How I Survived My Puppy's Teething Phase

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Max is 10 years old now, the sweetest, calmest golden retriever you’ll ever meet. He lays on the couch all day, he doesn’t chew anything, he’s basically a giant, fluffy lap dog. But 10 years ago, when I first brought him home as a tiny 10 week old puppy? He was a little chewing monster, and I almost lost all my stuff during his teething phase.

I thought I was fully prepared back then. I read all the puppy blogs, I bought a whole bin of puppy toys, I puppy proofed the whole apartment, covered all the outlets, put all the small things up high. I had no idea what I was actually in for. After 12 weeks of chewed up shoes, broken charging cables, and a hole in my couch that cost me $200 to fix, I finally made it out the other side. And I’m here to tell you, if you’re going through this right now, you can survive it, too. I’m not here to give you that generic “puppies chew” garbage that all the parenting sites post. I’m here to give you the real, messy, actual stuff that worked for me, and the stuff that was a complete waste of my time and money, no fluff.

When It Started and What Got Destroyed

It started around 12 weeks, right? That was when he was 3 months old, 10 years ago. I noticed Max was chewing everything a little more than usual, at first, I thought it was just normal puppy behavior. He’d chew his toys, that was fine, I thought, that’s what they’re for. I didn’t think much of it, until two weeks later, at 14 weeks, it got bad. Real bad.

I came home from work one day, and I found he’d chewed a hole right through the arm of my $200 linen couch. I’m not talking a little scratch, I’m talking a hole big enough that I could fit my whole fist through it. I was so shocked, I just stood there, staring at it, for like 5 minutes. I had no idea how he did that, I was only gone for 8 hours. I’d left him with a whole bin of toys, I thought he’d be fine.

And that was just the start. The next day, he chewed through my Apple charging cable. I’d bought the $19 braided one, the one that’s supposed to be “chew proof”, right? The listing said it was indestructible for puppies. He bit it in half, in 10 minutes. I went to the convenience store down the street, bought a new one, and the next day? He bit that one in half, too. I went through three charging cables in one week. I was this close to just using my old flip phone, because I was tired of spending $20 every other day on new cables.

Then, he got to my shoes. I had a pair of Nike Air Force 1s, the ones I’d saved up for, for 2 months, to wear to my best friend’s wedding. I left them by the door for 20 minutes while I took a shower, and when I got out? He chewed a hole right through the toe of one of them. I tried to fix it, I bought that shoe glue stuff, the one that’s supposed to fix holes in sneakers, but it didn’t work, the hole was too big. I had to wear my old scuffed sneakers to the wedding, which was fine, but I was so mad, I could’ve cried.

And then, the TV remote. He chewed the volume and channel buttons right off, so I couldn’t change the channel or turn the volume down for 3 days, until I could order a new one off Amazon. I lost count of how many things he destroyed in those 4 weeks. I would come home from work, and the first thing I’d do is walk around the apartment, checking what he’d broken that day. It was like a weird, terrible game, but the prize was me losing more of my stuff.

What Actually Helped

After a week of that, I was desperate. I tried everything I could find online, and I finally found a few things that actually worked, no joke, no fancy stuff, just simple things that made all the difference.

First, the frozen wet towel trick. I read about this on a Reddit thread, and I thought, that sounds way too simple to work, but I tried it anyway. I took one of my old cotton bath towels, got it wet, wrung it out really good, and stuck it in the freezer for a couple hours. Then I gave it to Max. And you know what? He stopped chewing everything else, and just laid there, chewing on that cold towel. I noticed the cold numbed his sore gums, right? And it was soft enough that it didn’t hurt his baby teeth. He’d chew on that for hours, and it kept him busy. I did this every single day, and it cut his chewing on my stuff in half, almost immediately.

Then, those hollow rubber toys, the ones you can stuff treats into. I got one of those, and I stuffed it full of peanut butter, the no xylitol kind, obviously, because I didn’t want to hurt him, and stuck it in the freezer overnight. When I gave it to him the next morning, it took him 3 whole hours to get all the peanut butter out. 3 hours! Before that, he’d get bored of regular toys in 10 minutes, tops. But this? He’d just sit there, licking and chewing at it, and he didn’t have time to chew my couch. That was the biggest game changer for me. I started keeping one of those in the freezer at all times, so when I had to go to work, I could give it to him, and he’d be busy the whole time I was gone.

And then, that little “bite and stop” trick. I learned this from a dog trainer friend of mine, who told me not to yell at him when he bit. When Max would bite my hand, or my arm, while we were playing? I would immediately stop playing. I’d stand up, walk away, and ignore him for 10 whole seconds. No talking, no touching, nothing, just turn my back and don’t pay attention to him. Then I’d come back, and give him one of his toys, so he knew what he was supposed to chew. At first, he didn’t get it, he’d just follow me around, trying to bite my pants. But after a week of doing that every single time he bit me? He stopped biting my hands entirely. I noticed he learned that if he bit me, the fun stopped, so he’d chew his toys instead.

