Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/18/chew-toys-that-last-a-giant-do.html
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Our lab has always ignored man made chew toys. He only seems to like animal parts. Unfortunately some of them smell horrible. If you think bully sticks smell bad try waking up to a cow hoof in your face.
gags
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Frozen raw beef femur.
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Another giant dog caretaker here…mine is an athletic 2yr old female Bullmastiff named Dixie.
She has gone through lots and lots of different chews, including the ones in the article. But, by far, her favorite ones are antler chews. One large chew will last for several weeks of daily chewing, and she stays interested in it.
Antlers are much too expensive in pet stores, but I found a site that sells them more reasonably, and categorized by weight and hardness. After trying a few different ones, it seems that even though she’s a big dog and chews aggressively she prefers a large sized chew, but in medium core hardness. Dixie’s vet always remarks how wonderful her teeth look, so I think it’s a good balance for my pocketbook and her chewing needs. We’ve ordered from them several times and are pleased with both the product and the service.
The site is called Michigan Antler Art. (No affiliation whatever, just a satisfied customer).
That being said, I may re-order some of the Wheeler refills to mix things up. The last time I checked, Amazon didn’t carry them and the price at the pet store was unreasonable.
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Little more than $4 for 2 on Amazon now. $11 at the petstore.
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Thank you! I will give that a try. We’re due for rain through the weekend. Poor fella has been inside a whole lot this winter.
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Yep. The rain is on again here in NorCal and Nemo is barking at it.
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Cost has prevented me from trying out antlers especially since they shed them every year. I didn’t understand the huge markup. I will give your place them a try. Thank you for the post.
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I’m on the other side of that storm in SoCal.
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Happy to help. I hope your lab enjoys them as much as my dog does.
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Oh god. I tried the cow hoof once. For like five minutes. Into the trash it went.
Antlers are great (elk seems to last longest) but the price is too high. Plus sometimes little shards come off and I don’t trust those little things.
The pet store recommended those yak’s milk chews, claiming that even the toughest dog would chew it for a month. My dog reduced it to crunchy bits in about ten minutes.
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Yeah, those things are like 2 minute treats for my guy and I worry he’ll get sick eating the shards. He also doesn’t care for the Elk anter, even soaked in beef or chicken broth.
Picky damn animals.
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Just curious. Do you know how they determine the hardness?
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Based only on the antlers that I’ve purchased from them, I would hazard a guess that it is based on the amount of marrow. More marrow indicating a softer antler.
I’m sure that they could give you a more definitive answer that I can, though.
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I ordered a pound of medium size elk medium cores. (Feels like describing a wizarding wand) Way cheaper than the big box pet stores or even Amazon.
Hopefully, this should cut down on my bully stick expenses.
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I found bully sticks were packed too full of calories and go in seconds. Also Nemo’s white forelegs turn brown.
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I experienced exactly that with Dixie, only she’s fawn colored instead of white. The odor didn’t help either.
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They did. I just failed in researching their website thoroughly.
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Agreed on antlers. Pretty much anything else “natural” Lucky destroys within an hour and we’re paranoid about him swallowing sharp pieces–he’s yet to splinter an antler. (though he has managed to get some small pieces off occasionally, which is a bit worrying). They do lose their appeal eventually as they get hard and stone-like after a while. Sometimes I cover them with peanut butter to pique his interest again.
Kongs are great too of course. We keep a bunch of 'em filled with my wife’s healthy dog concoction in the freezer at all times.
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The photo up front of grinning Nemo reminds me how peculiar the dog - human relationship is.
“Dogs. Your happy friends with fangs!”
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