What do you all do for retained teeth? I have a nearly 6 month old puppy who has two retained deciduous teeth and I've been giving her bones, chewies, playing tug, and they are still there. I have tried wiggling, but I don't get much accomplished as she isn't exactly cooperative.
What else can I do or is it time to give up and get them removed (which I would hate to do).

If they are affecting the bite and the adult teeth coming in, then I have them removed. Many times the adult canines will be pushed too far into the center of the mouth by a retained baby canine, so I will have it removed if I can't wiggle it out myself.

Last time I had 2 removed I believe it cost around $100.

I have experienced this a few times with the 4 "fangs", well into 6 months. All puppies lost the teeth without help and have normal dentition and bites. This is just my experience. The fangs do appear to grow abnormally until the "baby teeth" are lost and it just straightens right up.

I do know some folks just "clip" off the baby teeth at 6 weeks (fangs) without asesthesia.

I also know many Vets who recommend sedation and removal if not completely out by 6 months.

I guess you need to know your lines and development.

Well, first time I've seen it in this line so I have no experience to draw on there. I just hate to do the surgery if I don't have to. One of the retained teeth is placed laterally and one behind but so far the bite looks good.

Any puppy teeth left in the mouth solidly at 5 months get pulled in my line. My vet has commented several times about how hard they are to pull and that many would still be in there for months to come if not extracted. You can tell which of mine had teeth pulled because their prelim hip x-ray was done at 5 months

How long has the dog retained the teeth? I know that sometimes days seems like months when you want those teeth OUT. We always solved the problem ourself with a hard game of tug.

They have been retained about three weeks now although the canines are not all the way out yet. We've gotten a couple out with bones and tug but these ones still feel pretty firm.

The thing that has worked best here is rawhide flip chips. They work much better than larger chews.

Will try them, thanks!!

I just had a young 6 month old girl with firmly retained lower canines. My vet, whom I love dearly... looked at them while he was sitting on the floor with her and ripped them out! She didn't miss a beat! He used his bare hand! I was a bit freaked out but she didn't seem to care???? It was fast!
Cost... free

I have had one dog who retained her canines, so we had to pull them when the adults canines started coming in.

However, we went to a doggy dentist to pull them because there is some danger in pulling baby canines that you could damage the adult teeth. While we were there, the dentist told us that sometimes the teeth are retained because there are no adult teeth below and if the new teeth haven't broken through the gumline yet you should do an xray to make sure you aren't pulling the only teeth the dog will ever have! Sounded wise to me!

Bonnie

Agreed, Bonnie. We always x-ray before pulling teeth to assure the adult teeth are in line. I have also had a couple of dogs that needed to have the gums cut to allow an adult tooth to erupt. When that happens, the new tooth usually appears within days - the toughened gum tissue was just holding it back.

How seroius is it in the breed ring if teeth are not a perfect scissor bite? Can they finish?

I had a puppy, whose deciduous canine teeth did not fall out; her adult teeth erupted in the floor and roof of her mouth, so my vet removed the deciduous teeth under general anesthesia.....you wouldn't believe the long roots those little fangs had! Her adult teeth eventually drifted into the correct placement, and her mouth is perfectly fine now, as a 1 yr old.
I have heard of the same problem in others pups of her lines, so likely a hereditary thing. she was the only pup in her litter with this problem.

Over or undershot bites are DQ's. Level mouth is acceptable but not preferred.

Missing teeth are severly faulted....but it has been my experience that it depends on how many missing teeth and the judge. Some judges will tolerate a missing tooth on an otherwise worthy winner. Others would send them to the back of the line regardless of their otherwise quality.