A more perfect puppy

The next step in Dilly’s becoming an even more perfect puppy will be when all his baby teeth fall out.

He’s already a pretty awesome fellow, especially considering that he’s just four and a half months old. But he still loves to chew on us, the way he used to chew on his littermates. Some pups do this more than others. Adagio barely did it at all. Dilly falls more toward  the more munchy end of the spectrum. It’s clear he finds gnawing on us to be deeply satisfying.

He’s not trying to hurt us; it’s just a puppy thing. Still, those baby teeth are like razors. Even accidental encounters between them and human skin can be pretty gruesome.

Like what happened to my hand two days before Christmas. 

Happily, Dilly’s big-dog teeth are beginning to push those dangerous baby knives out.

I know the day will eventually come when he’ll stop chomping on us altogether. But in the meantime, I’m saluting the arrival of every single new big-dog tooth.

What big teeth he’s getting

Being a serial puppy raiser has made me jaded. I remember being riveted when Tucker’s baby teeth started to fall out. I saved some from him and his successors; a small collection sits in the bottom of one of my jewelry boxes. But the thrill has faded. This morning, when Steve found this on the floor of our bedroom…

…I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you want to blog about it?” he asked. Not really, I thought.

I changed my mind because I think the transition to Big Dog Teeth is one worth noting. It’s been easy to overlook in Adagio because he’s been so good about NOT using his baby teeth as weapons. Many puppies do. Two or three months into life with some of our charges, my hands and arms have been covered with scratches and scabs. Adagio, in contrast, almost never nips. He chews his toys — a little — but he’s not obsessive about it.

The molar that Steve found today is the first one Adagio has shed and we have discovered. My guess is he swallows most of them. But a look inside his lips shows he’s already well into the transition:

“IS this necessary?” he seems to be asking.

Once the big ones have displaced the little teeth, it will take a while for Adagio’s head and body to grow enough to match them. That will slip up on us too, I’m sure, even though I’m trying to pay attention.