2 sets are better than 1?
Written by Pam on November 7, 2014
Our HGT pups now have their deciduous teeth! They are sharp like little needles – but by the time you pick them up at 8 weeks, they will be sporting a brand new smile with many permanent pearly whites! (The above picture is of our oldest golden, Mean, wanting in on the action and smiling on command and showing her permanent teeth.)
All puppies have two sets of teeth. They have what is called milk teeth or deciduous teeth and about 28 of them need to erupt and these teeth start to appear at about 3 weeks. Then once the puppy has managed to achieve these 28, they start to fall out making room for the next 42 permanent teeth to fit in. All of this starts to happens before the pup is 8 weeks old – Amazing! These permanent teeth are quite painful for the puppy, so we always have chew toys for them to bite on and relieve the discomfort. We believe in getting the largest Kong toy that you can find. They are made out of the toughest rubber material and will last. Do not waste you money on anything ‘puppy’ because our dogs are tough even as puppies and what is a puppy toy one day will look very – very different the next! These permanent teeth come in gradually and will continue to appear until around the 12th week starting with the front teeth, ending with the back teeth and everything in between.
Mouthing – Yup – Mouthing!
Every puppy will do this …if you have hard chew toys this will help, if you have freezer canine pops this will help, but it always seems like a finger, a thumb or a toe that belongs to your child will always be the favorite for your puppy to mouth on. This is natural as the puppy is exploring his surroundings and truly trying to figure everything out quickly and not to mention those pearly whites that are erupting again. So as soon as the pup latches on to a finger or thumb, you need to ‘yelp’ as loud as you can – this will stop this unwanted behavior. He or she has already heard this noise from all his litter mates when they choose to mouth on each other’s ears or tails and I am sure that we have let out a ‘yelp’ once or twice. Try to use the word “NO” sparingly – it really has no effect on the puppy as they hear a loud noise from their master – although understandably it helps us. But if ‘NO” is used too often, the pup might even think their name is NO. The pups will soon learn that fingers, thumbs and toes are not for nibbling!
I hope you enjoy these pictures – Everyone just ate and might have some food still in their mouths, but I asked everyone to open wide so that we have a good look at those deciduous teeth and to see who has the strongest vocal cords! Enjoy, Pam
