Overbite on 5-1/2 month gsd female - Page 1

I just got home from the vet with my 5-1/2 month female shepherd.  She showed me how my puppy has a fairly significant overbite.  At first, I was devastated.  I had hoped to show her in a few weeks.  I knew the importance of quality dogs for breeding and the seriousness of an overbite.  After reading through some messages on this site, I have some hope that she will turn out ok.  When I got her at about 9 weeks, her teeth looked ok at that time.  I really did not look at them close again until today.  She has just lost most of her puppy teeth, a puppy canine just yesterday.  The last two months she has gone though pretty goofy growth sputs.  It seemed her snout grew two inches in just a few days.  It has been a long time since I have raised a puppy and want to know if there is anything I can do to coerce her teeth (and jaws) to grow back to normal?  I feed her Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy, w/ raw diet meat and veggies mixed in, and missing link plus supplement.  Any information, incouragement, or not ; ( , would be greatly appreciated.  I have pics, but not sure how to attach on this site.  Thank you in advance. 

You can't do anything to make the bite scissors; all you can do is wait and see what happens. How much is "significant".? Vets often get all excited over nothing when it comes to bites in young dogs.  Some even tell owners their dog will need some sort of corrective surgery which rarely happens. If it's 1/4 " or less and assuming she had a scissors bite at 8 weeks. and if her canines are coming in  the right spots,  I'd think there's a good chance it will go scissors again.  If you're showing her at an SV show, you might want to still do that so the judge can give you his opinion.

Good luck. Easy for me to say, but I wouldn't be worrying too much just yet.

I agree with Blitzen. A pup grows and different parts of the body grow at their own pace. I too have had dogs whose bite was fine as very young pups and, as they grew, one part of the jaw was ahead of the other. In most instances, unless it is pronounced, it will right itself in time. As another example, I have a young 15 week old male pup here from working lines whom I just imported. He has an absolutely stunning and very large head. Now, as the rest of his body has grown, his head is more in line with the rest of his body. But, as he grows, I am expecting he will again demonstrate a large, very masculine head. You cannot do anything about this, regardless. I would also advise with Blitzen to show the pup and specifically ask the judge (hope it is an SV judge) about it. Even if they are pessimistic, I might not get too excited just yet.

If you would like to email me the photos, I will be happy to look at them and give you my opinion.

schwarzenberggsd@earthlink.net

Good luck.

My girls bite looked horrible at that age. She was spittin' teeth right and left. The worse was the canines were coming in and NOT lining up. One bottom canine was hitting the gum where the top canine would come in. Long and short all has ended up fine. She still has a tiny overbite but I believe it  would be acceptable and her canines fell into place, phew! It was scary and it looked painful, so light at the end of the tunnel for you hopefully! The lower jaw does sometimes grow at a slower rate than the upper.

I wouldn't worry about the bite until all of the adult teeth are in.  Looking at the bite while a puppy is teething will not give you a good picture of what the bite will be as a young adult.

Cheryl

HI LDB7

You not the first owner of a 5 month old pup that is worried about their pups bite  . At your puppies age the gum's are swollen and teeth are coming in and  in a lot of cases it does look like the pup will have an overbite . Most of the time the bite will be correct by the time they are 9 months old. If your pup still at 9 or 10 months old has an overbite then you can worry . As for now  you have nothing to worry about. !

Go show your pup and I bet you the judge won't disqualify her :)) They seen this  to often to worry or even comment on a 5 month old pups dentition

Pia

Teething time is not a good time to try to evaluate a pup's bite. Wait a while, & try not to worry. Just enjoy, they are not puppies long enough! jh

Thank you everyone for your input.  I feel much better now.  LDB7