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Walter is close to being 4 months old and is fond of chewing on anything he can, including our limbs! When he's given an edible bone that's around 3 to 4 inches, he can finish it within hours!

What dog bone should I give him to chew on? Of course, we would not want any hazardous plastics from dog bone toys to be eaten by a dog, so what guys would you recommend?

I know this is a very common question but we're very new to dog caring so please bear with me.

Thanks.

Hello Kevin,

As a new owner myself I had this experience about 4 months ago..

And I tried every possible solution.

The best I personally found was:

1- giving him edible chew bones 2 or 3 times a day. I gave him peanut butter and chicken sticks and each lasted between 30 mins and 2 hours depending on his chewing drive that day.

2- rawhide bones. But there are many types of rawhide and you have to be careful.

I tried everything on him and he had to suffer with me..

The best rawhide bones for him were the small to medium sized bones (10 to 12 cms long) that look like gelatin sticks.. they melt im his mouth and last for days.

The bigger harder bones will break his baby teeth.

And the soft rawhide sticks are bad.. as they gave him diarrhea and they are known to be bad, though I still had to try because he chewed on my hands alot.

So the combo of these two kinds of chews was very helpful.

As I would like to tell you that this period will not last long. Maybe a couple of weeks to go.

Thanks for the information.

Can you give me sample pics of these bone types though?

How about those Nylabones that I'm reading about? Are they supposed to be good ones?

The smallest of these....

I read about nylabones that they are great too but they are not available in my country so I am not sure about them.

And as a side note, my pup did not chew much on these when I used to give him the healthier ones.

Each one lasted more than a week mostly intact and I used to throw them.

So the healthy chews will be his main chewing toy and these for emergency hand biting pain

Thanks again!

I'm kind of confused though. Are those bones in the pic you've posted the "healthy" bones or the "emergency" bones that your pup did not chew on? Which ones are the edible bones and which ones are the rawhide bones? Sorry

Which country do you live in? I live in the Philippines and I'm not sure if Nylabones are available here too.

The bones in the pic are the emergency rawhide bones...

The healthy chews which I used (peanut butter and chicken) looked somewhat like these:
But there are many other healthy alternatives not necessarily having the same recipe.. although he loved them and they are hard enough to take him some time to nibble on

I live in Lebanon and not all products are available here...

Great! I tried giving them those also and he can finish one in about half a day! They're kinda pricy if I decide to give 2 to 3 times a day like you do though

I found Nylabones in my country here: http://www.olx.ph/index.php/view+classi ... tion,1-1,1

I have to try giving him those but I'm reading that some dog parents don't recommend them as they made their dogs very sick, so I'm not really sure.

If it lasts him half a day I think one is more than enough...
Apparently the ones you have are bigger than the ones I used to give him. So one per day is equal to 3 of those I used to have in size..

I keep reading too that rawhide is bad but all people give rawhide to their dogs here and no one get sick because of them... So I am not sure about that. He is not much of a chewer now at 6.5months.. I guess he just chews when he is bored and that is rare... maybe once a week

I haven't tried giving him the bones in the pics that I've posted. I'm just planning to buy him those Which size are you pertaining to? There are several sizes in the link that I've sent you. The bones that I'm giving him right now are about 3 inches in size and are edible.

Oh ok, that's great then! I can't wait for him to grow bigger.

Rawhides are not really good for our chows. Do a search on this site and/or look it up on a search engine if you want more information. They cause intestinal problems and are choking hazards. I'm sure you can purchase nylabones online and delivered to your country. What seems to be good chew toys are Kongs. They have a double ended hole in the middle so you can fill it with peanut butter, cheese, or a treat to motivate your chow to chew. I had one Kong in the many years of being a chow mom and my chows who were chewer did well and liked nylabones. Once the numbs are chewed, I throw them away. I never allow them to eat the entire stick... never. Have you tried "bully sticks"? Lots of chows here enjoy bully sticks.

Oh ok. Looking at Kongs, they seem to be challenging for our chows, which is good to ease their boredom when alone

What do you mean by "numbs"? Are you referring to the nylabones?

I'll check the bully sticks too.

kevindd992002 wrote:What do you mean by "numbs"? Are you referring to the nylabones?

Yes. I am referring to the nylabones. However, it was a spelling error. I meant "nubs" not "numbs". These are just the ends of the nylabone. I don't let them chew past and ingest the long middle portion.

Alright. Regarding the Kongs, which size and model should I be buying for a 4-month chow pup?

I give the Kongs to my dogs, but its more of treat for them. 1/2 hour at best. Then again, I don't use the puzzle portion. Try to keep the dogs interest by having him work to get to it. Bully Sticks are OK too, but it depends on the dog. If they cheat and eat completely, not so bad, if not you are left with a nasty smelling mushy slimy messy stub. Not all that pleasant. You could try an actual bone. I don't use them, but my brother (with a small breed dog) gets them cheap from an actual butcher.

Rory's Dad wrote:I give the Kongs to my dogs, but its more of treat for them. 1/2 hour at best. Then again, I don't use the puzzle portion. Try to keep the dogs interest by having him work to get to it. Bully Sticks are OK too, but it depends on the dog. If they cheat and eat completely, not so bad, if not you are left with a nasty smelling mushy slimy messy stub. Not all that pleasant. You could try an actual bone. I don't use them, but my brother (with a small breed dog) gets them cheap from an actual butcher.

What do you mean puzzle portion of the Kong?

Nylabones are great.

You could also fill a Kong with peanut butter & then freeze it overnight.

We love the bully sticks for our chow.. they're clearly his favorite. He can chew through a spiral one in a couple of hours though, so I recommend getting the braided bully sticks as they take much longer to chew through.