advice on a good chew!!

millie is now 13 weeks and think she is getting bored with her toys and fell she would benefit from a good chew but not sure what to get her is there anything anyone could recommend.
thanks
michelle

Hi, after having a scary choking incident with Bandit and a rawhide chew, I asked around quite a bit and several breeders recommended cow hooves. They are great. They can't destroy them or eat them (at least a cavalier can't. My 110lb malamute manages to crunch them up). You can get them at most pet supply places.
Warning...they stink...bad... the first few times the dog chews them. :grnyuk: but that goes away.

I even put a little kong stuffing or peanut butter in the hard-to-reach toe area if I need to occupy Bandit for a while and it really keeps him busy.

Mine always love Merrick bully sticks, and the larger ones last a lot longer than small ones. Make sure not to buy the ones that are from China though...I always stick with Merrick brand. Flossies are great, too...

Problem with cow hooves is they can shatter and crack teeth so sme vets and breeders do not recommend them.

I have never had a problem with rawhides. We had a member here who was a vet tech studying to be a vet who asked the senior vets in her practice if they thought rawhides were a risk and the ones with 40+ years experience said they almost never had seen any problems with rawhides. But lots of problems with stones, socks, toys, sticks, shoes etc -- just food for thought.

I think you will find there are people pro and anti almost any treat or chew you can come up with! :lol:

Incidentally chews are not really a replacement for toys and vice versa. And like kids, dogs get bored of toys because people give them too many at once. Try keeping only one or two toys out at any given time for your dog and only rotate them every couple of weeks; don't have tons of them lying around or they will almost all be ignored. And reserve some toys as special ones that only come out for certain kinds of play. They become special rewards. I have a household of dogs that once past puppyhood really have had no interest in toys whatsoever, except a ball or other item to retrieve. They are perfectly happy with the occasional toilet roll core and also like treat balls. Chews and kongs are more to their liking. None cares at all for nylabones and that kind of thing.

I am so glad to hear you say your dogs aren't that interested in toys Karlin because either is Mindy. Occasionally she and Zeus used to play tug of war with something (A 100 lb dog vs. a 20 lb. dog and she won at least half of the time) but I realized they hadn't done that for awhile. I've been trying to get her interested in ball but the best I can manage is she'll run to the ball when I throw it, touch her nose to it and come back to me for a treat. It's as if she's saying "why should I get the ball when I have people to do that for me?"