what should my puppy chew

[charlysmom_dad]

We recently ( Monday) adopted a puppy. She was found as a stray. The shelter said she is 4 months old. We never had a dog so young. 6 months was the youngest.

Can anyone help with information on a good chew toy. We really don't want to give her rawhide. We bought a rubber toy which she has zero interest in. So far she likes to chew on me & also my jeans.
Any help ( please, I'm beggin you)

[JimM68]

Puppies chew. They just do. Especially when they are teething, but even after, maybe till they are 2 or 3 years old.

Ours have always been partial to wood. Stair railings, chair legs... We've tried all the fake rubber stuff, no interest.

The best (according to them) is the real cow femurs. Big bones, with lots of stuff on em. They love em, but get the s!@ts from them so we take em away after an hour or three.

They also like the flavored rawhide. Meiers has them, big ones, 3 for $9.99. Beef or chicken. They last a day. No worry about one of these going down wrong, they are 10" long and a few inches in diameter.

Dogs love to chew. And they love rawhide.

[N-Trouble]

xteacher wrote:
Our dogs like split antlers (two of them are small dogs). They're very expensive at Petsmart or Petco - try an online source instead. I've even found them occasionally at TJMaxx or Marshalls.

ALL of the big box pet stores are way overpriced IMO... I have learned and now stay away from them

[down_home]

Weeel ours is no longer a pup. We give him rawhide chews. They don't last long no matter how big.
As pup he chewed on everything he could find around the house and in the woods, near.
Give him a chew and he will be satisfied for a bit but go hunting, for everything, he can fit his mouth around and then some to chew on. Got a kid or another pup and more of his time will be spent chasing them around or chewing the shirt tails off.

[Karfae69]

Deer antlers are readily available at pet stores do not splinter and last very long, ice cubes can crack teeth, Kong makes some good chews too. Chew time should be supervised until you learn your furry kids habits.

[xteacher]

Our dogs like split antlers (two of them are small dogs). Since you have a small breed, it should last quite awhile. They come in different sizes, so you can taylor them to your dog's needs. They're very expensive at Petsmart or Petco - try an online source instead. I've even found them occasionally at TJMaxx or Marshalls.

[charlysmom_dad]

OP here. We tried a nylabone. She chewed it for about 20 minutes. Hasn't touched it since. We'll try some of the other suggestions.

One thing I've learned in the last week, puppies are like tornados, you never know what they're going to do next. Lol

[Oaklevel]

All our dogs chew on Nylabones' Walmart has the best price for us but only one flavor. Our current (actually our son's) puppy started on them & continues to like then. He liked shoes too but we put a quick stop to that...... He is 6 months now............ 🙂

Good Luck !!!

[Imagone]

Just raised a litter of small Aussie doodles and they liked to chew on
-soft small stuffy's (no beads inside or eyes) with a rattly noise inside
-soft long stuffed squeeky toy's from the $ store
-small rubber balls .
-tied up old socks with one knot in the middle
-lots of harder rubber type squeeky toys from the $ store
-Also cut some deer horns up into smaller pieces for each pup or they would steal from each other

They could hold themselves all night in the crate at 8 weeks-soft material pad and no paper to chew and put outside as soon as wake up

Good luck on your pup- takes a lot of repetition & patience to train

[Francesca_Knowl]

BCSnob wrote:

Francesca Knowles wrote:

Reason for knot-tying is twofold:
First, it lasts longer that way, but perhaps more important:
In that shape it doesn't resemble any other household towel/object. I've learned the hard way that if you give a dog an "old" ANYTHING to chew on, it will forever after identify similar-looking objects as fair game.

You need to teach your dogs to only chew on new items you give them or items they already have been chewing on. Once they have chewed on something it will smell different.

That's the point I thought I was making. Teaching a dog only to chew on certain things is a process, and the above is one precaution I take.

[BCSnob]

Francesca Knowles wrote:

Reason for knot-tying is twofold:
First, it lasts longer that way, but perhaps more important:
In that shape it doesn't resemble any other household towel/object. I've learned the hard way that if you give a dog an "old" ANYTHING to chew on, it will forever after identify similar-looking objects as fair game.

You need to teach your dogs to only chew on new items you give them or items they already have been chewing on. Once they have chewed on something it will smell different.

[charlysmom_dad]

corgi-traveler wrote:
X2 on
Frozen Washcloths
Nylabones -- our dogs have all liked the dinosaurs.
and the "udders" from the dairy -- another 100% success.

Our corgis also enjoy sheep kneecaps.

Sheep kneecaps. In a million years, I wouldn't have thought of that.

[corgi-traveler]

X2 on
Frozen Washcloths
Nylabones -- our dogs have all liked the dinosaurs.
and the "udders" from the dairy -- another 100% success.

Our corgis also enjoy sheep kneecaps.

[charlysmom_dad]

We won't be using rawhide.
I stopped her from chewing on me and my jeans immediatley.

[rockhillmanor]

dturm wrote:
I really like Nylabone products and the kongs, but any product can be dangerous if chunks are broken off and swallowed. It's a pretty good practice to be with them when they are chewing, at least initially until you can be confident in how they chew.

You get some real aggressive chewers that tend to get into problems swallowing big pieces and breaking teeth.

Doug, DVM

X10!
Nylabone's 'hard' bones are the ONLY chew item I allow in my house. I only use the hard ones from puppy stage on. They make small hard ones for the pups and then graduate to the larger ones as they grow.
Stay away from their edible ones though.

Once you've seen a dog choke on a rawhide or have to dish out $800.00 for surgery from swallowing the knotted end of one? You'll switch to Nylabone too. :C