Puppy Chews

[Kerri and Wrigley]

Hi!

Any recommendations on safe toys, bones, etc that my 12 week old puppy can chew?  His breeder recommended getting raw beef marrow bones, however our vet strongly advised against this.  Both the breeder and the vet said that deer antlers and bully sticks were ok.  I got Wrigley a deer antler and he does love it, however seems to be getting somewhat bored with it.  I thought I read that bully sticks were not ok to give puppies, but I could be wrong!  There seems to be so much conflicting advice out on the web!  Scared to do nylabones or rawhides, based on horror stories I have read.  I would love to hear what other doodle owners have used.  I desperately need to relieve Wrigley's strong desire to chew, but I want to keep him safe!  

[Anne G.]

We've had good luck with Kong rubber chew toys. They come in various sizes, shapes, and durability. I personally don't like bully sticks because once they get short enough the dogs can swallow them whole. This happened with our puppy once and I was worried sick. It turned out OK but I never used them again. I think Nylabones are OK but sometimes the ends get very rough from the chewing and can cause irritation to the puppy's mouth. Good luck!

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Kong toys were recommended by Hurley's breeder.  Our trainer recommended the cow's hooves and bully sticks.  Both have worked great.  The tennis toss toy or the monkey's fist toy are ones he loves to play fetch with.  She also recommended the chicken or beef flavored pressed rawhide and Hurley enjoys gnawing on it. Hope that helps.

[Stephanie]

HI,

I have a 12 weeker too!  My breeder said no "greenies" , but I do give her the spiral bully sticks - only in my presecence, never -when she is crated and we are not home.   She does have a nylabone, but not interested in that. ( I had not heard negative stories on these, please  share!   She  LOVES the bully sticks.  and I have used them to effectively teach her to lay in her crate ( unlocked ) and on her bed - awesome incentive trainer!    I have a few kongs, but unless they are stuff w/ something she doesn't care for them.  She also has a great plastic ball that she plays with as well. 

 

I guess the spiral bully sticks feel like they take her longer and I've always taken them away when they got down to 3 ".... I think they have kept her interested b/c  they are a treat! she doesn't have access to them all day long.

[Enzo]

Hi! Enzo will be 12 weeks on Saturday, he LOVES his Bully Stick (As of right now it's the only thing he likes to play with, supervised) We also purchased the Kong Puppy--- not into that much. Good luck!

[Jayd (Dempsey)]

I have quite literally tried almost every chew toy out there. so I'll give you a few of my favorites.

Kong - must have chew toy. (I have 3 in constant rotation) Fill it with everything from peanut butter, cream cheese, I even take his kibble and mix it with yogurt then freeze it, so that it's not all gone in a few seconds.

hooves - this is a big favoite along with bully sticks but they can be stinky.  And to be honest bully sticks when they get down to the end...are seriously gross.  Pigs ears are also a big hit but again the gross stinky factor..

Nylabone - i have one of those but my guy is non plussed about it.

Tennis balls - completely shreds them. so you might want to have a few and pick up the pieces as they are torn off.

Green rubber bone - not sure the brand but it comes in other colors like blue and pink.  This is a favorite and has actually to my surprise held up well.

Bone with marrow - this is an absolute favorite and I did give it to my boy when he was much younger ( he's just 1 now) - I think the concern comes in because the marrow can upset their tummies.  But your's will no doubt love this treat!  *** Another messy one though...just sayin.

Bone with flavors i.e. peanut butter... Another fave in our house and one that seems to stick around for a long time. And you can refill them.

We found a new toy it's a Blue rubber ball the size of a small grapefruit and it has 2 pockets on both sides and you can fit a cookie treat or peanut butter in the pockets and it seems to keep them busy for a good amount of time.

Oh and plastic water bottles are a big hit too! but again you must pick it up once they start to shred them.

Antlers are great too they last a long time and fall in and out of rotation

I would have lots for your pup to choose from.  because they do get bored with them.

These didn't work for me:

Raw Hide!!  This was a very bad choice. 

