Wow that advice is pretty inaccurate! ... and that's also a pretty old thread to revive albeit a good one
Absolutely, NEVER give your dog any cooked or baked bones. The heat process makes them hard, dry, and brittle all of which pose risks to your dog. I wouldn't even do it with a very large bone as described in the original advice post.
Millions of dogs eat and survive on raw diets of which a large component is feeding raw bones. Even if your dog is not on a raw diet and will not be injecting any bones, I would still opt for raw vs cooked when giving large bones to chew on.
If you're grossed out by that idea, and think your dog will make a mess in your house, here are a few suggestions:
- give your dog the bone while outside, in a backyard, or a driveway.. some place safe where you can also supervise. This can be done at any time of the year unless your dog gets cold easily.
- give the bone inside a crate with no bedding and close the door! Your dog can happily gnaw on the bone for hours and when he's done, or you're done, take the bone away, wipe the crate floor clean, you can even put the bone away in the fridge for another day.
- or do the above in a space with tiled floor such as a kitchen, gated off so that the dog is confined to this one easy clean area