Do you let your dog chew sticks?

[mollywog]

I don't know what it is, but my 8 month old Lab/ Whippet, Molly just LIVES to chew. Rawhides, stuffed bones, any of her toys... basically anything she can wrap her paws and teeth around! We have been lucky, so far she hasn't gotten into chewing up shoes or any of our stuff. But she sure loves to chew on sticks. Even when we are out walking, if she finds an especially delicious looking stick in the woods, she will stop to chew on it.
I have heard good and bad things about chewing sticks. Do you let your dog chew sticks? I think I would go broke if I always had a rawhide or other toy for her to chew on instead!!!

[katherine93]

hmmm... i kinda go both ways on this one.. I let my dogs chew sticks, but only certain sticks, some sticks can be "poison" (will probably just make em' sick) or they may be a nice ant nest.. Or rottenn, which i find gets stuck in there throghts if they chew it. And On the other hand- Some things i dont like about it are the get large splinters in ther mouths, that may cause bleeding of the gums, Over all its pretty safe, just watch out for some bad stick!

[want4rain]

i let Mister chew sticks but only because he chews them to chew them. he doesnt swallow them.

his allotment of toys are.... a rather long black PVC pipe thats too hard to really CHEW but is fun to tote around. he has a rope tied to a small tractor tire, a kong, a cuz and one of those funky rubber kong hexagonal things. he also gets stuffies on occasion but those are only under supervision. oh and a big cow leg bone. anyways, it depends on the dog. Mister can chew away on anything from sticks to cardboard boxes and he rarely ever actually tries to eat them. if he DID i probably wouldnt give them to him out of fear of splinters, choking or say cardboard getting impacted in his intestinal tract.

my vet strongly recommends against greenies and rawhides. says he has had to go after way to many of them to say they are reasonably safe.

-ashley

[wdawson]

Originally Posted by want4rain

i let Mister chew sticks but only because he chews them to chew them. he doesnt swallow them.

his allotment of toys are.... a rather long black PVC pipe thats too hard to really CHEW but is fun to tote around. he has a rope tied to a small tractor tire, a kong, a cuz and one of those funky rubber kong hexagonal things. he also gets stuffies on occasion but those are only under supervision. oh and a big cow leg bone. anyways, it depends on the dog. Mister can chew away on anything from sticks to cardboard boxes and he rarely ever actually tries to eat them. if he DID i probably wouldnt give them to him out of fear of splinters, choking or say cardboard getting impacted in his intestinal tract.

my vet strongly recommends against greenies and rawhides. says he has had to go after way to many of them to say they are reasonably safe.

-ashley

i'm with want4rain. i dont give rawhide anymore....we had a scare awhile back

[hazelrunpack]

I'd love to keep our dogs from chewing and eating sticks, but with 8 dogs and a bunch of messy oak trees, it's an impossible task. I take the bigger ones away and toss the fallen branches out of the fenced area whenever possible, but eliminating them all? It's a bigger job than hazel is capable of.

So far we've been lucky--the swallowed twigs usually just pass through, although on occasion they've thrown up some fragments.