I also no longer buy plush toys of ANY kind - these like the tennis balls have to be monitored.  my dog distroys them in minutes. The batting gets everywhere! This goes for the rope toys too

 

Hope this helps and just know that the chewing does actually get better then bad again and then seems to go away.... ;)

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

I have always used bully sticks, but they do need to be supervised when they get small.  I buy the 12 inch ones and then pick them up when they get down to about 3 inches.  Charlie does not sit and eat one completely.  He will chew on it for a while and then just leave it.  I feel like I am lucky in the fact that my doodle is not a foreign body eater and really does not even swallow paper, or anything he should not eat.  If he does find a piece of paper, he will sometimes chew it up, but he leaves the pieces on the floor. 

We had a standard poodle for many years and he was a counter-surfer, he would get his head in any door or cupboard open and also eat toilet paper of the roll or drag it around the house.  He actually swallowed one of my diamond studs and I was checking his pooh for several days until I found it!.  He swallowed so many things and ended up in the emergency room several times having to be scoped to get whatever he had swallowed out of his stomach!  Believe me, it was not because I was not watching him, I watched him like a hawk!  One of those things was a marrow bone piece that got lodged between the stomach opening.  It is expensive to say the least when these things happen and also very scary.

I am so thankful Charlie has no desire to eat anything other than his food and bully sticks.  The ones I buy are digestible.  I have never used antlers because I have heard of too many dogs breaking their teeth on them.

Good luck.

[Anne G.]

Just thought of another favorite toy - a purple rubber ring about 6 inches in diameter. She loves that one and because there's no end piece it has lasted for the last couple months (great since some $15 toys I've bought have been destroyed in less than 10 minutes!)

[Cathy w/Shiloh~Cody]

My dog is not a young puppy, he's 1.5 years old. Last week, I incurred a $580 vet bill due to a bully stick. I got

too confident that it would not cause a problem and I did NOT supervise him. Xrays showed chunks of stick inside him, and one had lodged in esophagus and was creating a choking/coughing/throwing up problem. Since these dogs have deep chests they had to do xrays to see where everything was in stomach as their rib cage blocks part of the stomach and physical check cannot get to it. The vet told me nothing is safe, he has had to remove hoofs, ears, etc-he said he always thought the Nylabone was the safest-but even that- he had a very large dog break it in half and the other half had to be surgically removed.

My dog coughed for a week after and threw up for couple days but he was able to pass the remainder without issue. They had to give him anti vomit medicine. Blood work, and xrays add up the bill fast. So, learn from my mistake and always

supervise whatever is given to them. My vet said he gives his dog nylabone but he watches him every time.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Cathy - good to know.  Thanks,

Linda

[Jayd (Dempsey)]

Cathy that is so scary, I'm so glad you posted this.  My dog tries to eat EVERYTHING and I'm truly surprised I haven't had to take him to the vet yer for it.  I haven't given Dempsey a bully stick in ages mostly because they smell and make me gag but now you've given me yet another reason to not use them.  Now if I can stop getting him to eat sticks and rocks!!

Do you have pet insurance?  If so would you mind sharing which you use?

[Kerri and Wrigley]

Thank you or all the recommendations! Maybe I will give the nylabones a try after all. I can't remember what I heard about them, but for some reason had in my head that they were not safe. Cathy, thanks for sharing your story. Very scary!

[Lia & Pippa]

Pippa loved her bully stick I got her (a twisted one) but I had to throw it away. It smelled so, so awful it literally made me nauseous. My husband thought Pippa had vomited or pooped  in the house...it was just the bully stick. I don't remember what specific brand it was, I bought it at Petsmart. Does anyone else have this problem? I kept it in a ziplock bag and I could smell it through the bag. 

Usually we give her rawhide chips or sticks, pork ears and her kongs stuffed with stuff. She only likes the kongs if they have tasty stuff in them. I always supervise her. She hasn't had any issues so far. She isn't that destructive of a puppy so far.