i might get one of those Halti's before i try it again.

Dogs have to be trained to walk on a loose lead Littlelab. I suggest you enrol in a training program so that you can walk Molly without having to resort to halti's which, in addition to be found very uncomfortable by a lot of dogs, can be pulled on just like a collar.

[Lolly]

My B/C bites a lot, as all puppies do. I've been trying to stop him from doing it by saying NO and turning my back or stopping all play or removing me or him from the room. He likes to jump and bite my hands or ankles. As soon as my hands are anywhere near him, he will bite at them. I'm being consistent and trying to train this out of him because before we know it, he will have adult teeth and really bite someone.

When I take him to visit our relatives, he bites the kids hands (not hard, playing sort of, but you know what I mean) and I get angry with him and say NO and the kids stop playing with him. My problem is the adults, who should know better, say "awww don't! he's just playing, look! he won't hurt you".

It makes me so mad.

We're up and awake at 6am whether I like it or not

[jillybean]

Thanks for all the replies!

Chloe's lost a few more teeth since I posted. I've yet to actually see a tooth though, I just see the gap and sometimes a little blood around it.

She's got a couple of Kongs, a regular one and a puppy one. I also went and bought her a rubber nylabone type thing which she's been chewing on today. She seems to like chewing hard things such as chair legs and plastic pots.

In regards to walking - I've been walking her for about 15-20minutes each morning. She's quite good at loose leash walking until we get within sight of our house (2-3 houses away) and then she'll pull like crazy!

I think I've tried pretty much everything I've heard of to stop her from biting but without much success...

[Nicole...]

My pup was keen to bite on lots of things when teething too, and we found the most constructive thing was to give her lots of rawhides and pieces of apple to chew on. This may sound indulgent, but when we found we were getting eaten continuously, we could sit on the floor for cuddles and hold a piece of apple for her to chew on. She seemed to like it better when we held it (not just because she is spoilt and likes having us wrapped around her little paw) because she could then direct her chewing to the bit in her mouth that needed it as she wasn't that great at using her paws to hold things back then.

[GotAnyBlacker]

I saw on tv that if you put Vicks Vaporub on your fingers the puppy won't bite it because they don't like the taste. Haven't tried it myself though yet.

[Cockerlover]

I find my teething babies like a raw carrot (COLD from the fridge)its also good for cleaning teeth

[jillybean]

Picky puppy is not a fan of whole carrots.. she will eat them if they're grated into her food though, but not as a whole. She does love pears and apples though, so I'll be giving her more of those to chomp on too.

Bought a heap of roos tails and lamb chew things from a market stall today so hopefully those will keep her busy for a while.