Short answer: the best puppy teething treats are soft, 100% natural, single-ingredient chews that are safe to freeze — things like beef trachea, soft bully stick pieces, or a frozen yogurt-and-banana pup-sicle. Cold numbs sore gums, single-ingredient means nothing weird in your puppy's stomach, and "soft" is the part most people get wrong. Hard antlers, hooves, and rawhide have no business in a teething puppy's mouth.
I'm Preston Smith, co-founder of Bully Sticks Central. We've spent years sourcing chews for dogs of every age, and teething puppies are the group people ask us about most. Here's what actually works.
Why is my puppy chewing everything?
Puppies get their baby teeth around 3–4 weeks old and start losing them around 12–16 weeks, with adult teeth usually in place by six to eight months. Chewing is how they relieve the pressure and soreness of teeth pushing through the gums, per the American Kennel Club. It isn't bad behavior — it's a physical need. Your job isn't to stop the chewing. It's to give it a better target than your baseboards.
What makes a good puppy teething treat?
1. It has to be soft enough
This is the big one. Puppy teeth are fragile, and hard chews can fracture them. VCA Animal Hospitals warns that hard objects are a leading cause of broken teeth in dogs. A simple rule: press your thumbnail into the chew. If it doesn't give at all, it's too hard for a teething puppy.
2. It should be a single ingredient
Teething puppies swallow a lot of what they chew. A single-ingredient chew made of 100% real meat is easy to explain to your vet and easy on a young digestive system. Every chew we make is single-ingredient and fully digestible — no rawhide, no binders, no flavor sprays. If you want the full breakdown, we wrote about it in why single-ingredient chews matter.
3. Cold helps
Freezing a chew or a wet washcloth gives you the same relief a teething ring gives a baby. It's the cheapest trick in the book and it works.
4. Size it right
The chew should be longer than your puppy's muzzle so it can't be swallowed whole. Take away and toss any piece small enough to fit fully in the mouth.
Which chews do we recommend for teething puppies?
- Beef trachea. Our top pick. It's light, flexible, and gives under pressure — closer to a chew toy than a bone. It's also naturally rich in glucosamine and chondroitin. More on safety here: are trachea dog treats safe?
- Thin or braided bully sticks. Soften as the puppy works them, and hold attention for a long time. See our guide to bully sticks for puppies for age and sizing.
- Frozen pup-sicles. Homemade, cheap, and instantly soothing. Recipe below.
All of our chews are 100% natural and ethically sourced from grass-fed American and Argentinean farms, and every one is 100% high-quality guaranteed.
What should I avoid?
Skip rawhide — it swells in the gut and is a documented choking and obstruction risk. Skip antlers, hooves, and weight-bearing bones, which are hard enough to crack adult teeth, let alone puppy teeth. Skip cooked bones of any kind, which splinter. And check any peanut butter for xylitol (sometimes labeled birch sugar), which the ASPCA lists as toxic to dogs even in small amounts.
DIY frozen puppy teething treat
Three ingredients, about five minutes of work:
- 2 cups plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 2 tablespoons xylitol-free peanut butter
Blend smooth, pour into silicone molds or an ice cube tray, freeze 4–6 hours, and serve one at a time on a floor you don't mind wiping. If your puppy has never had dairy, start with a small piece and watch for an upset stomach. For more ideas along these lines, see our peanut butter dog treats guide.
How long does puppy teething last?
Most puppies are through the worst of it by six months, and fully done by eight. As the adult teeth settle in, you can graduate to firmer chews. That's usually when a standard bully stick or a thicker chew starts making sense.
A few ground rules
Supervise every chew session. Take the chew away once it's worn down to a swallowable nub. Fresh water nearby. And if your puppy has bleeding gums beyond the normal spotting, retained baby teeth past seven months, or is refusing food, call your vet — the AVMA recommends regular dental checks starting young.
Teething is temporary. Give your puppy something safe and satisfying to work on, and you'll both get through it with your furniture intact.
This post was last updated at August 6, 2026 23:57
