In the past week since Daisy has joined our already crazy household, we have all picked up a few new words and phrases.
Mushers Secret
Dehydrated Firm Up
Clicker
and the most common one….
Oh my gosh she shredded it!
Daisy is a voracious chewer. Even things that are supposed to be for “vigorous chewers” are in pieces. Little, tiny pieces. I can honestly say I had no idea how much stuffing some small toys had. Or maybe it just looks like much more when it is spread all over my living room.
So far the only two toys that have survived are boiled wool balls for fetch and a black Kong. The balls are not actively “chewed”, but lightly mouthed as she is returning them to us and the Kong, well, she doesn’t really like it. I put some cream cheese into it today and popped it in the freezer in hopes of inciting her to like it more than she likes McDonalds Smurfs.
My question to you my wise readers…
What toys can I try? HELP!
Beef Bones Allison. I get them at the Commissary. I boil them and remove the soup for cooking and let them have the bones. Both my dogs love them and I dont have to get them any chew toys. It also keeps the teeth clean and keeps them busy for hours. Try it. Trust me they are much loved.
Rawhide bones. LOTS of them, and constant supply. Cayenne pepper for discouragement. $1 tennis balls. (Chuck it is mandatory if u can’t throw far). Try a Jolly Ball. She may chew handle, but its a great toy our own lab enjoys. Kong solid ball (watch for toes). Also, for some reason, squeaky toys worked (that was a headache era). In short, lots of bones, run her to near exhaustion, and constant watching & picking up. We lost many flippy flops because of this chewing. OH! Take a marrow bone, fill w/ peanut butter, freeze. She can chew and be entertained.
No advice. Sorry! I also have a lab who has jaws of steal. Only thing that works is the Kong with peanut butter and treats inside. I know you can’t do peanut butter because of allergy but that’s all we ever use. Bones never last, she just chews all the stuffing off tennis balls, and she just rips apart anything soft. Kong makes cheese spray to put in the ball, have you tried that? We put treats inside then put the PB on top.
My parents also have a vigorous chewer (a 3yo beagle) so I’m quite familiar with seeing toys become shredded & de-stuffed in a matter of minutes. Luckily for my folks, she doesn’t lose interest in the toys once they have been deflated!
They’ve found that one of the best chew toys to keep her busy are deer antlers. Sounds strange, I know! But they sell them at a lot of pet supply stores now, and from what I have seen it keeps her busy like no other toy or bone they have bought her in the past. Because they’re quite sturdy (and bonus: all natural!), they seem to last at least a week, if not more. The best part is that she is perfectly content curling up in a corner & gnawing on her antler. The vet says they are also great for her teeth. I’m sure all dogs are different, but figured it might be worth a mention. Good luck!
Careful with rawhide it can come apart and becoming a choking hazard.
For our pit bulls we used black Kongs, sometimes cheese was necessary to get them initially interested. They also seemed to like them better after a few play sessions with the people. But they now sell black “treat” Kongs. You pop there favorite treat in and they have to play and work with it for ’em to pop out. 🙂
We also used the big orange boat buoys.
Good Luck!
Nylabones! We get the durachew ones – they sell for $11 at PetSmart, but I got one for $3 at the commissary (sign up for their newsletters and they’ll send you coupons). My dogs don’t like the black Kongs — maybe they have a funny taste? — but we’ve had their red ones for almost two years now. My dogs also love beef knuckle bones and femurs. And a good rope is always handy for chewing and tug of war!
deer antlers can splinter rather than grind up – making sharp points (dad tried making into ink pens).
for aversion – we used hot sauce and/or bitter apples which worked like ketchup. also dining room chair rungs were good teething toys too – dad calls it ‘character marks’
Our two will destuff – with great intensity. The boy – really likes nerf footballs – and can take one down to no piece larger than a cubic inch in minutes (think cat with cat nip).
they do like the braided rope toys and a rope ball thingy – with rope strands.
The other really fun toy – was a skein of yarn – be very careful with your crafts – they make great spaghetti treats. But all stuffed toys are fair game – we try not to bring any into the home with the bean things. They love the destuffed carcus and we like the ‘brains’ or stuffing too. We do remove the squeeker/parts that can cause choking, as the boy tends to swallow rather big pieces instead of chewing.
Any of the large “real” animal bones are good for chewers. I know Izzy and Jersey are small dogs but they have had the same two small bones for a year now. Our friend has a rot-lab mix and that is what he buys too but they can smash toes when the puppy gets to excited and decides to throw the bone up in the air (trust me, not a good feeling!) Also, Kong makes ones that are covered in different kinds of fabric, these usually hold up well.
Good luck with the puppy training!
It doesn’t matter what toys we give my little Mollie, she always returns to the ones with stuffing, because she believes they should have NO stuffing. We have tried dried cow legs bones complete with meat/tendons, small rawhide bones, Kong toys with peanut butter/crunchy bits/chewsticks, suffingless toys. None of it works. She believes that it is her mission in life to destroy all toys.
Good luck, and let me know if you find an answer.