Ruining a bite

[Scratchy]

Has anyone ever heard that giving bones and chew toys at any age may ruin a dogs bite?

[marshall619]

Has anyone ever heard that giving bones and chew toys at any age may ruin a dogs bite?
Teeth can get damaged by bones or hard chew toys so I would say yes. Teeth are very essential for a dogs bite. ;) I would always supervise when giving chew toys etc, not only for ruining of teeth, but a choking hazard.

[bahamutt99]

I've heard that allowing a puppy to play tug can throw off their bite. Its probably more genetic than anything, but I wouldn't let a pup with the potential for a bad bite do anything that could possibly throw it off more. JMO. But I've never heard that bones and chews can mess it up, just tugging.

[screamin'eagle]

I've heard that allowing a puppy to play tug can throw off their bite. Its probably more genetic than anything, but I wouldn't let a pup with the potential for a bad bite do anything that could possibly throw it off more. JMO. But I've never heard that bones and chews can mess it up, just tugging.
I've heard of bones dulling teeth. For example, you wouldn't want to give too many beef femurs to a pup with milk teeth.

I have also seen pups teeth ruined apparently by too much tug. The latest example was a kid that always wanted to lift his pup while hanging on to a rope toy. Eventually, he was bringing me the dog for dental work! (I'm kidding) Basically one of the milk teeth had broken, and was rotting in place. An adult tooth wasn't pushing it out, and was coming in toward the middle of the pallet. The tooth was loose so we worked it out over a couple of days, and let nature take its course...returned to a good scissors bite.

That could have been a genetic issue, but think it was more from the super rough hanging because his bite did return to standard.

[miakoda]

I've not heard of the bite being ruined, but excessive chewers will definitely wear down the canine teeth.

However, a dog's teeth were made that way for a purpose so don't deny them the bones they enjoy and actually need to keep teeth naturally clean and healthy out of fear. But if you see your dog chewing on sticks, bricks, and concrete (yes, our male Lab did this), then do your best to curb the behavior before he is toofless. :)

[Scratchy]

I'm no vet and never thought to ask so I've always had a theory that a dogs teeth are fully developed around 1yr of age. I would be guessing that any chewing, tugging etc. wouldn't affect the mouth after that age. Could this be true? The thing is this, awhile ago I thought that a dogs bite could be improved by cow knuckles, ribs and other natural bones. Now I'm getting two new pups and I may experiment not giving them any chew toys so their mouth and bite develope as mother earth intends it to be.

[miakoda]

Teeth are developed, but teeth can be worn down to nubs by excessive chewers. It's just the way it is.

[Miss Conduct]

Teeth are developed, but teeth can be worn down to nubs by excessive chewers. It's just the way it is.Yup, they can also break their canines in half :( I have a male that only has one "normal" lower untouched canine...

[Scratchy]

Yup, they can also break their canines in half :( I have a male that only has one "normal" lower untouched canine...
how old was he when it happened?