What to do if your gundog is 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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