Questions about puppy development

[chinacorey]

Hi everyone,

Now that my puppy is all better (and I mean ALL BETTER!) I have some questions about how and when he'll grow up. If you can answer any of my questions for me, I'd be grateful.

1. When will my puppy lose his baby teeth and grow adult teeth? Or, does this actually happen? (My Chinese vet said the puppy would have the same teeth all his life.) I haven't noticed any missing teeth.

2. When will my puppy start developing secondary sex characteristics? Ie, when will his testicles descend? I'd LOVE to have my puppy neutered, but it's not an option for me where I live. Instead I'll be the vigilant puppy owner who doesn't let him get close enough to a female dog for a romp.

3. My puppy has kind of a high-pitched bark. Will that ever change? By the way, he barks ALL THE TIME, at EVERYTHING! I'm so glad, his barking was one of the things I missed most when he was sick.

4. At what age has a puppy reached it's maximum growth?

That's all the questions I can think of for now. Your answers to these questions can hopefully help me age the puppy as well, since I have no idea how old he is.

Thanks!!

[Luba]

Great questions

Your puppy will get adult teeth around four months of age. Ice cubes and nice hard bones are terrific for teething. A face cloth soaked in water and twisted then put in the freezer to get hard is a great teething object.

You will know when pups loosing teeth (I've kept mine) and they will bleed a little. I just gave an ice cube, it stops fast.

Your pup will for the most part reach mature stature/size by a year old. Some larger breeds take longer.

Your dog will start humping anything and everything soon after the adult teeth are in. If you can arrange for neutering at some point it would be beneficial as male dogs will hump everything and quite often mark territory by peeing in the house. That is ofcourse in addition to the getting another dog pregnant. If your male smells a female in heat he will do ANYTHING to get to her, including digging, chewing, clawing and being aggressive to get there.
You may have a dog that becomes very distructive. So if you can make a trip to a more city like area to have the neutering done I would

Some breeds are more prone to bark then others. The barks will change over time and happy barks sometimes are very high pitched as are the lonely getting attention barks

It sounds like you're doing a great job, keep it up

[chico2]

I cannot answer your questions,but are you sure your vet is really a vet,unless your puppy is older than you think,he'll have baby-teeth.
Call me ignorant,but testicles descending,I have never heard of that,but it was a long time since I had a dog
You have done such a wonderful thing for this puppy and he's sooo cute.
I'll leave it to the"dog-experts"to answer your questions,but maybe wonder-dog is really a girlie dog But I suppose you would have seen his little"thingy"..

[Luba]

Giggles, no he's right Anita.

You should see those little buggers just before 2/3mons of age'ish!
If they don't come down sometimes thats just genetic.

[Sneaky2006]

I don't know if this pertains to dog testicles or not...
One of my sons testicles did not drop down on time (at birth) and he had to have surgery to drain fluid because the sac had filled up with fluid before the testicle had dropped. You think it's the same kind of thing with dogs?

[glasslass]

If I remember right, they descend approx 5 mos. A friend's dog had 1 side that hadn't descended yet at 7 mos but they were still able to neuter him. Cost a little more, but they figure if it was going to descend, it would have done it by then.

[moontamara]

So happy to hear he made it!!!!!! You must be so relieved!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you in the know, how does one know when the teething starts? Can they get sick while teething (fever and such, like human babies)?

Again, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chico2]

Oh well,that just goes to show how much I know about testicles

[glasslass]

I never really noticed any problems. Maybe a little more chewing. The way I always found out was by finding a tooth in the "tug-tug". First time, I felt guilty thinking I had pulled too hard. He didn't even seem to notice. Puppies are so cute when they have that little front gap. Doesn't last long as the adult teeth come in really quickly. My previous dog didn't lose his puppy canine teeth. The adult canines came in right above and the puppy teeth were still solid. The vet removed them when he was neutered. Poor guy got it from both ends! The adult teeth then soon shifted into the proper position.

[sammiec]

I made it a point to constantly touch Briggs' mouth, paws and ears. That way she is used to it when the cleaning, vet visits and nail clipping come around. I found this effective in also finding out what's goin on in that little mouth of hers. Their teeth will being to fall out when they are 4 months - give or take 48 HOURS!!! That's it. So, around the time that you think they are 4 months check their teeth, they wil be loose like human teeth - DON'T PULL. They will be chewing more frequently (Briggs chews ALL the time - so that didn't work for me ) But I was always playing around in her mouth so I noticed when the changes began...

[heidiho]

What kind of vets are out there??He said he will have the same teeth his whole lifE??

[animallady]

all dogs lose their baby teeth and get adult teeth, usually around 4 months of age, also if you vet is telling you differently than that, you really need to check into getting a new vet,
I really don't like the sounds of this.
Also when it comes to testicles descending, usually around 6 months give or take a month either way, but do what to see if both drop,
I took in a couple of years ago a old chocolate labador, who at that time was 11 years old, discovered, he had never been fixed, and he only had one testicle that did drop. At his age now, I really don't want to put him through the surgery, as it will be a lot harder for them to go up and get that other testicle that never did drop. I just keep him in a 6 ft fence and make sure all my girls are spay.
Rare but this does happen to boy dogs.
PS. I worked as animal tech for 15 years.