Beckman's Dog Training Blog

When I was student at Moorpark College I worked with two cougars. We would feed them a soft ground up meat called Nebraska, and also chicken necks. Chicken necks have a bone with meat around the outside. The cougars got all of their necessary nutrients from the Nebraska meat so I asked my instructor who oversaw the big cats why we gave them chicken necks and I’ll never forgot her answer. She said that predators need to crunch things, they have “energy” built up in their jaws that needs to be released. Now I don’t think you will find her comments anywhere in a big cat or animal training text book, and it’s only her opinion, just like most of the content in these blogs are my opinion, but what she said makes a lot of sense to me. We also had a hyena at school. If you have ever looked at a hyena you might notice that they have a very square head with a high crest at the top of the head. That’s because they have huge muscles that go from the lower jaw and connect at the top of the head (if there is one animal that I hope I never get bit by, it’s no doubt a hyena). We used to give that hyena whole cow heads to eat for a treat. His natural behavior is to crunch bone, hoofs, horns whatever. And I would argue that wolves and dogs are as much or more of oral creatures than big cats or hyenas (but not nearly the biting power).
You may be wondering what this has to do with your dog’s chew toys. Dogs also have “energy” that needs to be released. Remember when your dog was a puppy, he chewed on everything, your hand, shoes, table legs… a big part of that behavior was due to puppy and adult teeth coming in, but it’s also such a natural behavior for a dog. Ever wonder why a piece of leather or chair leg seems more attractive than that stuffed animal form the pet store, and no it’s not because he is trying to get back at you or that he’s testing you, it’s because he can crunch and chew on those things.
My dog will distroy just about any “chew toy” that he gets his mouth on. If it’s got a stitch, a seam, or a way he can scissor through it, he will in about 2 minutes. So I’ve had to come up with inventive and safe ways for him to get that “energy” out.
I have 3 criteria for a good chew toy. It has to be 1) safe 2) reinforcing and 3) long lasting. Many things will fit one or two of these criteria but very few fit all three. First let me tell you about some of the ones I’m not a fan of.
Raw hides- they are long lasting, but dogs can choke on them and it can often cause diarrhea.
Stuffed toys- Dogs rarely enjoy chewing on them, unless it’s an obsessive sucking that some breeds are prone to. If torn up the dog can injest the plastic squeaker and nylon filling. I sometimes give these to my dog to thrash and run around with for a few minutes, but never let him sit there and work on it.
Bully sticks-Similar to raw hide.
Rope toys- extreme chewers can pull the rope threads out and ingest them, any long thread that’s injested can cause serious problems.
The items I do like.
By far my favorite is a frozen food filled Kong- I came up with this idea after a lot of trial and error. I would give my dog a kong with the included kong treat and he would get frustrated and give up, so I started to fill the kong with dry kibble and he would get it all out in a minute or two, so I started to wet down the kibble and put it in the freezer so it would be more challenging. Then I got smart and bought a quality wet food, filled the kongs and put them in the freezer and now I have what I believe is the best chew toy available. If you are busy and want to keep you dog occupied and stimulated, think about giving your dog all his food food in this capacity. There is no rule that you have to feed your dog twice a day out of a bowl. I fill kongs each evening for my dog and the dogs doing the board and train program at my facility. Filling the kongs can be a bit of a hassle but it’s a small price to pay for a occupied/stimulated dog. Your dog will learn how to lick it for a while then chew on it to break it up, then drop it on the ground to get the food out.
Other good chew toys are Raw marrow bones- they should be at-least 3 inches long so the dog has to lick out the marrow and can’t just pop it out. Make sure it’s not the end of the cow femur but the long circular marrow filled part. They can be messy if given inside, and if you give a lot of them the dog’s lower front teeth can wear down. The bone is usually too thick to chew and ingest, but the dog should be monitored. I’d take away the bone after the marrow is out. I also sometimes fill the hollow bone with wet food and put that in the freezer, you can save on kongs that way.
Pigs ears- Most dogs go crazy for them, but they don’t last a long time. A little trick is, if people are coming over and you don’t want your dog to jump on them, and don’t feel like doing any training, give your dog a pig’s ear right when the people pull up and then let the people in. Your dog may cruise around showing off the pig’s ear or go somewhere to eat the treat. Then when he’s done with it he will come in without jumping on them because he has already seen and smelled them, and the big meeting/ freak out session that he does at the door has already passed. He may just walk in the room and act like the people have been there for an hour. Some dog’s drive to meet and jump is too high for even a pig’s ear to compete with. I recommend Costco’s pigs ears.
And finally nylabones- they are long lasting and seem to be safe enough (although I have no idea what small plastic fragments constantly going through a digestion system can do to it). The problem usually is that the dog isn’t that into it.
If you get nothing else from reading this, realize that dogs need to chew on things. It’s a natural/healthy behavior that needs to be met. Giving them appropriate chew toys will help them learn to be by themselves, keep them mentally stimulated, wear out their mouth and tongue so they won’t chew and bark as much and give you a break to do what you need to do.
No chew toy is perfect, anything can be torn up and ingested.
I realize this was a long post, if you have found it or any of my posts helpful or interesting or you disagree with anything I have said please comment, it would be greatly appreciated.