Jaws...

[goforette]

So the girls are obviously teething - Hollie not so gracefully apparently - my big whiner. But I really am curious about what's going on in there. I know I probably totally sound ill-educated but again this is my first round of attempts with a puppies) - how would I know what's a baby tooth and what's not? Are they like human teeth that the permanent ones come in right in the same spots that the babies fall out of? How would I know what's still a baby tooth and what is not? Is it a big deal if they don't loose all baby teeth? Or do they always have to be pulled to prevent decay etc if they don't come out by themselves?

I'll probably never get a chance to see inside anyways. Hollie tightens up like there's no way I'm getting a peek - she'd rather do anything else than let me even get a glimpse in there. Brystal - well she's more easy going but prefers I take a peek while she's got her tounge out at me which is like once in a blue moon... I just want to make sure things are good in there... but they just wont be sports about it.

[we-love-izzy]

Izzy let me look inside for a few seconds, her baby teeth were very loose, and very tiny..the new ones are coming in and are noticably bigger and not jagged like the baby ones..

[goforette]

Hollie spit out another tooth - and I was able to look inside - not all the way for like maybe 5 seconds. She's got her lower canine teeth growing in the inside of her existing baby canines - is that suppose to happen I kind of thought the new pushed out the old - kind of like ours do - will she have two sets of lower canine teeth then?

Now I'm a little worried because some things I read via internet say that Hollie has retained decidious teeth since her lower canines are coming in towards her tongue - and that this could cause problems for her - is there a way I can gentely help loosen the lower canines? have any recommendations? I'd like to avoid vet teeth pulling if I can...

[hallswel]

Because I was going to show Sugar and the judges look at the teeth I would put her in my lap and rub her gums and tell her what pretty teeth she had after a couple of weeks of that I would say show me your pretty teeth and I would pull her gums up and tell her how beautiful then get her to open her mouth to show me the rest and she would get a treat. One of the canines didn't come out quick enough and she had both the baby and adult so I wiggled it lose then pulled the tooth.

[Kirbysmom]

If you can get in there, you can work to loosen the teeth. I did have a couple adult teeth that came in behind the puppy teeth-there was a short period where the lower canines were practically sticking straight out the side as they came loose-I couldn't bring myself to yank-they were just hanging by a thread, but they came out on their own through playing. You probably want to talk to the vet if the teeth aren't straight up, but coming toward her tongue-some pulling might need to be done.

When I needed to look at Kirby's mouth, I'd get a chew toy or a small ball that she liked and get her to hold it on one side of her mouth. Then while still holding the toy, I could look in there, because she would never give the toy up. I could move her head to the left and right-it was kind of like tug of war. She thought we were playing, and I always let her have the toy once I was done. You still only get a short time, but it's better than trying to guess what's going on in there.

I also massaged her gums while the teeth were coming out-she lets me lift her lip and look at her teeth now. Of course, all the adult teeth are in, and I don't need to worry about it any more.

[goforette]

Because I was going to show Sugar and the judges look at the teeth I would put her in my lap and rub her gums and tell her what pretty teeth she had after a couple of weeks of that I would say show me your pretty teeth and I would pull her gums up and tell her how beautiful then get her to open her mouth to show me the rest and she would get a treat. One of the canines didn't come out quick enough and she had both the baby and adult so I wiggled it lose then pulled the tooth.

I'd love to show Brystal - she'd be perfect and has great patience - Hollie - well she's pretty but I'm not sure she'd make good show dog material - maybe with a whole lot of extra work - but it wouldn't come natural to her. I'll try the pretty girl thing - they like that so I'll try it with the teeth too. Thanks for the idea