What bones and toys do you buy your dog?

[mommyoffive 6,930]

Our puppy loves both bones and toys.  We go through so many toys.  The last 10 buck one she chewed apart in less than 24 hours.  

Also what kind of bones do you have your dog chew?   Rawhide is a no?  What are good?  

[Ali in OR 15,993]

We just decided no bones ever again. We occasionally did beef knuckles that our local grass-fed beef source sells. But we have a lab who knows no restraint and she'll eat the whole thing in one sitting which leads to diarrhea. This time she was trying to soothe her system by eating grass and weeds and she ate the leaves of a Siberian Iris which is toxic to dogs. I have no idea how much of her ensuing gastro troubles were due to the bone and how much to the iris, but after a $$$$$$$ vet bill, no bones ever again!

Anyway, we look for durable toys that can involve food. I can't find them on Amazon at the moment, but we have a bone that has indents where we can spread peanut butter and we have one that fits a dentastix that she has to work a little to get it out. And one that holds an Everlasting treat disk that aren't really everlasting but will keep her busy for 15 minutes.

[Innisfree 7,370]

We use a lot of Kong toys and puzzle toys of various brands, but our dogs aren't very hard on their chew toys. Mostly they like the mental exercise of getting the treats out. Both of them really like soft toys, too, but those get destroyed so quickly.

We get rawhide if it's entirely made in the U.S. Good brands are expensive, though, so we don't get much. Usually the dogs get a bag of rawhide or pig's ears for Christmas.

When I was growing up we gave our dogs big raw knuckle bones, but our vet now thinks the risk of chipping teeth is too high. She doesn't like antlers or hooves, either, so it's really mostly Nylabone, Kong, and puzzle toys here.

[Pawz4me 38,387]

My dogs are small, older and not power chewers or really big on chewing at all, so no worries about chipping teeth. They like hollow, sterilized bones stuffed with pieces of cheese or peanut butter. Or sometimes I stuff a small Kong with cheese or PB. My Shih Tzu loves stuffed squeaky toys but my Lhasa doesn't play with anything. 

I'm not anti-rawhide for dogs who are chewers and not gulpers, but I'd make sure it was made in the USA and I would supervise very, very closely.

ETA: My dogs get either a Greenie or a Dentastix every day.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Pawz4me

[gardenmom5 34,956]

you can buy real beef bones.  

I bought some beef femur sections - but they were unimpressed.

I always keep the rib bone when doing ribs, or prime rib, for dogs.   they've been quite popular.

My dd asked for bones and/or antler sections for Christmas. 

Her dogs (medium labradoodles)  also love sweet potato (or peanut butter) in their kongs, but once that's gone they look to her for more.

[Ausmumof3 23,418]

How big is your dog?  I know some people like rabbit ears etc.  Dh does our own meat a lot of the time so there’s always plenty of bones etc.  our dog also loves tails, and bits like that. Our last dog (staffy) used to run around the property and pick up  logs.  he could literally chew apart a piece of tree as thick as your arm in about an hour.  I’m not sure there’s many toys that work if you have a dog like that.  If you can connect with someone who hunts they can be a good supplier.  

[mommyoffive 6,930]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

How big is your dog?  I know some people like rabbit ears etc.  Dh does our own meat a lot of the time so there’s always plenty of bones etc.  our dog also loves tails, and bits like that. Our last dog (staffy) used to run around the property and pick up  logs.  he could literally chew apart a piece of tree as thick as your arm in about an hour.  I’m not sure there’s many toys that work if you have a dog like that.  If you can connect with someone who hunts they can be a good supplier.  

She is only 45lbs.  A 8 month old lab mix.  But she loves to chew. 

[Ausmumof3 23,418]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

She is only 45lbs.  A 8 month old lab mix.  But she loves to chew. 

Lab mix is probably a little harder because they are more prone to eating things they shouldn’t.  

[rebcoola 3,111]

We mostly do bully sticks,  you can get big braided ones to slow them down. 

[DawnM 28,503]

We buy deer antlers.    They don't break apart as easily and they can chew them for a long time.   We order from Amazon.

[Tanaqui 34,130]

We get stinky fish skins, which really do stink like fish because that's what they are - human-grade fish skins. But our dogs are much smaller than yours! Smaller, and adults. I don't know if they'd stand up to a big puppy.

[Selkie 23,132]

We have a large variety of Kong and GoughNuts toys for our dogs. We don't do soft toys or any kind of bones or chews at all - too much risk of ingestion or damage to teeth. We have 11 dogs ranging in size from 35-90#.

[Scarlett 28,927]

Not much has held up to our pup.  She goes through a couple of tennis balls a week.  She does have a kong frizz bee that has held up well for a couple of months.

Frozen apple slices and frozen bananas are some good treats to keep her occupied for a minute.  apples or peanut butter stuffed in a kong too.

 

[Spy Car 19,228]

16 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Not much has held up to our pup.  She goes through a couple of tennis balls a week.  She does have a kong frizz bee that has held up well for a couple of months.

Frozen apple slices and frozen bananas are some good treats to keep her occupied for a minute.  apples or peanut butter stuffed in a kong too.

