5 chews to buy for your teething puppy

Puppies chew on everything. Their toys, your cushions, your shoes, your table and chair legs, your hands and feet… Living with a puppy often feels like living with a chaotic landshark intent on destroying everything for absolutely no reason at all. But there’s always a reason, there’s actually 5 different reasons puppies bite. And understanding why your puppy is biting is the key to reducing their biting and enjoying their puppyhood.

One of the reasons puppies bite is that they’re teething. Puppies need to lose their baby teeth and grow adult teeth and that process is very painful. Chewing helps soothe the pain so it’s totally understandable that teething puppies become obsessive chewers. If you don’t want your puppy to destroy your furniture and constantly bite you (who does?) then you’ll have to make sure your puppy always has safe, appropriate chews available.

1. Carrot

Puppy chews don’t have to be expensive. One of the best things you can give your puppy to chew is carrot chunks. They’re cheap, easy to find and really healthy for your puppy. Carrots are also hard enough that your puppy can have a proper chew on them. But not so hard they’re going to hurt their teeth chewing. Some puppies will shred carrots rather than eating them. So you might be left with a patch of carrot confetti on your carpet to hoover up…

2. Frozen banana

Bananas are another great healthy and cheap puppy chew. Normally bananas are too soft to be a good chew. But if you cut them into chunks and freeze them they’ll harden up. Chewing on something cold will really help soothe your puppy’s sore gums so frozen banana chunks are pretty much the perfect teething chew. If your puppy has rubber chews you can also mash up a banana, spread it on the chew and freeze it. 

3. Cheese chew

These are hard chews, often made from yaks’ milk. They’re pretty unique because they’re both long-lasting and edible. So your puppy can always have their cheese chew available to chew on whenever their teeth hurt. But you don’t have to worry that they’ll swallow something they shouldn’t. Cheese chews aren’t cheap, but they should last your puppy several weeks or more so they’re a good investment. And when the chew’s small enough that your puppy could choke on it, just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute. It’ll puff up into a crunchy treat you can give your puppy.

4. Coffee or olive wood chew

If your puppy chews your chair and table legs this is the chew for you. All puppies have their own preference for the textures they like to chew. And we want to match those textures with a safe, appropriate chew. You might be thinking ‘if my puppy’s chewing wood, can’t I just find them some sticks?’ But most wood will splinter and could injure your puppy. Coffee and olive woods are very hard so are much safer for your puppy. But you will still need to watch your puppy when they’re chewing one and swap it for a different chew if it’s damaged. You can also buy wood root chews which are usually a large lump. But I find most puppies prefer coffee or olive wood chews because they’re stick-shaped and puppies can hold them with their front paws.

5. Rope chew

You can buy knotted rope toys pretty cheaply from most pet shops. And you can turn one into a teething chew very easily. Just run it under a tap until it’s wet, put it into a food bag and freeze it. The rope toy will come out of the freezer cold and hard - perfect for your puppy’s painful teeth. There is a risk with rope toys that your puppy could swallow little bits of string. So always watch your puppy when they’re chewing on one and swap it out for another chew if your puppy looks like they’re eating it.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter