How Carrots Can Help Stop Puppy Chewing

quest-chewing

Anyone who has or has had a puppy knows they love to chew. As you can see in the above photo, Quest is no exception.

Chewing is a natural thing for puppies as they explore and sample things with their mouthes. This habit usually gets worse when a puppy starts getting their adult teeth, but I discovered a trick to help with this problem using carrots.

By introducing carrots early, when a puppy is likely to eat just about anything, you can start a habit that will pay big dividends later.

Just like human babies, having teeth push through the soft gum tissue hurts. Puppies often try to mitigate this pain by chewing on things which can lead to chewed up shoes, furniture, carpet, etc.

But if you introduce carrots early, you can give them to your puppy as an approved alternative to help with their teething.

I started Quest out by adding a small handful of shredded carrots to the bowl I add Goat’s milk in (More on Goat’s milk later). I feed Quest a small bundle of Broccoli tips too as these vegetables have been proven to ward off certain types of cancer.

After a week of the shredded carrots, we graduated to carrot chips. I simply dropped a small handful of them on the floor in his play pen when I filled up his food dispensing toys. After Quest gets done grubbing on his food, he snacks on the carrot chips or save them for later.

If you are not familiar, carrot chips are simply slices of carrots that are similar in shape to potato chips (perhaps smaller).

After a couple of weeks with the carrot chips, we moved up to baby carrots. After meals or when Quest starts chewing on something he shouldn’t, i grab him a small handful. Because they are so dense, the carrots keep him occupied and satisfy his need to chew.

If you have a medium to large sized breed, you can use regular carrots too.

I plan on continuing to add some fresh carrots to his food or as snacks for the rest of his life due to their health and cancer defying benefits. But if you are just looking for help with teething and chewing, get your puppy started on carrots early and often.

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