what can he chew on while we're at work?

[mpeter7897]

I have ANOTHER question...and again want to thank those who have replied to all my questions! It really helps. Does anyone have any recommendations for things I can leave for my dog to chew unsupervised? Now that Bodie doesn't go to daycare anymore, he is left at home 5 days/wk from about 7 - 4 pm except for his sitter who comes for about 20-30 min twice a day. In the past week, he has chewed the legs of four of our chairs and yesterday he chewed the leg of our dining table. (To be fair, I did get home two hours late last night!) He was crate trained as a puppy but we transitioned to leaving him out around 8 months, and now he only goes in there when he is scared. Ideally we wouldn't have to start putting him back in his crate during the day. But he does get free reign of the living room, dining room and kitchen (because of the open format of our house, there's no way we can confine him to any of these rooms). I already leave him with a peanut-butter filled, frozen kong in the morning, but I imagine he cleans it out pretty quickly and then loses interest (seeing as the kong is the only toy that's still intact after his entire life with us). However, he is definitely a chewer and can destroy things VERY quickly. I've been hesitant to leave him with anything other than the kong because I worry about him choking. But I suppose he can choke on the splinters of our dining room table just as well . These days he is working on a HUGE femur bone that he loves, but thus far we only give it to him when we're around to watch. In your experience, is it OK to leave a dog with a bone, bully stick, or some other chew toy that I have yet to discover (we won't do rawhide or nylabones)??

 

[Hector]

I know some people don't like to give their dogs antler chews, but I do. I also don't have aggressive chewers either, so it's your call. Buy the biggest, thickest antler chew you can get. Remove them when you start to worry about them swallowing it. For me it's roughly 4 in mark. I buy mine on ebay and they last a long long time. I know Dennasmom will soak the chews in broth when her dog loses interest in them. Here's an example of one I recently bought from ebay

The one being measured is $18 and weighs 1 lb and the one by the shepherd is 14.75 and about 12 oz.

I would also stuff a large fireplug with real meat and wet dog food and pack it real tight and give it to your dog frozen. Your dog might be able to destroy the fireplug toy though if he's a crazy chewer.

 

[DennasMom]

The line of busy buddy toys have some good options. Some of them have processed rawhide rings that you sandwich into the toy... makes for fun chewing pleasure. The rings are small, so even if they swallow chunks, there's not much there to cause problems.

There are also some "etta says" processed sticks that are very tasty (Denna approved) - but they don't last long.

We used to leave Denna with bully sticks, but she started chewing them only enough to swallow them... DH bought her a 3ft long one... and after about an hour, he took it away from her... it was still 2.5ft long, but only about 6" was out her mouth... he pulled the rest back up from out of her throat... :scared2:

We normally leave Denna with a stuffed kong and an antler. When she has run of the house, she has her entire toy box - but she normally saves pulling all her toys out for when we're there to watch.

Another option - Yak Chews. They're a hard dried yak milk brick. They last quite a while. Some dogs have issues with them causing digestive upset (my sister's for one), but Denna's been really good with hers. It's really hard when dry, but softens some when wet... any chips that get swallowed are supposed to digest completely (it's just yak milk curdled with lime juice then left in the sun to dry).

Have you tried putting bitter apple spray or vicks on the table legs? Maybe orange scented pledge would be a deterrent, too (dogs aren't supposed to like citrus).

 

[raji]

We tried the antler, and for a while it was great, but after a point Indy(10 month old Em) lost interest. My parents suggested "hooves" which their Rottie had loved. Couldn't bring myself to buy them for a while-pretty disgusting! But when I finally did purchase one for him, he absolutely loved it! Now I buy the filled ones, and they entertain him like nothing else! Don't know what others on here think of them, but they have worked for us. The big downside is they smell pretty gross for the first day or two. Sadly, I think the foul smell is part of the grand allure! But it beats him searching out anymore shoes-which are Indy's big vice!

 

[Hector]

We tried the antler, and for a while it was great, but after a point Indy(10 month old Em) lost interest. My parents suggested "hooves" which their Rottie had loved. Couldn't bring myself to buy them for a while-pretty disgusting! But when I finally did purchase one for him, he absolutely loved it! Now I buy the filled ones, and they entertain him like nothing else! Don't know what others on here think of them, but they have worked for us. The big downside is they smell pretty gross for the first day or two. Sadly, I think the foul smell is part of the grand allure! But it beats him searching out anymore shoes-which are Indy's big vice!

I did not have a good experience with hooves. My belgian ate one and two days later he vomited up pieces of the hoof with a bunch of yellow juice.

 

[Misfit36]

Soak antlers in chicken broth

 

[mpeter7897]

Thank you! I will check out the antlers. In your experiences, how do they wear down? Do chunks/splinters break off like a bone? I tried the yak chews when Bodie was a smaller pup, and he lost interest because I think they were too hard for him. I would try them again, but the only ones I see are quite small for Bodie (I.e, perfect size to try and swallow whole!) I tried the yak chews when Bodie was a smaller pup, and he lost interest because I think they were too hard for him. I would try them again, but the only ones I see are quite small for Bodie (I.e, perfect size to try and swallow whole!) When he was younger, he swallowed the last 6" of a bully stick when I came to take it away from him, so we don't give those to him unsupervised any more either! Bodie has all his toys accessible as well, but ever since he was a pup he has been afraid of the wicker basket we keep them in, so he won't get them out He's also afraid of the vacuum cleaner, the steam cleaner and the basket we keep firewood in. So this morning I put all those things in front of the dining room table to try and deter him from chewing any more of it ray:

 

[Hector]

They last a long time. The other day my dog was at it for 1 hour and did very little damage to it. They don't splinter off, but little bits of chunks do come off as they chew on it. The sizes I seen come off are very small and insignificant when swallowed. If your dog didn't like the yak chews because they were hard, I don't know if he'll like the antler chews because they are very hard. You can buy the split antler chews. I heard they don't last long as long, but it does keep it interesting for the dog because the marrow is exposed.

