Puppy teething toys and chews, compared
Between roughly three and seven months a puppy loses 28 baby teeth and grows 42 adult ones. Chewing is not naughtiness — it is the stage.
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Which one is right for you?
Three different dogs, three different answers. Each one names what it is good at and what it costs you.
A puppy who wants something soft to gnaw and carry
Soft plush bends under any jaw, which is exactly the property veterinary dentists ask for at this stage. A supervised cuddle-and-chew toy, not an all-day one — retire it once the seams open.
Our pick for this: Multipet Lamb Chop Plush · $13.99
A puppy who settles better with something to work at
Stuff it, freeze it, and the chewing becomes a job with a payoff. This is the one that buys you twenty quiet minutes.
Our pick for this: KONG Goodie Bone · $11.96
A puppy who wants to shake and carry rather than gnaw
Three small toys for the play half of teething. Supervised play, not an all-day chew.
Our pick for this: ZippyPaws Skinny Peltz 3-Pack · $19
If none of these is your dog: nothing on this shelf is the right answer for every household, and we would rather you bought nothing than the wrong thing. Start from the stage your dog is actually in, or browse the other shelves.
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Showing 4 of 4 picks — no filters applied
The picks, feature by feature
$19 Owner rating 4.5 out of 5 · 65,765 ratingsbest rated
The shake-and-carry instinct — no stuffing to pull out, three toys in a pack, and light enough for a small puppy to lug around
- Size
- Large (18-24 inches each)
- Material
- Plush fabric, no polyfill stuffing
- Skip if
- Your puppy destroys plush. These are soft toys and several owners report them being shredded.
The variant we link: 11"
A stuffable chew that survives the teething stage — freeze it filled and it occupies a puppy for a genuinely long time
- Size
- Not stated
- Material
- Natural rubber
- Skip if
- You want a toy that cleans easily. Owners note treats can get stuck in the ends.
The variant we link: Red
$13.99 Owner rating 4.5 out of 5 · 3,011 ratingsbest rated
The comfort toy — the soft thing a new puppy sleeps against in the first anxious weeks away from the litter
- Size
- 10 inches (multiple sizes available)
- Material
- Soft plush with internal squeaker
- Skip if
- You want durability. This is a cuddle toy and owners report it falling apart with real chewing.
The variant we link: White · 10"
A small, gentle chewer, under supervision — and only after you've read the vet caution below
- Size
- Not stated
- Material
- Nylon
- Skip if
- Your puppy chews hard, already has adult teeth, or you'd rather follow the vet-dentist rule of only offering chews that bend.
The variant we link: Medium
Specs come from manufacturer listings; ratings are Amazon's aggregate rating and count. Prices checked November 1, 2026. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
How we mark winners
A ✓ in the table (a “best of these” tag on the phone cards) marks the lowest price, the highest owner rating, the largest stated weight capacity and the longest warranty. Size, dimensions, weight, material and the editorial rows never win — more is not better there. A blank is unknown, never a loss, and nothing wins without at least two known, differing values. Methodology
Why teething & chew toys matter at this stage
Puppy teething runs from roughly three to seven months, and it is the single most reliable cause of destroyed furniture in a dog's life. Twenty-eight deciduous teeth come out; forty-two adult teeth push through. Gums are genuinely sore, and the relief a puppy is looking for is pressure — which is why a teething puppy will pick a chair leg over a squeaky ball if the chair leg is what is available.
The practical job is redirection, not prevention. You cannot stop the chewing, so you make sure the best available thing to chew is something you chose. That means several textures within reach at all times, and it means soft ones. This is the one stage where a harder toy is worse: VCA Animal Hospitals notes that most veterinary dentists recommend against letting puppies chew anything hard, and it names nylon alongside bones and antlers. The rule they quote is simple — don't let your dog chew anything that won't bend.
Two tricks worth knowing. Chilling a soft rubber or damp fabric toy gives sore gums some cold relief without the hardness of ice, and puppies go for it. And every one of these toys is a supervised toy — pieces that come off are a hazard, and no chew toy is indestructible. Once the adult teeth are in, the whole category changes and you move up to heavy chewer toys.
What owners keep saying
Cold is the thing owners say actually helps a teething puppy, and it comes up in thread after thread: frozen rope toys and washcloths, freezable rubber teethers, frozen carrots, and a hollow rubber toy stuffed with soaked kibble or wet food and frozen solid. A stuffable bone or Kong-style toy is valued less as a chew than as a way to make a meal last, and owners note that packing it too loosely empties it in a minute while freezing it stretches the same food into a long settle. Rotating several toys of different hardness is a repeated tip, because puppies want soft one hour and hard the next. The recurring warning concerns plush: squeakers and stuffing get dissected and swallowed, several owners describe removing squeakers or restricting plush to supervised play, and the general rule people land on is that no soft toy is a leave-alone toy.
Owner consensus from threads across r/puppy101 and r/DogAdvice.
