It's an easy point to drive home time and again, but bringing home a new puppy has a lot in common with welcoming a human baby into the family. There are a lot of growing pains that puppies and their owners will have to go through as both sides adjust to the new environment in the home. One of the most difficult hurdles to conquer during those early weeks and months is teething.
 
Puppies, just like human babies, have a set of puppy teeth that grow into place, fall out, and get replaced with full-size adult canine teeth. During this period your puppy is going to be irritable, whiny, and is going to become obsessed with chewing on anything it can get its mouth on. How can you survive teething in your puppy? More important, what can you do to ease its pain during the process?
 
Why puppies chew
Human beings come into this world with poor motor skills and limited sensory capabilities. Children learn by experiencing the world around them. Your puppy is no different, except for the fact that it is born with a strong sense of taste and smell. Puppies naturally experience the world by placing things in their mouth and chewing on them.
 
By the time your puppy is 12 weeks old, its final puppy teeth will have pushed through the gums and come into place. However, just a few short weeks later your puppy will start losing those teeth. As those teeth begin to fall out, and begin to be replaced by adult teeth, you will likely notice your puppy chewing on anything and everything.
 
Your puppy isn't doing this to be bad, or even necessarily to experience the world. Your puppy is doing this to relieve the pain of teething. This makes it important for you to be attentive to chewing habits starting around 16 weeks. With a few helpful tips you can protect the valuable items in your household and instill proper chewing habits in your pup at the same time. Good chewing vs. bad chewing
During teething, you are going to notice your puppy chewing on anything it can get its teeth on. Be attentive and watch what your pup is chewing on. When you notice it chewing on a shoe, the leg of furniture, or a TV remote, correct it with a stern "no." Follow that up by providing your pup with a proper chew toy to reinforce that the other item was bad, and this substitute is good/acceptable.
 
Provide an outlet for chewing
The best thing you can do to protect the valuables in your home is provide your pup with plenty of acceptable chew toys. This applies to the life of your pup, but during its teething phase it is even more important. It is going to be chewing randomly throughout the day to relieve the pain associated with teething, so the more toys you have available for it to chew on the better.
 
Some good ideas for chew toys include rope bones (good for chewing, resistant to wear and tear), Kong toys (hard rubber, resistant to wear and tear), and other toys made with tough rubber that is resistant to wearing down quickly.
 
Simple remedies
When children are teething, most parents offer them something cold to chew on. It helps numb the pain of teething. Your puppy can benefit from the same methods. An inexpensive option is to soak a washcloth in water and stick it in the freezer. Additionally, keep large, chilled carrots handy in the fridge. Give your puppy one of these as a nice treat that can also help sooth sore gums.