What to do if your gundog is teething

By Mark Whitehouse

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Teething: My five-month-old spaniel bitch is reluctant to retrieve and we think it's because of teething.

She was a very good retriever of small dummies and tennis balls up to about a month ago and now he just has no interest at all. She has become very destructive and loves chewing her kennel and sleeping box. Is it something I have done and if so how can I put it right?

Mark Whitehouse says: Young gundogs start to shed their baby teeth and gain their adult teeth between four and six months of age. As with children this is a very stressful and painful time for young gundogs and chewing is a way to try to relieve the teething pain.

I would stop all retrieving exercises during this period if I thought it was not helping the teething problem and reintroduce at a later stage. One of my old remedies would be to give my young gundog a few chunks of frozen tripe and/or a frozen whole carrot to chew on. This does help ease the pain at times and will help to preserve your kennel and sleeping box! I am 100 per cent sure when the adult teeth are through and the teething pain has stopped training will return to normal and your young gundog will start retrieving again.

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Comments

Sophie

Fri, 15th Mar 2013 11:30:01

I've found this really helpful, my cocker puppy is also teething at the moment and I have started giving her forzen carrots and tripe to help with the pain. She does however get quite possesive of things that she is chewing that she shouldn't be, she never growls, but I'm worried that taking things off her when she is like this will make her hard mouthed. Sophie