Those "Indestructible" Toys

[shelly]

Okay...  I give up!  Can't say I didn't try though!  We just bought Tori a new toy, we'll call it a Valentine's gift.  It was made from "virtually indestructible" fire hose material.  Well, we played with it for a while with her, went in the other room for 5 minutes and there it was, with a great big HOLE in it.  Guess we'll just stick to balls and nylabones... HUH! so sad.... 

[Julia Deardorff]

Lucy & Sophies Mom!

We bought two of these Goughnuts for Harley's Birthday on March 4th. Thank you for posting them. They are surviving and doing very well - not a puncture mark as of today, April 13. I bought the green ones, one long sausage looking thingie and a round doughnut shape. The boys chomp on them and carry them around and can't make a dent in them. I didn't order them on line as we have a pet shop in Murfreesboro TN (about 25 miles from my house) that carries them. If they tear up they will replace them! Yay!!!!

[Sally, Ditzy Mitzi & Sgt. Pepper]

Mitzi loves the medium size Kong Wubba, the one with the octopus type legs. They used to last a long time, months maybe, but now she is chewing the fabric cover off of them, so I covered the last one with a heavy sock and she is still working at trying to figure out how to get through it. So far it is lasting, and she seems to love it. How funny, she just picked it up again!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Here's what Guinness did to the Kong Wubba. It only took minutes for the leg amputations.

[Diana Goodwin]

hahahah. To the kong graveyard it goes!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I laughed out loud at your picture! So much for that Kong Wubba!

[Andrea Casey]

Zoe had a nylabone that she licked for 7 months. Then my grandpuppy, the 11 month old greater swiss mountain dog took an interest in eat, now I had to throw it out cause she is eating it like a milkbone. Zoe is now addicted to bully stix.

[Diana Goodwin]

Where does everyone buy the antlerz... Do you order them online or can you buy them in a store.

[Ann Davis-Schultz]

You can get sheddies online at Ebay.

[Ali & Sonny D.]

I tried the sock in the water bottle. Used one of my DH's thick socks. Well Sonny chewed the the sock and the water bottle in about 5 minutes!!

[Diana Goodwin]

Did the same yesterday.. I had bits of sox and bottle everywhere. Just turned my back for a minute.

[shelly]

Forged aboud id.... LOL Tori chews ALL material... and as we now know.. even FIRE HOSE! The only thing that may last more than 20-30min. is the really large pretzel containers from COSTCO- she'll roll these around. She eventually crushes one side, but if I keep popping out the side she crushed, we get more minutes out of the play. But one too many crushes and she can start to chew and tear. I really have to watch her b/c I'm afraid she'll eat the small plastic pieces too.... and THAT my friends is another story - LOL

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I work at a pet store, and I have found that different toys last well with different dogs - and its not breed specific!

In my experience, nylabones last super well, providing they are big enough for the dog. I recommend you go 1 size up than recommended on the package (its harder for them to hold and chew and therefor lasts much longer). Cooper has had her chicken flavour one for months. We bought her another one recently so we have 2 around the house, but shes not keen on bacon flavour

The Tuffy toys are supposed to last really well too. I personally havent tried them, but my work colleague has. She got the captain cyclops alien. Her dog (a pitbull) is slowly chewing off the "legs" but its taking him a long time!

Tire toys are pretty tough too, and come in various sizes from fist sized to bike wheel sized (but thick like a car tire), often with a small rope attached to them. I havent personally tried these yet, but they are pretty popular.

Huge rope toys are great too - a 6 foot long braided all-cotton rope with a HUGE knot in the middle - dogs will chew on these for absolutely ages, they will chew off little bits but they are will pass through their digestive system ok. They can be pretty cheap too - less than $20 CAD

For my dog, I really like the stuffing-less toys such as go dog (road kill or barnyard buddies) or skineez. Cooper chews other toys til theres a hole in it then pulls out the stuffing. So she now has lots of flat stuffing-less toys! If she chews a hole in one, its ok for her to keep playing with it. She actually likes to carry these around with her - she will take them with her to go potty if we'd let her. She sleeps with her Skineeze flamingo and Go Dog barnyard buddies sheepy.

I give Cooper a raw bone at least once every week - either a marrow bone or a knuckle. I prefer the buffalo/bison. Dont give lamb or elk as these bones are much softer and wont last as long. Give them to your dog either outside, on tiles, on a blanket or in their crate as it can be a little messy sometimes. Cooper will chew the meat off pretty fast, the marrow takes a bit longer, and then she will carry the bones around for weeks chewing them. A large buffalo knuckle will cost just a few dollars (Canadian). You can re-freeze them if you dont want your dog to eat it all in one go, or use it as a meal replacement if you wish. When you first start giving these to your dog slowly,introduce it, give it them for a while then take it away, freeze it, or put it in the fridge, and give it again the next day for a while. Marrow is very rich and can give your dog a poorly tummy if they arent used to it.
**** Be careful buying raw meat from grocery stores and butchers - it is handles in a way assuming that the meat will be cooked - buy meat specially for dogs, from a pet store, as it is handled knowing that it wont be cooked. Dogs have pretty tough digestive systems but you still want to be careful.*****

I also like to give gently smoked bones - again Cooper will chew off the meat quickly then chew the bone for weeks. I actually find these to be more messy than raw - the meat flakes off all over the place and they can be very greasy (especially pork). They can be rather smelly too, as opposed to the raw.

I want to try antlers - Ive heard good things about them, but they are expensive, and only seem to come in pretty small pieces (even the large looks small to me). Another reason I havent tried them is that all the ones I can find come from New Zealand - Im all about local sources.

Bully sticks are great - we got in some odourless ones last week and we even sell bison bully sticks for dogs who have beef allergies (but boy are they super stinky!). They can get pretty expensive though, and will generally last 1/2 hour to 4 hours depending on the dog and the stick. Longer is always better - they cant hold and chew it as well so it lasts longer, and some dogs take longer on rings, or braided bully sticks. Again, I always go with the local ones - alot come from South America (Im in SW Canada). These can be rather stinky - different brands smell different I find - I assume from the curing/drying process