# Teething LGDs



## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

My two Anatolian shepherd puppies, 7 and 4 months old seem to want to chew on things quite a lot. My younger one, Nova, has some teeth starting to come in and it seems like every time I turn around she's got something she found somewhere in her mouth. With our older boy I am concerned about the amount of sticks he chews on and actually consumes. What do you guys recommend to chew on for these teething puppies? I have tried some of the nylabone bone stuff, but they always seem to return to sticks. I feel like if I could get them something that they could actually safely consume it would be better. Any thoughts?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Try different nylabones. Different flavors and textures.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

MellonFriend said:


> My two Anatolian shepherd puppies, 7 and 4 months old seem to want to chew on things quite a lot. My younger one, Nova, has some teeth starting to come in and it seems like every time I turn around she's got something she found somewhere in her mouth. With our older boy I am concerned about the amount of sticks he chews on and actually consumes. What do you guys recommend to chew on for these teething puppies? I have tried some of the nylabone bone stuff, but they always seem to return to sticks. I feel like if I could get them something that they could actually safely consume it would be better. Any thoughts?


If you find what will keep them from eating wood, please let me know. A one year old dog still going strong with sticks, pallets, furniture wood and tool handles. He also has access to nylabones and his favorite stuffed squeaky toys. But, like your two, wood is his favorite.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

The "key toys" are what really do it. Puppies love them. Make sure to make them think they are being sneaky when they chew on it, don't force it, instead just leave it around for them to "find" like a stick. https://www.chewy.com/nylabone-pupp...Q2V9l9zYG9aOd7XnpKaCCJfeqw-aaTrRoCBkcQAvD_BwE


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> The "key toys" are what really do it. Puppies love them. Make sure to make them think they are being sneaky when they chew on it, don't force it, instead just leave it around for them to "find" like a stick.


I have actually used those and I would highly recommend them! And yes I have used the "I accidentally left this toy in here" tactic. I was wondering if anyone has ever tried those antler chews for dogs?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

My dogs love the antler chews.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

MellonFriend said:


> I have actually used those and I would highly recommend them! And yes I have used the "I accidentally left this toy in here" tactic. I was wondering if anyone has ever tried those antler chews for dogs?


Yes we used to use antler chews. I thought they were too hard, actually.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

All good advice.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> Yes we used to use antler chews. I thought they were too hard, actually.


In what way? Too dangerous for their teeth hard? Too hard for it to be fun hard? Did you ever get the split ones they seemed a bit safer to me.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

MellonFriend said:


> In what way? Too dangerous for their teeth hard? Too hard for it to be fun hard? Did you ever get the split ones they seemed a bit safer to me.


My pup was very sensitive when he was little. Those antlers used to make his teeth bleed. And a previous dog had to get surgery from a marrow bone fragment. So I just don't do anything hard and breakable.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> My pup was very sensitive when he was little. Those antlers used to make his teeth bleed. And a previous dog had to get surgery from a marrow bone fragment. So I just don't do anything hard and breakable.


Good to know. It is so hard to buy dog chews because almost everything has horror stories. You go to PetSmart and see all these options and turns out 90% of them are dangerous in some manner. Even Nylabone has its risks.

Also to divulge for a moment here, Never buy anything from PetSmart if you don't have to. The prices are way, WAY higher than at Chewy.com. The one nylabone I just purchased from Chewy was $11.99 and at PetSmart the exact same one was $22.99!
mg: I mean whoa, PetSmart is just jacking up the price to trap people into spending more money.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Not trying to slam anything, but, on the radio the other day, the DJ said he had to get his dog surgery because it swallowed a nylabone. (Large Lab type dog). Rawhide is bad too. Our dogs used to eat them. One got a serious blockage, so no more rawhide!


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

Goats Rock said:


> Not trying to slam anything, but, on the radio the other day, the DJ said he had to get his dog surgery because it swallowed a nylabone. (Large Lab type dog). Rawhide is bad too. Our dogs used to eat them. One got a serious blockage, so no more rawhide!


No toy treat bone food etc. should ever be given without supervision. Anything with "bone" in the name freaks me out so I won't let mine near them. Granted, my pup is now 10 and doesn't have very good teeth.

But aside from that, the keys are great as there are many and I don't want to say "impossible" to swallow, but much more unlikely.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

For me, I stayed away from nylabone for years because of the risks of blockage or choking on it, but what I realized is that for my dogs specifically, they don't damage a toy that fast without me noticing they are getting a big piece off. I find nylabones to be safe for my dog because of their chewing style, and it's safer for them to be chewing something "safe" that is going to make them less likely to find trash around my property (the previous owners were profuse litterers) and swallow pieces of plastic off of something they certainly can chew through. The main thing is be smart about what you give your dog and supervise him until you know the limits of his chewing ability. If your dog is considered a power chewer and chews through anything you give him, you would obviously have to be more careful with what you give him, but, speaking from personal experience, if you have a Pomeranian who likes to chew, but would never swallow something without first chewing it into the smallest pieces imaginable, nylabones might be perfectly safe for them. And likewise with my Anatolians, I know that they at this point cannot chew through the nylabones I give for a seriously long time. I just bumped them up to a longer lasting model, and I don't see them chewing through it any time in the near future. The point is you have to know your dog to be able to make a judgement on what is and what is not safe for them to chew.

