Puppies chew. It is part of the way they explore the world. They do not have hands so anything they want to pick up and explore must be done with their mouth. Puppies chew. It is the way they handle teething pain and the weird sensation of loose teeth. Daisy is both a regular puppy and one who has loose teeth. Today she lost her first teeth. The lower two center incisors fell out (see photo below). She is now a gap-toothed dog!

Daisy and her missing teeth. Note the gap in her teeth on her lower jaw. This photo is not very clear because Daisy kept moving! She would not let me take a photo of her teeth.

If she was a kid she would squish jello  or squirt water or force part of her tongue through the gap. Since she neither eats jello nor sucks up water to later be squirted, she does not get to have much fun with her gappy smile.

We are feeling her pain as well since she is chewing more aggressively than usual on everything: toys, Charley (her adopted sibling), the kitchen table legs, US! It isn’t fun. Toys and Charley are ok. Us and the furniture, not so much.

With redirect and exercise she is much easier to manage. Unfortunately my in-laws are visiting. They are not particularly good with dogs so this extra chewing phase is difficult on us all.

In addition to the teeth and chewing problem, Daisy has taken to barking at the dog in the yard across the path behind our house. Although she can no longer fit her whole body through our fence (it is a fence with metal bars) she can still fit her head through. She likes getting a look of the lay of the land through the fence. Anyone on the trail can be stared at for quite some time as they walk past our property. She has not started barking at people (and dogs) on the path but the neighbors dogs? Yeah, she has that down pat.