When Can Puppies Have Chews? A Teething Timeline
Puppies chew because they have to, not because they are naughty. Here is what happens to their teeth month by month, and which chews are safe at each stage.
Somewhere around four months old, your puppy will start destroying things with a focus that feels almost professional. Skirting boards. Chair legs. That one shoe.
This is not naughtiness and it is not a training failure. It is teething, and the urge to chew during it is about as optional for a puppy as sneezing is for you. Your job is not to stop the chewing. It is to give it somewhere acceptable to go.
The teething timeline
2 to 4 weeks. Milk teeth start coming through. Still with the breeder, not your problem yet.
6 to 8 weeks. All 28 milk teeth are in. These are the needle-sharp ones that make puppy play so memorable.
12 to 16 weeks. The milk teeth start falling out and adult teeth push through. This is when the serious chewing begins. You may find tiny teeth on the floor, or more likely you will never see them because your puppy swallowed them, which is normal and harmless.
4 to 6 months. Peak destruction. Gums are genuinely sore and chewing provides real relief. Be patient with them and put your shoes away.
6 to 8 months. All 42 adult teeth are usually through. The frantic phase eases off.
Up to about 12 months. Adult teeth are in but the jaw and the teeth themselves are still maturing. This matters more than most people realise, and it is the reason for the main safety rule below.
The one rule that matters most
No hard chews before twelve months. Ideally longer for larger breeds, whose jaws take longer to finish developing.
That means no antlers, no hooves, no weight-bearing bones, no hard nylon. A puppy's adult teeth are newly erupted and not yet fully mineralised, and the jaw is still growing. A cracked tooth at eight months is a tooth they have to live with for the next fourteen years.
Use the thumbnail test. Press a thumbnail into the chew. If it does not give at all, it is too hard for a puppy.
What is safe at each stage
Under 12 weeks. Very little, honestly. Their jaws are weak and their gut is delicate. Soft, small, easily dissolved training treats for reward work, and frozen wet flannels for gum relief. Save proper chews.
3 to 5 months. Soft and yielding is the theme. Dried chicken breast, thin fish skins, soft tripe sticks, puppy-specific chews. Frozen carrot is excellent and costs nothing. Everything supervised, everything taken away at the stub.
5 to 8 months. They can handle more. Thin tendon, rabbit ears without fur, dried lung, smaller trachea. Still nothing hard, still supervised.
8 to 12 months. Approaching adult chews. Fuller tendon, larger trachea, pizzle. Continue avoiding anything rock hard.
12 months plus. The full range, chosen for their size and chewing style as you would for any adult dog.
Size matters more with puppies
A common mistake is buying small chews for a small puppy. The choking risk runs the other way. A chew your puppy cannot fit in their mouth is far safer than one they can, and puppies are considerably more reckless about swallowing things than adult dogs are.
Buy bigger than feels intuitive, and take it away when it wears down.
Calories, briefly
Puppies need a lot of food for growth, but treats still count. Keep to the 10 percent rule and take it out of their meals. An overweight puppy is a genuine orthopaedic risk during growth, particularly in larger breeds where joints are developing under load.
What to do about the furniture
Chews help, but they are not a complete answer. Three things that do more:
Manage the environment. A puppy who cannot reach the skirting board cannot chew it. Pens, gates and closed doors work better than correction.
Swap, do not scold. When they start on something wrong, quietly exchange it for something right and praise the switch. Telling them off teaches them to chew furniture in private, which is worse.
Tire the brain. Much puppy chewing is boredom rather than teething. Ten minutes of scentwork or training will settle a puppy more than half an hour of running about.
When to check with a vet
Retained milk teeth, where an adult tooth comes through beside a baby tooth that has not fallen out, are fairly common in small breeds and usually need removing. If you can see a double row at around six or seven months, mention it. It is often dealt with at the same time as neutering.
Also flag bleeding gums that do not settle, a puppy who suddenly refuses all chewing, or a broken tooth.
Filter our range by dog size and chew strength to find things safe for a growing mouth. Comment PUPPY on our latest Instagram post and we will suggest a starter set, plus send a discount code.
