The Puppy Files: My Overly Toothy Grin

Welcome to the fourth installment of The Puppy Files--the series where I recount stories from before I had my very own blog.  Today's topic:  my pearly white teeth.

Showing Off My Baby Teeth

As I've mentioned before, I was a very nippy little puppy.  I chewed on hands, I chewed on clothing (Pa still has a shirt that I put a hole in during one of my temper tantrums), I chewed on shoes, and I chewed on other inanimate items.  Basically, if I could get my mouth around it, I'd chew on it.  And boy was I a good chewer!  I had sharp needle like teeth and was not afraid to use them.  It was great (though my family would likely tell you otherwise).

But then, a really disturbing thing happened:  all my teeth started falling out.  There I'd be happily playing with one of my toys or gnawing on Sister's hand and POP! a baby tooth would just fall right out of my mouth and onto the floor (Sister collected these teeth--she keeps them in a little metal tin).  But not all of my teeth fell out this way.  Nope, I ended up swallowing most of them while I innocently ate my kibble or my daily Milkbone dog biscuit.  I know, how gross!

My Mouth Hurts!

Of course, once a tooth was ejected, a new one would start growing in and that was a particularly painful process.  My family tried to help me:  they bought me Chilly Bones (bone shaped cloth toys that were soaked in water and frozen) and didn't yell at me when I commandeered some other piece of fabric to gum piteously (that's how painful teething was for me--I couldn't even enjoy being bad!).

Finally, after days of pain and bleeding gums, my adult teeth finally grew in and I was pleased to discover that they were about five times larger than the teeth they replaced.  Seemingly overnight, I went from being a little puppy with a little mouth filled with razor sharp tiny teeth and a bad attitude to a little puppy with a little mouth filled with giant gnashing teeth and a bad attitude.  My family was horrified:  I was all teeth!  They were so concerned with this latest development that the next time I visited the vet, Pa asked him if I had more teeth than I was supposed to (the vet just sort of chuckled and assured Pa that I had all the teeth I was supposed to have).

Check Out Those Pearly Whites!

It wasn't until months later that my head and jaws finally grew in enough to match the size of my teeth.  Now I'm a handsome dog with sparkling white teeth and an award winning personality.