Analysis of the relation between shedding incisor teeth and the age of pups among different dog breeds

Objective
The aim of the project was to investigate whether the shedding of the incisor teeth can be used as an evidence based tool to estimate the age of a puppy.
Animals
Owners of puppies with a known and reliable birthdate were asked to send twice a week a frontal viewed picture of their dogs teeth and measure weekly the weight .
Procedures
Data collection started at the age of 10 weeks until the dog has shed all 12 incisor teeth. Dogs were arranged according to the breed and assigned to a weight category.
Results
For the analysis complete data of 629 pups was used. More than one hundred different breeds participated. The shedding process follows a fixed pattern: starts with the mesial-, followed by the middle and ends with the lateral incisors. This is similar for the maxilla and the mandible. Dogs from breeds with higher weights (> 15 kg) start shedding at the mean age of 108 days (15.4 weeks). Dogs with very low weights