Question about chew bones?
 

Hello,

I have a 4 1/2 month old Siberian Husky Puppy and I am wondering what is the best kind of chew bones to give her? Is real pork skin ok, I got her the Double Play Peanut Butter ones made with real pork skin. I want to make sure that I am not hurting her teeth or her body in anyway. I am a first time dog owner and I want to make sure I am doing this right. She has a ton of other kinds of chew toys (I went a bit crazy at the pet store) it is just the bones that confuse me which are good and which are not good? I would love any help that anyone can offer.

Thank you so much

Jill and my puppy Akayla :)

I would [B]only[/B] give her [B]raw knuckle bones[/B] to chew on for no more than an hour at a time. You can take it away and rinse it in water with a little vinegar added and refrigerate or freeze till next time.

i second that notion! almost all other 'bones' (ie raw hides, nylabones etc) have pretty big issues with them. my vet is quite strongly against raw hides, has had to go in after them a few times. apparently they swell in the stomach and intestines.

you can also keep kongs handy. they are (virtually) indestructible! stuff them with dog food, frozen veggies and peanutbutter and youre set to go!! we also give Mister cow leg bones. look into deer antlers?? bully sticks?? those are also very good.

-ashley

The last time we had a pup-aged dog was a while ago, but I do recall she went nuts for 'pigs ears', among other things. I would not repeat that mistake; we let her chew on the couch (our Second Hand Chic?? furniture), which made a permanent mess of our poor sofa :sad: , and we later read that some or many? rawhide/animal part chews are at some point soaked in a solution containing arsenic etc...sort of like the tanning process for leather?

We found Kongs to be great, as well as a line of bone-alike chews by Bite-a-Bone :D, which eventually got hard to find in Canada, but they were great. You could buy different 'hardness/softness', and our 2 dogs chewed them for years (each one lasted 6 mo. to a year +, depending...). Nylabones were recommended also, but we found our larger dog in particular just ate them!

Good luck with the chewing: one thing we discovered-also a little on the late :rolleyes: side!-was not to give a pup a lot of chew toys, as they can then get the notion that it's okay to chew just about anything (our larger dog had to be crated if we were out until she was almost 2, as she'd grab anything and go to it i.e. toilet brush ewww/soap/hairbrush/shoes etc.).

If I was doing the pup/chew thing again, I'd definitely stay away from rawhide etc., and limit the toys to one or two!

I've heard "bully sticks" mentioned on here a few times before - can I ask what they are and where to find them??? (Hopefully this will help Jill as well.)

[QUOTE=Chase_Mom;588699]I've heard "bully sticks" mentioned on here a few times before - can I ask what they are and where to find them??? (Hopefully this will help Jill as well.)[/QUOTE]

GOOGLE IT!!! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

-ashley

My dogs love bullysticks. They're not cheap, I buy 10 of the largest size every week and split 2 in half every morning and give the dogs 3 halves to gnaw on while we're at work.

Cindy

I didn't know what they were either and have just googled. :yuck:

When I was at university there was some kind of initation where the Vet. students had to parade around the library with bully sticks, explaining them to anyone who asked. Who ever would have thought they'd become a dog treat.

If my relatively sweet Eskie did not turn into Cujo with bullysticks or raw knuckle bones, that is what he would get. But Cujo he becomes - I know, I tried 3 times. But to his credit after I dive bombed to the floor and grabbed the bone as my husband hid upstairs, he immediately became himself again. He could very easily have made a grab for the bone but his eyes returned to "normal" and he was ready for a cookie. That same day I read on the Eskie specific board of someone who had just gone through same thing. Took 3 people and 3 pillows 20 minutes to get the bone away from the dog. Certainly my guy doesn't want to give up other things, but he doesn't go "nuts"!

Yeah I think I'll pass on these...Ew. :yuck:

I think you'll find a pretty wide variety of opinions about chews and bones for dogs. Some people think that rawhides are great and that real bones are too hard and the dogs are at risk of breaking or cracking teeth. Others swear by real bones and avoid rawhides because of the issue of them becoming too soggy and the dogs trying to swallow the whole thing (which can then lead to choking or impactions) The thing is, different breeds and individuals within a breed have different chewing "styles" and needs. Some are power chewers and will devour all but the hardest, strongest chews in short order, others will only chew softly for a while and then leave it. Whatever you decide on it's a good idea to give it only under supervison until you see how your dog is what that particular chew/bone. If you choose bones, make sure that they are plenty large enough and that small sharp pieces can't be broken off and swallowed. I think Sibes are often considered power chewers so you want to make sure that your pup stays safe. Also remember that the more chewing she does, the more her jaws will strengthen and you may well have to size up from the original chew toys/bones

My personal experience (from a lifetime's worth of dogs, ranging from terriers to great danes, and currently having 7 dogs - border collies, BC mixes, a collie, mixbreed rescues) is this:

I've used rawhides and my dogs enjoyed them without experiencing any problems. I stopped using them when I started hearing that surgery for blockages due to rawhide ingestion were not an uncommon occurance. Mine have a nylabone that they greatly enjoy, and it's been lasting for quite a while. I give them large smoked bones with marrow inside and they love these. Chewing them also seems to help remove tartar from their teeth. One caution with these, I used to get the largest ones with big knobby knuckles on the ends, but our danes were able to pop a part of the knuckle off, it was like a bone ball, small enough to lodge in a danes throat (never happened but the potential was there). I began to get the shank bones instead, without knuckles. Those ones don't have quite as much of the meaty smokey stuff on them, but they have lots of marrow that the dogs love. I also use kongs for chewing, I have an assortment of them in various shapes, most of which can be stuffed. Sometimes I'll stuff them and freeze them as it takes longer that way for the dogs to get the filling out. I've never tried things like pigs ears, though I think if I did I'd make sure that they (and any other product like them) are products of Canada, because of the risk of contamination with toxic materials due to less stringest tanning/processing methods in foreign countries. Oh, and toys...well my house is full of them. The dogs have a toy box under the coffee table that is full of bones, balls, rope toys and other stuff. Sorry to disagree with a previous poster, :sorry: but I've never had any problem with them destroying other stuff because of too many toys. In fact, my personal opinion is that the more stuff of their own they have, the less likely they are to bother mine. If as puppies they pick up something they shouldn't have I take it away and redirect them to an appropriate toy of their own. I have 6 dogs with full run of my house currently and one 5 1/2 month old pup that I crate if I'm not home, and so far my house is still standing. :laughing: It was touch and go for a while when the danes and the collie were all puppies at the same time, but we lived to tell the tale. We just had to get rid of our spare bed to make room for a custom dane sized crate for the one that was instigating all the trouble. Eventually even he grew up and was okay loose in the house. It just took him a while longer.

Here's a couple other threads where all this was discussed.....

[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=30191&highlight=rawhide+safe[/url]

[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=49167&highlight=rawhide+safe[/url]


And another website....

[url]http://www.k911.biz/Petsafety/RawhideandChewyTreats.htm[/url]