Question
I have a puppy (well, he's almost a year old) that destroys everything because when he's not crated, sleeping, or being entertained by nature, my other dog, or me, he wants/needs to be chewing on something.
We do a lot together (honestly), and he's very smart (probably why he's so easily bored), but I had a serious fracture of my lower leg a few months ago (two surgeries and more to come), and I'm still on walking/weightbearing restrictions, so I can't entertain him endlessly.
Bully sticks last only maybe 10 minutes; beef tendons last about two minutes. He has destroyed Tuffy toys, Kong products, and other things described as "indestructable".
And he swallows. Everything. When I was immobile, he found a very heavy-duty plastic bag and as I hobbled frantically to get it from him, he swallowed it. I thought for sure he was going to die of an obstruction (not for the first time.) A couple of days later, he passed the entire thing intact. Nothing will slow this dog down. I've even given him frozen marrow bones; they last about 15 minutes.
I'm thinking of rawhide, but I have never given rawhide to any of my dogs because I read bad things about it.
Is rawhide safe? Can someone suggest anything else?
Answer
Raw beef soup bones and long bones. The dog will spend days chewing them and not be able to finish them. You can keep them as long as you can tolerate having bones lying around. They're not ideal to have lying around the house, however. It may be possible to have one bone in the house at a time after any meat has been chewed off it.
Also things like pigs' trotters and ears (not processed).
The problem with rawhide is a lot of the packaged products are not natural and processed to a point that is alarming to make them look desirable to the owner. Also, if he's chewing through things rapidly, too much rawhide may cause him to become constipated. It was something I did feed decades ago. I'd be cautious now because of the processing and feed no chew that comes out of a package.
If you want a chew that can be chewed reasonably quickly, then brisket bones are ideal, depending on the dog they can last for 2o minutes to an hour (or longer for small dogs). The other thing is raw chicken pieces, but they are eaten quickly, but still good for teeth.
Disclaimer: avoid giving dogs cooked bones as they tend to splinter. Especially chicken bones.
Answered By - user6796