good chew toys for a lab/cocker mix

[princess lovers mom]

we have a 10 month old puppy who seem to be getting a little bored during the day....we are trying to get her some good toys, but she destroys most within a few hours and always within the same day...a rawhide bone will last 1 hour ; any stuffed toy just until she chews a little hole in it then she pulls all of the stuffing out; she liked kongs stuffed with peanut butter or treats but is able to empty them rather quickly....she does not chew the furniture or us...and we need something she can play with by herself when we are out.....anyone with ideas??

denise

 

[TigerBear]

What about cow hooves? My furbabies loved them.

Do you have a picture of your puppy? My boyfriend has a lab/cocker mix.

 

[Saffron]

Kongs!

They are kind of odd coned shaped rubber toys that are almost indestructable -- it takes my Lab about 6 months to a year to work his teeth through one! What you do is fill the Kong with cheese or peanut butter than give them the Kong and let them do their thing. It keeps them occupied and busy as long as the cheese or whatver is shoved in there tight!

My Lab was a big "mouther" until he was about 18 months old, when he grew out of it on his own. Kongs were the best thing for him.

Good luck!

 

[Saffron]

Oh well duh! I just reread your post and saw that you know about Kongs so disregard my post! LOL!

 

[princess lovers mom]

thanks....we have the kong that you stuff and she loves the peanut butter, but it is gone in about 30 minutes...maybe we should try the ones with holes to stuff with treats so she can't lick um out!!

I do not have a photo I can get on as I am at work, but she is adorable...she looks like a black lab with wavy hair on her little longer than normal lab ears and fluffy long tail...shorter than a lab but bigger than a cocker....looks more like a retriever I think, but meduim size...perfect for us!!

 

[FloridaCat]

Ask your Butcher if he has a "Knuckle" bone. This is the knee joint, very hard and a good soaurce of bone meal.

 

[princess lovers mom]

I am laughing sooooo hard an the Buther typo (not picking on the typo as i do them all the time), but I read it as "ask my brother for a knuckle bone...and I'm thinking What?????? OK I'll check with the butcher!!!!! thanks for the giggle!!!

...it did just say buther didn't it, I am so tired i think I'm losing it!!!
i have been working in the STD clinic all afternoon and have seen some weird stuff!!

 

[KristiKelly]

I have a 15 week old Goldendoodle, that is boing through the biting stage, she loves her hoof (but it stinks). The people at the petstore talked me into Greenies, they were 7or8 for $18 and she went through 1 a night - no more of those. She is now chewing on a "BOODA" bone, they come in different flavors and have little bumpy things all over them also come in a smooth. One of these will last her about 1-1/2-2 weeks and are about $4-6. Her favorite toy is an empty water bottle. If you give your dog a water bottle to play with, please take the paper off. I know someone who had a little girl (no not a dog) and when she was about 1 y/o, she swallowed a price sticker and it stuck to the inside of her esophagus, she went through many, many surgeries and several monthes at a children's hospital in Cincinnati, so please be sure to take any wrapper off.

 

[ahutton]

We have a lab/beagle mix and she is a cutie pie but also a chewer. We learend the "Wooly Man" toys were no good for her, if she could get a limb opened up he was history. What has been good with her are the wooly frisbees and balls, that have no decoration or edges. She can't seem to get enough of a bite on them to shred them as quickly, and they lasted about 6-8 months until she was about 5 years old, and for the last 4 she has had the same 4 toys. They've been washed a few times but lasted fine.

Booda bones were okay, but I hated stepping on them at night, it hurts as much as a lego does, and a couple of them had a funny smell. Never did the hooves because of their smell either. I did find the super-dried compressed rawhide bones lasted a million times longer than the regular ones which is another good choice.

Of course Aurora's favorite toy is our cat, Ana. They love to chase eachother and play!

 

[CajunDixie]

rawhide bone

The first puppy we had the vet asked what toys we had for him to chew on and of course we said a big rawhide bone. She then gave us a 10 minute lecture on how bad rawhide is for dogs. So now we buy the totally edible bones, the Kongs, and the ropes that are knotted.

 

[msteddom]

I have an 8 mo. old lab mix named Jake and he loves rope toys! A good trick to get the dog interested in these is to put it in your clothes hamper for a few hours. That way the toy smells like you, and the dog will go crazy for it. The ropes we've bought Jake have been with us as long as he has, and he's yet to chew through one. They do tend to get gross after a while though.


Melissa

 

[Kirby]

We have a Black Lab that is a year and a half old. Her favorite chew toys are her food dishes. They are made out of some kind of very hard plastic, supposedly indestructible. She's been chewing on them for about a year and a half. She has the rim on both about chewed off.

Her other favs are knotted ropes. She's on her fourth one.

 

[KristiKelly]

Let me tell you a story about rawhides, we don't give them to our dog. When I was growing up we had a Boxer "Lola", she ate a rawhide in 1-2 hours, a few days later we noticed that she looked swollen, took her to the vet and she was "blocked", she had to have surgery to remove the blockage and everything behind it. I wouldn't recommend them.

 

[Cindy B]

My Lab is old (13) but she loves tennis balls... she can't eat them!

She also likes rope toys, and other balls (one that we have looks the same as a lacrosse ball, but it isnt and she loves that!)

 

[Jockaroo]

Read your post and here are a few suggestions from a Scottie mom. (My little boy has a mouth like a German Shepard and is an aggressive chewer.) New idea for the Kong--stuff it and put it in the freezer. It is a little harder to get the stuff out while frozen--but some peanut butters will crumble. The Kong people make toys that you can shove cookie treats into. Mac will work for hours to get small crumbles out of these. The balls have tight holes and the hard biscuit cookies can be hard to get out. Mac loves the "cookie football", but there are ones like flying saucers, and two ended bones also. He loves these all. Get the black ones if you can--they last longer. Mac can distroy the red ones pretty quickly.

He loves the booda velvets--but only the green ones (which is great since I have green carpet). He can do a number on one of these though and only gets them during thunderstorms.

Mac loses interest in anything that doesn't have food or a food taste. I understand your concern. Plush toys did not last long during his puppyhood.

Set up some hide and seek situations for your pup if you can. Obviously you don't want him eating the couch, but giving a food/toy treat as you leave won't occupy the whole day. Hide a few others. For us, we can give a treat toy and then tuck one under a towel or his bedding and it doubles his fun. Rotate your hiding spots.

I watch their rawhide consumption--only can have them if we are watching and then only for a few minutes. Also, do NOT give the Nylabone nylon chewbone. (Nylabone does make other excellent dog products.) This nylon chewbone material is designed to gradually shred away, but some dogs can get large jagged pieces off and swallowed that can perferate their intestines. And the jagged edges can entwine hair and strands from chewed fabric. These things are very bad news. Some dogs have died from these.

Good luck with your baby. Bet in no time his best toy will be a tennis ball. (But watch the large size tennis balls--softball size--Mac got one of these stuck in his mouth--don't ask how!)

-Jockaroo

 

[christineann]

I agree about the rawhides - my lab could chew one up at one sitting and choked on one once (the last time he was given one). We found that his favorite was a sterilized marrow bone bought in the dog food section of the grocery store. One usually lasted for a couple of months, at least. He loved them!