That’s it, those three things. That’s all it took, to get the worst of the chewing under control. I didn’t need anything fancy, just those three simple things, that cost me almost nothing.

What Was a Complete Waste of Time

Of course, I tried a ton of other stuff, too, that was a complete waste of my time and money. Let me save you the trouble, so you don’t have to waste your cash like I did.

First, yelling at him or hitting him. I know, I know, everyone says don’t do that, but I was so frustrated, right? When he chewed my couch, I yelled at him, I even smacked his nose a little, like those old dog training books say you should. And you know what happened? He just got scared. He ran under the table, and he peed a little, because he was so scared of me. And he didn’t stop chewing the couch. He just stopped doing it when I was home. When I was at work, he’d do it even more, because he was scared of me getting mad, so he’d hide it. That was the worst thing I ever did, it made everything worse, not better.

Then, those bitter apple sprays. Everyone says, spray this on your furniture, and your dog won’t chew it, because it tastes bad. I bought a whole bottle, sprayed it all over my couch, all over my shoes, all over everything. And Max? He licked it, and then he kept chewing. He didn’t care! I actually think he liked the taste, weirdly enough. It did nothing. Nothing at all. I wasted $12 on that spray, for absolutely nothing.

And those plush puppy toys. I bought a whole bin of them, right? The cute little teddy bears, the squeaky ones, the ones with the little ropes, all that stuff. Max destroyed them in 5 minutes. He’d rip the stuffing out, throw it all over the apartment, and then move on to my couch. Those things were useless. He didn’t care about them, they were too soft, he wanted something hard to chew on, to soothe his sore gums.

And those “puppy proof” covers for my cables. I bought those, the hard plastic ones, that you wrap around your cables, so your dog can’t chew them. The listing said they were guaranteed to stop puppy chewing. Max chewed right through them. In 10 minutes. I don’t even know how he did it, but he did. Another $15 wasted, for nothing.

How Long It Took

Everyone always says, “oh, teething only lasts a few weeks!” No, that’s a lie. For me, back then, it lasted 12 whole weeks. From when he was 12 weeks old, until he was 24 weeks old, 6 months. That’s how long it took.

The worst part was the middle 4 weeks, from 14 to 18 weeks. That’s when all the destruction happened, that’s when he was chewing everything, that’s when I was going through charging cables every other day. After that, at 18 weeks, it started to get better. He started chewing less, he started paying more attention to his toys, less to my stuff. He still chewed sometimes, but it wasn’t that nonstop, everything is a chew toy madness anymore.

And then, at 24 weeks, his baby teeth started falling out, and his adult teeth came in. And that’s when it stopped. All of a sudden, he didn’t have that sore, itchy gums anymore, so he didn’t need to chew everything to soothe it. He went back to being a normal puppy, not a little chewing monster that destroyed everything he touched.

I’m not going to lie to you, those 12 weeks were the hardest part of having a puppy, by far. I cried once, I was so stressed, because I had just bought a new couch, and I was scared he was going to destroy that one, too. I thought I was a bad dog owner, because I couldn’t stop him from chewing everything. But it does end. It really does. You just have to get through those few weeks, and then it’s over.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, if you’re going through this right now, I just want you to know, you’re not alone. I thought I was the only one, that everyone else had perfect puppies that didn’t destroy their stuff. But no, every single puppy owner I’ve talked to since then has had the exact same thing happen. They all have a story about the couch they had to replace, or the shoes their puppy chewed up, or the three charging cables they went through in a week.

It’s not your fault, and it’s not your puppy’s fault. They’re not being bad, they’re just in pain. Their gums are sore, their teeth are coming in, and they don’t know that they’re not supposed to chew your couch. They just know that chewing on something hard makes their gums feel better. That’s all it is.

And you don’t have to spend a ton of money to fix it. You don’t need those fancy training classes, you don’t need those expensive sprays, you don’t need to hire a dog walker to come over every day. All you need is a few old towels, some rubber toys you can stuff peanut butter into, and that little stop playing trick when he bites you. That’s it. That’s all you need.

I survived it, and you will too. It’s temporary, I promise. In a few months, you’ll be looking back at those chewed up shoes, and you’ll laugh about it. Well, maybe not the $200 couch part, that still stings a little. But you’ll get through it. I promise.

A Quick Disclaimer

I’m not a vet or professional trainer. This is just my personal experience.

How I Survived My Puppy’s Teething Phase Without Losing My Stuff