Hopefully this kind of bone is ok...

You can see Josés big bone that he used inside for "parading purposes only." He picked it up and paraded around the house, pacing and circling many laps inside, looking for just the right place to bury it (in a 990 sq ft house, we wondered what took so long!) Then he would dig the "hole" on the rug. Then lie down. Repeat nightly.

He had an outside bone too, a rolled up rawhide retreiver roll, about a foot long. He walked the perimeter, then buried it in the mulch. No holes were dug normally ~ he would push the mulch or leaves over the bone to bury it. Then bark at it!

He sadly passed away last month but we still smile thinking of our OCD dog! If anyone tried to interrupt his bone parade, we would tell them "Leave him alone! If you get him messed up, he will have to start counting all over again!"
Lisa

I bought a beef dino bone today. it is smoked and seasoned with garlic. It is about a foot long, but when i got it home it was broken in half. I gave it to Danny anyways, i hope it will be ok. What do you think about that kind of bone, plus the fact that it broke in half? :blink:[/b]

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If you do any research on the subject nothing a dog chews on is totaly safe nor is anything a guaranteed danger it is all a matter of degrees and how agressive a chewer the dog is.

So called safe chews are designed so the dog can on destroy them or break of piece. So in the regard smoke/cooked bones are generally considered the most dangerious. As you note heating makes natural bone brittle an more likely to splinter. Sharp splinter are more likely to become trapeded in the digestive tract causing a blockage or puncturing the tract potential causing life threatening bleeding and or infection.

Raw bones are less like to splinter than cooked bones but still can.

Nylabone and the like are unlikely to splinter but if not sized properly they can be destroyed or have pieces broken off that leads to obstructions.

The bigger. thick the crew the less likely the dog can destroy it. Whether cooked or raw a dog is going to be less likely injured from a cow hock than a chicken back. So the size mitigates some risks, Ideally you want to supervise the dog with any new chew to evaluate its suitablity to that particular dog, The size and weight of the dog has little bearing on how agressively they chew.


Chew toys are noted for helping to promote healthier gums and remover tarter. unfortunately for many agressive chewrs it can also lead to broken teeth and abnormally worn teeth. From experience the one object that lead to more tooth wear than any other is not what one would commonly think, it is the tennis ball. WORN TEETH There are tennis ball like toys made for dogs that are less abrassive.