I think she started teething!

[MayaS]

I have a 3 month old boxer who has been with me for a bit over a week. She has been picking up some commands really quickly, so I have been trying to get her to learn "leave it" so I can hopefully get her to redirect her chewing/eating instinct to appropriate items in the near future. To accomplish this, I've been saying "leave it" if she starts chewing something she shouldn't, putting a chew toy next to her, and then praising her the second she chomps on the chew toy. This works really well if she stays interested in the toy or if I can otherwise distract her, but her attention span seems to be getting shorter and she has been chewing more on things she shouldn't.

She seems to have a particular fondness for the taste of fabric (blankets, rugs, couch), wood (chair arms, coffee table), and rubber (she thinks my flip-flops belong to her and she recently started going for electric cords). We are doing our best with keeping things out of her reach, but we can't really move our furniture and there are certain things that need to stay plugged in.

I know that teething is a normal part of growing up, but I was hoping that someone on this forum might have some tips with how to help her through the process. I've been researching bad-tasting sprays online and it seems like people either have great success or enormous failure with those so I am hesitant to use something that might not work.

Any tips would be most appreciated

 

[CuervoMom]

The best tip that I can give regarding chewing inappropriate items is to keep the puppy on the leash in the house at all times until you feel she is responding to the leave it command. Axel is six months old and he's still on the leash probably 50% of the time in the house. He gets more freedom now that I don't worry about potty issues as much, but if he won't stay in his living room play area and keeps wondering off, he goes back on the leash. This way, he never really gets a chance to start chewing on things he shouldn't because I can keep them away from him pretty easily. I had never considered leashing him in the house until I read about it here when reading up before getting Axel, but I think it has been a wonderful tool for both of us.

I would also suggest giving bully sticks a try. Axel loves them and while there are times he's not that interested, for the most part they do the job pretty well. On days when I can tell his mouth is really hurting him, I make sure he has a couple of frozen things to chew on (rope toy soaked in water and frozen), as well as giving him ice cubes in his Kong or water dish.

 

[Marylyn]

Gentle

My 3 month old is the devil when it comes to teething, since I know he will not stop, what I do is whenever he's teething on me or anyone's hands, I let him until he stops and keep saying GENTLE. It works for him fine, after a while, he understood that gentle means "I have to stop biting when she says gentle" and he stops most of the time, but if he continues to biting, I put him in the kennel for time out and he stops trying to play bite me. If he stops when gentle gets said, I give him a treat and praise.

I had to sit down with him and go over the gentle until he understood what I wanted, just like teaching them how to sit or lay down

The gentle works for my puppy because he CONSTANTLY likes to bite my hands and legs, so that's how I came around to make him stop.