Paraphrased from public discussion, never quoted and never counted into a statistic we did not measure. Owners are not a controlled study — they are the only long-term use data anybody has.
What we didn’t pick
Things that look like they belong on this shelf and are not on it, with the reason.
Antlers, hooves and real bones
A veterinary dentist's rule of thumb is that if you cannot bend or flex the object it is more likely to fracture a tooth, and those three are the items named most often as culprits. Nothing on this shelf is harder than the maker intends a puppy to chew.
Toys sold as indestructible for a puppy
Indestructible describes the toy's survival, not the dog's teeth, and it is exactly the hardness claim above. A puppy's job is to have something they CAN destroy safely under supervision.
Rope tugs
They belong on a shelf about supervised play, not on a shelf about what a puppy chews on their own. We would rather leave the category out than rank a play item as a chew item.
How to choose a teething toy
Softer than you think, more of them than you think, and every one of them supervised.
Softness matched to baby teeth
Toys built for adult power chewers can damage deciduous teeth. Look for products the manufacturer specifically labels for puppies or gentle chewers.
Freezer-friendly
Cold is the actual relief. A toy you can chill — rubber or damp fabric — does more for sore gums than any flavour.
Texture variety, not one perfect toy
Puppies rotate. Having a rubber chew, a fabric toy and a stuffable within reach makes the furniture the fourth choice rather than the first.
Nothing that sheds parts
Squeakers, plastic eyes and shredded stuffing are the swallow risk in this category. Inspect toys weekly and retire them early.
Supervision is part of the product
Every manufacturer here says it in some form: no toy is indestructible, and none of these are safe to leave with an unsupervised puppy.
Common questions
- When does puppy teething stop?
- For most dogs the adult teeth are in by around six to seven months, and the intense chewing eases after that. It does not stop entirely — chewing is normal adult behaviour too — but the desperate, everything-in-reach phase is a teething phase and it does end.
- Can I give a teething puppy ice cubes?
- Many owners do, and dogs like them, but a hard ice cube carries the same crack risk as a hard toy for baby teeth and it is worth asking your vet what they prefer. A frozen soft rubber toy or a wet frozen washcloth gives you the cold without the hardness.
- Is my puppy biting me because they are teething?
- Partly. Mouthing is how puppies explore and play, and sore gums make it worse. The fix is redirection onto a chew every single time plus ending play when teeth touch skin — not punishment, which teaches a puppy that hands are unpredictable.
- What can I give my puppy to chew on when teething?
- Soft, bendable chew toys too large to swallow, in a few different textures you rotate. VCA notes most veterinary dentists advise against letting puppies chew anything hard, including nylon, bones and antlers, and quotes the rule: don't let your dog chew anything that won't bend. ASPCA mentions freezable toys or a frozen wet washcloth to help numb sore gums. Supervise every chew.
- Are rope toys safe for dogs?
- Rope toys are fine for supervised tug and play, but they make a poor unsupervised chew. Once a dog pulls threads loose, those strands are string, which Humane World for Animals lists among the swallowable items to keep away from dogs, and it advises throwing out toys that start to break into pieces or tear. VCA adds that no toy is completely safe, so watch every chewing session.
- What toys do 8 week old puppies like?
- Variety matters more than any single toy. Humane World for Animals suggests at least one toy to carry, one to shake, one to roll and one for comfort, with only a few out at a time and rotated weekly. For a young puppy, choose toys too big to swallow, remove loose eyes or ribbons, and supervise squeaky toys, because dogs may try to destroy and swallow the squeaker.
Sources
- Teeth, Teething and Chewing in Puppies (VCA Animal Hospitals) — Dogs have 28 deciduous and up to 42 permanent teeth; permanent teeth are usually in by six months; most veterinary dentists advise against hard chews including nylon, bones and antlers (don't let your dog chew anything that won't bend); supervise because no toy is 100% safe
- Protect Your Pet's Teeth: tips from a UW veterinary dentist (UW–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine) — Bones, antlers and bully sticks commonly cause dental fractures; if you can bend or flex an object it is less likely to fracture a tooth
- Destructive Chewing (ASPCA) — Teething chewing usually ends by six months; frozen toys or frozen wet washcloths may help numb teething pain; redirect a puppy to its own toys
- Safe Dog Toys (Humane World for Animals) — Keep string and swallowable items away from dogs; buy toys large enough not to be swallowed; supervise squeaky toys; discard toys that break or tear; give a mix of toys to carry, shake, roll and comfort, rotated weekly
Gear
Pairs with
Shelves that go with teething & chew toys — hand-picked adjacencies, not "customers also bought".
$13.96 Owner rating 4.6 out of 5 · 93,737
Chewing burns the mouth; a puzzle burns the head. The pair is what actually empties a puppy.
$19.43 Owner rating 4.5 out of 5 · 110,665
Teething toys are deliberately soft. The adult teeth that arrive at six months go straight through them.
$27.52 Owner rating 4.6 out of 5 · 6,290
What a dog chews is half of its dental care, and the other half is what you brush.
