# Teething? Sigh...



## princesszelda (Sep 2, 2009)

My husband & I are the proud parents of an almost 14-week-old Bernese Mountain dog. In the past couple of days, she has started biting (everything, including us) excessively. Prior to this, she had really been good, hardly biting at all, and easily distractable.

But now she is a nightmare.  

Could she be teething? We are operating under the assumption that she is. Nothing we do seems to help...she has lots of toys, she just looks at us with her head cocked sideways when we yelp or growl at her, and then she's immediatly back at it.

Suggestions please!


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

She's being a normal puppy. And, yes, she might be teething. When she goes to bite, stand up, fold your arms and turn your back on her, totally ignoring her until she settles down. If necessary leave the room for a minute. Then give her an appropriate chew toy to chew on. Try having some cold "toys" such as a wash cloth or hand towel that you've wet and frozen for her to chew on. 

If she really persists on biting you can correct her with a scruff shake that's firm enough to make her think twice about repeating the biting but is absolutely appropriate, and not too much for her size and age. With a scruff shake you're imitating one of the corrections her mama would have used and you only want to do enough to let her know the behavior is unacceptable but not so much as to really scare and definitely not to hurt her.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

There are several chewing/biting stages the puppies go through in their first year. First is the baby teething (til about 9 weeks) then the adult teeth coming in (14 weeks to five months) and then the adolescent chewing stage (energy and boredom have a lot to do with this stage). 
All normal normal normal. If she's losing her baby teeth she needs cold toys and frozen washcloths etc as mentioned above to help soothe her gums. Try feeding ALL of her meals in kongs, buster cubes etc to keep her mind and jaws busy and keep up with the yelp and ignore. If the yelp stops her for a second then that means she "gets it" but it must be repeated ad nauseum for it to really help her LEARN not to do it. Her attention span at this age is about five seconds..lol. If she gets overly excited, give her a kong and put her in her crate. We often create the excitement by continuing to try to interact with the pup, whether that is saying no over and over, waving our arms around or even just talking etc. I don't recommend the scruff shake myself. I find removing ourselves from the equation helps more in the long run and you don't run the risk of having the dog learn your hands are 'scary'. 
Proper exercise (not too much, but enough) and many small training sessions a day will help to keep her excitement level down. Use your crate when necessary or tether her with a kong to keep her busy when you have had enough. Not only will she learn to amuse herself when you cannot be supervising but she will learn that it's not "all about her".
Get her in a puppy training class or have play dates with similar aged and sized puppies/puppy friendly dogs so she can get her willies out safely.

Check out the sticky "the bite stops here" for more tips. Just be aware that these stages do not just go away in a short time and patience is needed.


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## princesszelda (Sep 2, 2009)

Thanks for the support & encouragement - it is nice to know that this is normal puppy behaviour! We'll keep doing what we're doing then....

On a side note, I always laugh when I see references to "kongs" because Kong is the name of our 1-year-old cat...last thing we want to do is encourage the pup to have a nosh on him!

Also, I'm begining to think that we are the only people in the world not crate training...


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## SandyPuppy (Aug 8, 2009)

princesszelda said:


> Thanks for the support & encouragement - it is nice to know that this is normal puppy behaviour! We'll keep doing what we're doing then....
> 
> On a side note, I always laugh when I see references to "kongs" because Kong is the name of our 1-year-old cat...last thing we want to do is encourage the pup to have a nosh on him!
> 
> Also, I'm begining to think that we are the only people in the world not crate training...


You should start as early as you can. It is sooo useful for so many situations and it is likely that you will really wish your dog was crate trained later on.


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## dakotajo (Jan 29, 2009)

My Bernese was TERRIBLE for mouthing! Couldn't even play with her. She will be 16 months soon and got alot better when she was about 11 months to a year old I think. She still has her moments when she pushes her play too far but is instantly corrected. I taught her to take things nice from hands like treats and this helped alot.
A course I am taking says that discomfort in teething puppies is a myth and they actually are in no real pain, I wonder if there's any truth to that


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

dakotajo said:


> A course I am taking says that discomfort in teething puppies is a myth and they actually are in no real pain, I wonder if there's any truth to that


I'm curious, what sort of course is this? Do you have more info?

Animals hide pain well, it is part of a survival instinct...I also wonder what "no real pain" is? Discomfort is discomfort. Many years ago people thought colic in babies was not painful...we know differently now.

Many people never knew their animals were in discomfort until something was done to alleviate it. I have friends who had a Bernese with hip dysplasia. They had his hips fixed after he was three years old, though the vet recommended it at 1 1/2..they thought he was not in much pain. When the hips were repaired/replaced the change was so profound in his behaviour that they regretted waiting. Anyone who says their dogs are not feeling 'real pain' when they are injured, ill or teething are sadly mistaken.


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## dakotajo (Jan 29, 2009)

It's actually a grooming course I'm taking where it said that. I don't agree with it, when I think about it I remember Dakota yelping a couple of times when she was chewing while losing her teeth


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Interesting that they would be discussing teething in a grooming course...I hope the rest of the "dog advice" is better than that! 
Good luck with your new career!
sorry to get off topic, back to teething!


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