 

[Robtouw]

We don't leave chewables with Cruiser unattended because I've experienced having to reach down a dog's throat to remove a broken stick. When he was a bit younger and slept less we taped up big boxes with treats and plastic milk jugs in them and the goofball would spend time tossing it around and charging it to get the items inside out. I picked up alot of torn cardboard, but to this day he loves playing with boxes!

 

[Hector]

I bought a coconut chew toy for my dog and he loves it! He stampedes through the house with it in his mouth and tears away at it when he's bored. He did eat some of the husk, but that came out clean with no problems. I can't say how long it will last, but after two days it still has a lot of life left.

https://www.etsy.com/transaction/151513052

 

[Hector]

Update: coconut is all stripped, he's now trying to get the flesh..so it didn't last very long, but I will have to see if he gets any further with the coconut itself. There is a hole that was drilled so a sisal rope could be strung through it.

 

[CeeCee]

You could feed him breakfast from a puzzle toy in the morning and the use one of these to dispense a couple of kongs throughout the day. http://www.amazon.com/Dogopolis-KongTime-Automatic-Dog-Toy-Dispenser/dp/B0009X0MMO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I've never used it, but people seem to love it.

I'm not sure what your morning routine is, but I take my dogs for a walk first thing in the morning and then feed them. (I read once that this tapes into their DNA's routine to hunt, eat, and then sleep.) We also have about three different types puzzle toys and if the walk alone doesn't do it, you can feed them breakfast from the puzzle. My 18 mos old is out like a light for at least a few hours.

And if they need a little more energy drained, you could walk them with a weighted backpack (no more than 10% of their body weight). This way they're working while they walk. To make your pup work a little harder, put more weight on one side of the backpack than the other.

Just out of curiosity why no Nylabones?

 

[Hector]

Update: coconut is all stripped, he's now trying to get the flesh..so it didn't last very long, but I will have to see if he gets any further with the coconut itself. There is a hole that was drilled so a sisal rope could be strung through it.

And I would not recommend this toy as a chew - didn't last, I threw it away already

 

[mpeter7897]

You could feed him breakfast from a puzzle toy in the morning and the use one of these to dispense a couple of kongs throughout the day. http://www.amazon.com/Dogopolis-KongTime-Automatic-Dog-Toy-Dispenser/dp/B0009X0MMO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I've never used it, but people seem to love it.

I'm not sure what your morning routine is, but I take my dogs for a walk first thing in the morning and then feed them. (I read once that this tapes into their DNA's routine to hunt, eat, and then sleep.) We also have about three different types puzzle toys and if the walk alone doesn't do it, you can feed them breakfast from the puzzle. My 18 mos old is out like a light for at least a few hours.

And if they need a little more energy drained, you could walk them with a weighted backpack (no more than 10% of their body weight). This way they're working while they walk. To make your pup work a little harder, put more weight on one side of the backpack than the other.

Just out of curiosity why no Nylabones?

We don't do nylabones or rawhides, because I don't want him demolishing anything that isn't digestible or could cause an obstruction, especially when we aren't around to supervise. I know that I should definitely be taking him for walks in the morning. Problem is, we are both so tired in the mornings! Usually, Bodie doesn't really wake up for the day until 10 am or so (according to his pet sitter who comes in the morning and afternoon), and I leave for work at 7 am. LOL, ideally, my morning routine would be wake up at 4:30, go to the gym, walk Bodie, eat breakfast, and do my hair all with plenty of time to spare. Maybe someday I am going to look in to the kong dispenser. That seems like it would be perfect for him (provided he isn't afraid of it…it looks kind of like a roomba so I have my suspicions )

 

[mpeter7897]

And I would not recommend this toy as a chew - didn't last, I threw it away already

Thank you for the update! I've never seen a coconut chew, anyway.

 

[mpeter7897]

We don't leave chewables with Cruiser unattended because I've experienced having to reach down a dog's throat to remove a broken stick. When he was a bit younger and slept less we taped up big boxes with treats and plastic milk jugs in them and the goofball would spend time tossing it around and charging it to get the items inside out. I picked up alot of torn cardboard, but to this day he loves playing with boxes!

That seems like a great idea! I would much rather pick up torn cardboard than the splinters of our dining table Bodie is afraid of boxes, but I've never tried putting treats in them. Maybe that would make him change his tune

 

[Robtouw]

Cruiser was scared of them at first, but soon got the idea after my husband got on all fours and attacked one. Now it is the toy of choice, that and paper bags taped closed with a treat inside.

 

[cd07]

The Galileo bone was the best $18 I ever spent for our big time chewer Lab. He has had it for about six months now & still chews on it religiously. We also LOVE the antlers if you can find a giant one.