Hi, My kizzy (mini Schnauzer) lookes like a shark at the moment, her second canines have come through and her baby one's arn't a bit loose, she is 5 month's old today. It dosen't seem to be giving her any problem's and I don't know weather to take her to the vet and have them pulled or to leave it a bit longer. Advice please. Cheers Viv

Don't leave it longer than 6 months. If they baby teeth aren't loose at all it means that the root isn't being absorbed as it should, and they simply won't fall out, which will lead to problems with the adult canines. If they're not wobbly in two weeks book her in to have them removed.
:)

That's about the time limit I was thinking, I just needed to know I wasn't doing any harm to her bite,by leaving it that long. Cheers Viv

Really, the sooner they're out the better, once the adult ones have come through.
:)

I also heard playing tug rope with them helps with baby teeth, Tiva always played tug rope or just chewed on a dog rope and it seemed to help loosen her teeth...I had one baby tooth that was lose and an adult growing in but the baby tooth wasn't letting go, I just played with it everyday and I ended up pulling it out. It obviously didn't hurt her cause she just layed there, she was 6 months then. She ate so much better too once it came out, thought that was gonna be a vet trip but luckily we did it, she was such a good girl to :)

Vivian, my mini was a bit slow at losing his as well.  A regular gentle play of tug helped enormously which was the advice given by other champdoggers.

Just spotted your post about baby teeth.  My staff had 2 sets of teeth and I only wish I'd taken her to the vets when she was your pups age and got the baby teeth removed.  She has just had to have a canine filed down as it had grown into the roof of her mouth due to a milk tooth staying in too long and misaligning it.  The hole in the roof of her mouth was sooo deep.  It must have been real painful.  Also, my insurance doesn't cover dental work.  If I was you, I'd get them checked out by the vet. 

I used to find teeth missing after my two (Sophie and Hollie) had been playing with their tug rope.    They used to nearly pull me over!!  no wonder their teeth fell out!!

Thank's, Will ring my vet tomorrow, it sound's horrable, Will let you know what he say's. Viv

This must be quite common because I have read that here before and now my puppy (just 5 months) has the same thing. Those baby canine teeth are not loose at all yet, where as all her other baby teeth have fallen out easily for the new one to come through, these are just holding on for dear life and she is getting her second ones through infront of them.  So the general rule is if they haven't worked loose by 6 months of age to have them pulled?  Would something like that be covered by insurance?...is it expensive if not...just wondering, of course I will get them taken care of either way, but it's nice to know.

Thanks.

Hi, went to see my vet, he didn't want to pull them out yet at this age but he did run a little prong thing round top of gum's and told me this should loosen them a bit, it did the trick because she lost 2 while playing tuggie with my Grandson (he cried because he thought he hurt her) and she lost the other 2 Monday night while chewing on a pig's ear. I did ask about cost of pulling and it seem's that at this age it might be classed as cosmetic so insureance won't pay but he dosn't think it would have been more then the excess anyway. Cheers Viv

I'm glad your pups teeth finally came loose Vivian!...is that the problem canines now gone?...I checked my puppy's two top canines tonight, she did loose a different tooth last night while chewing, but those are still there, I tried to wiggle them a little to see if they are loose at all and I guess they seemed ever so slightly wiggly! but not very much at all though, I will give it a week and ask at the vets but I do agree that I shouldn't leave it much longer because I would hate to ruin her new teeth comming in and put her through anything I could avoid.

Thanks. 

Yes, Canines now gone, all frount teeth came out about 4-6 weeks ago just got a few of the back one,s to go now. Viv

That's good Vivian...Just wondering were the canines not loose at all before you went to the vet?...what was the 'prong thing'? it seemed like that helped them out alot.

I would get them checked out by a vet if you see 2 sets of teeth.  The thing is, a lot of vets aren't keen to remove teeth from puppies and prefer to let nature take its course.  Our pups last canine came out at 6 months and by that time it was too late and the new tooth had become inverted.  I would have said - I'm no expert - that it would be easier to pull baby teeth than adult teeth, as by 5/6 months they must be becoming loose.  Sometimes they will just pop out during tugging games.  I'm getting another pup next year and if the same thing happens again, I will insist the vet removes the baby teeth.  After what we've been through and seeing how uncomfortable our pup was by 10 months, I wouldn't be prepared to chance it.  I don't know if every insurance company discounts all dental work, but it must be an easier procedure to pull loose baby teeth than to have remove a grown up tooth. Hope everything works out alright for you.