Your puppy is probably teething if you are reading this article. Teething is a normal part of being a puppy and and usually starts around 3 months of age when their baby teeth are transiting to adult teeth. Puppies need to chew in order to relieve the uncomfortable feeling with their teeth.
This can be a difficult time for both puppies and pawrents. Painful pressure building in the puppies' mouths, causing them to gnaw and chew at things. For the pawrents - shoes, furnitures, clothes and even their own skin can fall prey to those sharp baby teeth.
Firstly, puppy proof your house where the puppy will not be able to reach for any undesirable "chew toys". Use dog gates/baby gates to block access to areas that have potential targets lying around such as power cords or shoes.
Secondly, teach your puppy that mouthing is not right! Most of us who went through the puppy stage should have experience of having your ankles or toes being nipped by those sharp tiny teeth. Although they are cute when they do that, it actually hurts!
What we found out personally that works is that we could let out a high pitched "ouch" which will startle the puppy and then turning away from her, ignoring her. Then resume any activities after a couple of minutes. Your puppy will not learn not to nip or mouth right away, in fact they may resume mouthing 5 minutes later but perseverance is key. Sooner or later, they will learn if you are firm and keep this up.
Another way can be hand-feeding your puppy her food or treats. Most likely they will try to snatch it and may inadvertently bite your hand. If it happens, close your palm and take it away from her and firmly say "No!". Offer it to her again and only give it when she gently takes it from your hand.
We have tried a few anti-chew sprays and it seems that it does not really work for our puppy. She still licks and gnaw at the sprayed area as though it is some high value treat.
Thirdly, give your puppy some great chew toys. Giving them small pieces of ice to chew is a good way to alleviate their pain and also gives them a chance to drink some water in the process, although it can be a messy situation with all the watermarks and paw-prints around. You can also get those commercial chew toys designed for teething puppies, but you need to supervise since these toys are generally destructible. You wouldn't want your puppy to swallow any broken parts of the toys.
After all the baby teeth are out and replaced by adult teeth, give yourself a pat on the back for surviving pupzilla's rampage. Also remember to take some toothless photos of your pup so that you can have a good laugh during the teething process *smiling devilish". Here's one for you
Enjoy the process since it only comes once to every puppy :)
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