I would say that I would stay away from raw hide as well. Because it is more like food to dogs than a toy and that it gets all slippery when chewing on it makes me feel like they are more inclined to swallow larger pieces of it.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

Those keys are good for little dogs, "power chewers" go right through them. We have to get the largest nylabones because of power chewers and the little ones get left out.
Edit: left out as in doing without.lol


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## Annette Wood (Jul 19, 2019)

Has anyone ever tried the flavored wood chew blocks for Pygmy goat babies teethin


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I was always extremely happy to see my pups destroying sticks instead of more valuable or dangerous things. I don't really see the problem with sticks... Wolf cubs have been destroying wood for eons...


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

I'd rather train them to chew on wood than something else.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

MellonFriend said:


> My two Anatolian shepherd puppies, 7 and 4 months old seem to want to chew on things quite a lot. My younger one, Nova, has some teeth starting to come in and it seems like every time I turn around she's got something she found somewhere in her mouth. With our older boy I am concerned about the amount of sticks he chews on and actually consumes. What do you guys recommend to chew on for these teething puppies? I have tried some of the nylabone bone stuff, but they always seem to return to sticks. I feel like if I could get them something that they could actually safely consume it would be better. Any thoughts?


We have always given ours raw beef femur bones and knuckles. We had the butcher cut them to about eight inches long. They eat the leftovers from the outside, then the marrow and chew occasionally on the bare bone that is left.


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## CCCSAW (Jul 11, 2019)

I've had 2 nylabone loving small dogs and 2 wood loving big dogs. And honestly especially with my current big girl a blood hound mix anything nylon or rubber she won't even touch. I've spent so much money on chew toys and basically if it's not a stick, similar to a rawhide, or a stuffy with a squeaker she acts like we gave her poop. Unfortunately for some large breeds it can take up to 3 years to out grow the chewing stage, but most will slow down significantly once they lose those baby teeth. Sorry I really don't have a suggestion, we got to the point I'd rather just cut a branch down then worry about if she would like a chew toy or not.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Since I first posted this, both of them have lost their baby teeth and the chewing_ has_ gone way down. It still isn't gone, but it's lessened. The reason that I did not like them chewing on sticks was because they were actually ingesting the wood. The amount of wood they were eating each day had to do pretty immense. I still see them chewing on sticks occasionally, but it's no where near as frequent as before, so I am not too concerned about it any more. I also got them quite a few nylabones of different shapes to give them something better to chew on. 


Sfgwife said:


> We have always given ours raw beef femur bones and knuckles. We had the butcher cut them to about eight inches long. They eat the leftovers from the outside, then the marrow and chew occasionally on the bare bone that is left.


Ugh, I wish we could do that, but i can't seem to find a butcher anywhere close by that will sell me just bones.


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

MellonFriend said:


> Since I first posted this, both of them have lost their baby teeth and the chewing_ has_ gone way down. It still isn't gone, but it's lessened. The reason that I did not like them chewing on sticks was because they were actually ingesting the wood. The amount of wood they were eating each day had to do pretty immense. I still see them chewing on sticks occasionally, but it's no where near as frequent as before, so I am not too concerned about it any more. I also got them quite a few nylabones of different shapes to give them something better to chew on.
> 
> Ugh, I wish we could do that, but i can't seem to find a butcher anywhere close by that will sell me just bones.


If you ask a "big chain" grocery store butcher, sometimes they will sell you some. I've done that before. I've told them it was for bone broth not dogs though. I think it's a liability issue in case the dog hurts himself.


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## Nigerian dwarf goat (Sep 25, 2017)

Goats Rock said:


> Rawhide is bad too. Our dogs used to eat them. One got a serious blockage, so no more rawhide!


yes, my 2 labs get diahrrea from them I only get the femur bones, or my dogs go to my neigbors and get some dead cow bones. he has a whole graveyard of them


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

MellonFriend said:


> Since I first posted this, both of them have lost their baby teeth and the chewing_ has_ gone way down. It still isn't gone, but it's lessened. The reason that I did not like them chewing on sticks was because they were actually ingesting the wood. The amount of wood they were eating each day had to do pretty immense. I still see them chewing on sticks occasionally, but it's no where near as frequent as before, so I am not too concerned about it any more. I also got them quite a few nylabones of different shapes to give them something better to chew on.
> 
> Ugh, I wish we could do that, but i can't seem to find a butcher anywhere close by that will sell me just bones.


No localish mom n pop butchers? Sad day.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Check with livestock slaughter places, rather than butchers that process the meat for grocery customers. Farmers do take their animals in somewhere (down animals, hurt animals, dying animals, not their market animals) hunters take their kills in somewhere, to be killed and butchered... Around here they are small, and not well advertised. Word of Mouth is the best way to find out.

Again, these are processors for the individual owners of the animals, not in a butcher shop on Main Street or in a grocery store.


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