Do you give your guys chewies? My traner said no rawhide. What do you give for chew time?

My dogs have always been allowed rawhides. We supervise them as well as knowing if any of them are gulpers. We have never had any digestive upsets with them either. Ours get a variety of chews from pig snooters, bully sticks, rawhide chips, marrow bones and nylabones. Honestly, while I love them, we've had more problems with marrow bones, when the dogs vomit up an undigestible piece of bone they swallowe.

I give my guys marrow bones (uncooked) and the large rawhide sticks from Sam's Club (they can't devour them real quickly). Some of the marrow bones they have had for years. When I mow their yard, I pick up the marrow bones, soak them in chlorox water and rinse them. I then leave them in a bucket and pretty soon they are all back outside. I have never had a problem with them ingesting them and getting sick.

When the pups are teething, I get new marrow bones and freeze them befor I give them to them.

My old lady is 9 1/2 years old. When company comes, she immediately gets a bone and starts chewing. Her teeth are as clean as the youngsters.

Hi!

I give my guys rawhide retriever sticks. Just no knots. Mine do fine with the rawhide. The nylabones are the ones I'm not comfortable with.

Happy chewing,
Donna

Never give rawhide...my guys always seem to barf it up.

I only give the large sterilized shank bones--NOT the smoked ones because those splinter. The sterilized bones flake off in little pieces they can ingest without difficulty and it gives them great chewing for tooth cleaning and just plain enjoyment.

Even my almost 13-yr old still pulls a bone out every night for a gnawing session.

MK

Pressed rawhide, raw frozen marrow bones, or any commercial chew toy (like nylabone) that is strong enough that they can't chew a piece off. Sometimes cow hooves but usually just for pups. Never smoked, cooked or otherwise processed bones. My guys can splinter any of them.

We try to give American made Rawhide, like Harpers. This is another area you need to be careful as in some countries the hides are cured with arsenic. Always see if the label says made in America. If you must use a foreign brand use a well known one like Beefeaters. We take it away after a little while depending on how fast the chewer is. We also give pig ears as special treats for things like nail trimming. I use a heavy duty kitchen shear and cut the pig ears into smaller pieces and keep them in the freezer. I give raw marrow bones and take them away after a little while and throw them in the freezer in a ziplock freezer bag and then just give frozen the next time out. Once the bone starts getting larger pieces flaked off - we throw it away.

I have some dogs that love nylabones and some that could care less. Those jagged ends hurt like h3ll when a happy Lab rams it into your leg as he is greeting you! Or if you step on it in the dark! Plus I don't think they are as digestible as we are told they are.

The bottom line is all dogs should be supervised when playing with any toys.

Like Gail, I mainly wanted something for when company comes over. Some people just are not used to many Labs underfoot. ;) I like to put them in crates but keep them busy.