Last week I made the mistake of giving Griffin a rawhide and then walking out of the room! It was only to wash my hands and then I immediately came back, but he had already gnawed through and swallowed a huge portion of it! I had no idea how quickly he could break pieces off! Luckily he passed them, but after reading online all about how they swell and cause blockages that can be fatal I'm too scared to ever give him another one again! Is there anything similar that is digestible? I will always supervise him from now on when he is chewing on things like this, but he will inevitably get small pieces of anything so I'm looking for something safer. I tried a bully stick from Petco that he absolutely LOVED, but the smell was so bad that after an hour I had to get it out of the house. Griffin is my first dog, so I'd love to hear about any similar products that others have had success with Thanks!

The only thing Maggie will chew are Bully Sticks, but I've seen other people have success with antlers.

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We haven't tried antlers yet, I'll have to go check them out. Thanks!

I supervise all chews...
- antlers (very hard, may not be good if they are super hard chewers)
- bully sticks in moderation (sometimes causes gas!)
- Big nylabone toys
- raw marrow bone with the marrow scooped out (messy)

Heard hooves may crack and cause potential choking hazard. Pig ears may be too high in fat.

I'm still looking for something better too...

We tried raw hide a couple times, but I'm just not comfortable with them. I had the same experience with bully sticks. Moose loved them but I couldn't handle the smell and his breath afterward. We also haven't tried antlers, but he did try to sneak one at the store the other day. I thought a nylabone would be the answer, but he is so weird with his. He throws it up in the air and growls at it and stuff. It gets taken away regularly because I'm scared for the tv.
Anyways, my boyfriend got him a bone at a local pet supply store the other day. I think he said it was just called a center bone. He is always supervised with it of course. He loves that thing and I keep watching and inspecting and it has not broken or splintered. It was a little messy right at first, but no problem and no smell now. I also smear peanut butter along the inside of it which keeps him busy for a while.

I had that happened to me with a bully stick the first time i gave it to chester. I didn't know they shouldn't swallow them (i know i should of looked it up) but he ended up swallowing it thankfully it came out of him and i now supervise him with them.He also gets

Pig ears once in a while.
Antlers - at first he didn't like them but now he seems to love them so i have to order some more since these he had for a long time.

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I never give my dogs rawhide and I have also stopped with the bully sticks.

There are three things I give them:

1) antlers - they are becoming a lot easier to find now ay pet stores
2) raw marrow bones frozen
3) filled sterile bones bought at pet stores

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I am with cubbysan. Interestingly enough, the vet I saw for my previous rescue dog actually recommended rawhide to help clean Amber's teeth. It worked like a charm and Amber was VERY good with rawhide (she was around 3-4 years old when I rescued her), but I don't really care for it in general, so with our 11 week old puppy Sasha (and per our breeder's recommendation) I do not give rawhide.

Like cubbysan, I give Sasha elk antlers, Nylabones and sterile filled bones.

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Gotcha 12/15/12.

>>>What are sterile filled bones? Are they cooked at all?

Thanks everyone! It can be overwhelming walking into a pet store and trying to pick something out that I feel comfortable letting my puppy chew on - especially after the rawhide incident! I'll be picking up antlers, and looking for the raw marrow bones and filled sterile bones tomorrow.