CharismaticMillie

We stick with bully sticks. Tried the claw that Stella's Mom likes but Millie ate hers in...5 minutes. Crazy dog.

Millie broke her tooth on a Nylabone, so we now avoid those as well as antlers.

Bully sticks at least last us about an hour and I don't notice a smell. I'm still a little worried about broken teeth, because sometimes I think she tries to crunch it the way she does a chicken leg, but the poor thing needs to chew on something!

Around here, the main source of chewing for the purpose of teeth cleaning is raw chicken legs.

Chagall's mom

The undisputed best chew for Chagall is a bully stick. I get the thick, 12" ones and when the stick gets small, stick it inside a Kong ball or similar toy so he doesn't gulp it whole.

I get locally raised, butchered and dried Buffalo ears which he'll chew on, leave laying around, and go back to when there's no bully stick forthcoming.

He also gets the Himalyan Chews. Sometimes he's more thrilled with them than others. But if I pick it and put it in a different room, or take it away for a day and put it out again, he's generally gnawing on it within seconds.

Dried sweet potato chews interest him sometimes, but they too are a poor substitute for his favorite, the bully sticks. He will chew them once he's quite certain nothing better is coming, and after he's played with them like they're hockey pucks for a while.

A Kong stuffed with a frozen mixture of Greek yogurt, peanut butter, fruit or kibble becomes a chew toy of interest to him for a short while after he's emptied its contents.

He likes to gnaw on 100% cotton rope toys. (In the summer I soak them in water and freezer them.) He prefers them to be a bit grungy; he bats freshly washed ones around the floor to "flavor them up" before chewing them.

I tried Tendon chews but they gave him the runs. I used to give him marrow bones but got scared off them by other peoples experiences with their dogs. He won't do anything to Elk Antlers other than plunk them down on the tile floors, better to break the tile then his teeth I suppose.

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Just be nice.
Cabryn Chagall, CGC

caroline429

Bully sticks are my number one favorite for Cali. I like them because they are low-fat, don't stain floors and, for the most part, don't smell too bad.

Second favorite is an antler chew. I buy the ones that are cut in half so she can get at the inside. If it's whole, she just ignores it. The inside is mostly calcium and a few other minerals. It softens up as the dog chews on it, so the inside is edible. I find when Cali gets a little bored with it, a soak in some water renews her interest.

MollyMuiMa

My Molly isn't interested in too many 'chewy' things except for bully sticks,rope toys, and the one thing I've never given in years, (because of blockage & choking)The dreaded Rawhide chew bone! I feel it's okay for her because she doesn't chew them to 'nothingness' & I buy the really big one that she can barely get her mouth on. I also like that she doesn't get dirty from them......









And one will last for weeks!!!!!!

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Lily's-Mom

Interesting topic. I am still looking for a chew for Lily that I won't worry about. I have given her a beef tendon and that gave her soft stool and was kind of smelly. Also, I took it away when the piece got small so she didn't swallow the whole thing. I gave her rawhide sticks and she was fine with that, but again I was worried that she'd gobble a big piece of it. I still have a couple of rawhide sticks left so I'll give those to her on very rare occasions. I was wondering about dog chipping their teeth on Nylabone products. Are these the hard plastic ones? I was always concerned that my dog would eat pieces of it, so I never bought those. Lily has little to no interest in the rope bone I bought her - not for chewing or for playing tug. So the search continues.

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"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative" - Mordecai Siegal

Indiana

[QUOTE= I was wondering about dog chipping their teeth on Nylabone products. Are these the hard plastic ones? I was always concerned that my dog would eat pieces of it, so I never bought those. [/QUOTE]

Good point made by some in this thread, that dogs chew things differently. I can't give mine rawhide or hooves because they are such eager chewers (well, Maddy is), that the rawhide and hooves are actually consumed. But I do like the brown, chicken flavoured nylabone (the big one). It's hard enough so that they get very little off, but it's not the hard plastic one. It's kind of rubbery, so they love to chew on it. It provides Maddy with a lot of fun and exercise; it costs $11.59 so it's not cheap but it lasts longer than a bully or a beef tendon. Yak cheese is $16.59, so that's only for special occasions! It's kind of the gold standard of chewys though, because they love it,it's 100% natural, and it takes a long, long time to chew.

Nathan Pollock

Elk antlers! Tried a lot of stuff but can't think of anything that's even comparable. No smell, no stains or mess. Only con is that they are expensive but they last a long time. Buying in bulk helps - I bought 10 lb for $70 and it seems like this maybe will last for a couple of years.

katbrat

Lexi loves the claws and they last about an hour and a half. Tried the Nylabone, but took it up after I read about cracked teeth, plus I just don't see how eating "plastic"can be good. Gave her the more edible Nylabones and they lasted about 15 minutes. Not alot of bang for the buck. She gets tons of use out of her Kong. I buy sample sizes of Natural Balance dog food, slice off a thick quarter size slice and stuff it in the Kong. It will keep her busy for about the same amount of time as the claw.

MaryLynn

Antlers-both Gryphon and Bruce love their antlers, no problems with them.
Kong toy (original and the extra chewer version) - this has proven to be the most invaluable toy we have purchased, they have seen hours of chewing and fun.

Fresh Butchers bones - I do not purchase these, I gave one to my terrier and he took it to eat on my leather sofa. I asked him to get down, and he started growling at me, I stepped closer to him and he started snarling and snapping. I did the only reasonable thing I could do at that time, which was to put on two heavy duty oven mitts (hoping he couldn't bite through them, I had effectively used oven mitts as kevlar against a few kitties before) and wrastle it away from him. He has never guarded, or acted aggressive with food or toys ever, or since. I never want to see that ugliness from him again lol.
BullySticks - both dogs love them, but some of them really smell and they get devoured rather quickly.

liljaker

Update: Himalayan chew -- I know everyone raves about them.....Sunny hardly looks at it. Seems uninterested --- however, he has some bullies and other stuff around so it just could be he has too many to choose from. I have not given up yet...hoping if he does meander over to it and pick it up he may find out it's great!

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