 

Be careful of dogs chewing on tennis balls. The fibers will eat away at the enamel of the dogs teeth.
 

Tennis balls are very abrasive and this a major issue. Just a heads up so you know.

 

Bill

 

 

[Scarlett 28,927]

5 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

Be careful of dogs chewing on tennis balls. The fibers will eat away at the enamel of the dogs teeth.
 

Tennis balls are very abrasive and this a major issue. Just a heads up so you know.

 

Bill

 

 

Really?  I had no idea.  We are careful to take them away from her once she starts pulling the out layer off....but I guess now we can't let her chew on them at all.  She does like to chase them.

[theelfqueen 5,292]

My son's largish dogs love Kong toys..the older one used to destroy frisbees, he's had the kong frisbee I got him for like 3 years. 

[Spy Car 19,228]

Just now, Scarlett said:

Really?  I had no idea.  We are careful to take them away from her once she starts pulling the out layer off....but I guess now we can't let her chew on them at all.  She does like to chase them.

Yeah, hate so say it but the fiber on tennis balls is super abrasive. It acts like sandpaper on teeth. I’ve known more than a few dog owners who learned this lesson the hard way.

Too bad as dogs naturally love to chew tennis balls. But it can really mess up their teeth badly. Sorry to say.

Bill

[Indigo Blue 2,812]

I haven’t read the other replies, but my favorite is Kong balls.

[Jaybee 2,993]

This is the one our pup loves: https://www.chewy.com/benebone-bacon-flavor-wishbone-tough/dp/56874 I've only bought one--he is six months old today. He was a little shy of it at first, for some reason. Then he started liking it a lot, and chewed on it regularly. However, the past few weeks he has really been chowing down on it and chewing with a vengeance. He is wearing the tips off, but not so fast that it is dangerous or anything. I'll definitely get him another when this one gets too far gone.

[MercyA 19,707]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

Really?  I had no idea.  We are careful to take them away from her once she starts pulling the out layer off....but I guess now we can't let her chew on them at all.  She does like to chase them.

My dog loves tennis balls, but we don't give them anymore for the reason Bill mentioned and also because she would sometimes swallow the fuzz. Raquetballs work very well for us, but my dog is only about 12 lbs. and I'm not sure if they'd be too small for your puppy. There are plenty of nice balls available without fuzz. (Although, I will say that I've never had a dog that liked solid rubber balls. Hollow balls are more bouncy and easy to handle.)

[MercyA 19,707]

We don't give stuffed toys because my daughter's are so precious to her, and we don't want our dog to develop a taste. 🙂 But she does love squeaky toys. She will tear apart cheap ones quickly, but the Hartz DuraPlay ones last literally for years and she loves them. She has three "monster" ones (Hartz calls them "Frisky Frolics"), a duck, a jack, a bone, and a rocket. None are torn and only one of the squeakers has been damaged. 

Edited November 24, 2020 by MercyA

[MercyA 19,707]

We also like Nylabone Flexichew bones. They are not edible, but both our dogs have been good about spitting out the pieces and they last a long time (weeks for an aggressive chewer and potentially years for a non-aggressive chewer). If I had a dog who swallowed everything, I would stay away from them, though. 

I used to buy Nylabone Durachew bones until one of my dogs cracked a tooth on one.

[1GirlTwinBoys 815]

We get our German Shepherd the largest Kong black rubber bone you can buy.

[mommyoffive 6,930]

Wow, thanks for all the recommendations.  I learned so much that I didn't know.  Thanks. 

[Margaret in CO 25,959]

My big Akbash brought in half a dead deer yesterday. Does that count? 

[mommyoffive 6,930]

1 minute ago, Margaret in CO said:

My big Akbash brought in half a dead deer yesterday. Does that count? 

Oh my gosh.  Brought it into your house??  I almost died when our older dog brought in baby bunnies in her mouth, that nobody noticed and I thought were mice or rats.  A dead deer?   I don't think I would recover. 

[Margaret in CO 25,959]

43 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh my gosh.  Brought it into your house??  I almost died when our older dog brought in baby bunnies in her mouth, that nobody noticed and I thought were mice or rats.  A dead deer?   I don't think I would recover. 

No, just into the sheep pastures! These dogs live out with their sheep. We had a neighbor lose a bunch of calves this spring, and he just left them there. The dogs dragged in a new calf every other day! The good news is that we saved a lot on dog food. 

[Splash1 170]

I have PWDs which are very mouthy dogs and need something to chew.  We do bully sticks but too many give them upset stomachs, so they are just a treat.  We have the Benebones and they like those, we use things like kongs stuffed with food.

Then newest thing they like is the sticks linked below.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/petstages-super-dogwood-chew-dog-toy-medium-3160624?mr:device=c&mr:adType=pa&cm_mmc=PSH-_-BNG-_-SPP-_-PME-_-PET-_-AQU-_-0-_-PM_BNG_FY20_SBU04_SH10_Home%26Away_Other_PLA-_-0-_-0&msclkid=8a804cab7f72195f18c5131503810fbc&gclid=8a804cab7f72195f18c5131503810fbc&gclsrc=3p.ds