Bootz & Jackie, both around 3 months, usually play with each other/with their toys...but lately they would sit there and stare at me...asking me to entertain them. (lol). I have been giving them ice cubes/Chilly Bone that would occupy them for about half an hour to an hour, which is also good for their teething.
I'm planning on getting the items listed below as new additions and ways to keep them entertained. I was wondering if anybody can give me their 2 cents.
1. Get Naked Puppy Health Dental Chew Sticks for Puppies and Dogs Made in USA. Wheat/Corn/Soy/Gluten Free.
2. Bladder Bully Sticks Similar to Bully sticks but made w/ cow bladder instead of the wee wee.
3. Peanut Butter? I've seen some "pet friendly" peanut butter at pet stores. I was curious if this was justa scheme to get more money since it cost 2-3x more than regular peanut butter. Also mentioned in another thread...earlier this year was a Skippy reduced fat peanut butter recall....What brand/kind of peanut butter do you use for your puppy? (planning on freezing it in the kong)
I've been mainly feeding them kibble and one piece/day of Wellness Just For Puppy Mini Soft Dog Treats as a reward.
In terms of feeding them chew sticks/bully sticks/ peanut butter in Kongs, do you decrease the amount you feed during meals?
Ohhh, seconding the peanut butter question! I want to do the peanut butter Kong thing once Hammond gets here, but I was also curious if there are certain brands/types that are better for dogs.
I've never used the Get Naked chews, so I don't really have an opinion on them.
I don't normally use peanut butter but I will if I'm out of sardines or something like that. No particular brand, but organic stuff seems to be the "norm" in my house (I don't buy it). I try to only give dogs peanut butter that's made out of just peanuts. The fewer ingredients/higher quality, the better.
Bully sticks and things like bully sticks (ears, trachea, tendons) are things I use a lot. I like them and so do all my dogs. Conker gets one or a half of these types of chews about every other day.
I don't reduce the food unless it's Sasha who is on a strict diet or the treat/chew is huge. I mainly use "natural" chews like I mentioned above, but not bones. My dogs all get raw ribs, turkey backs, etc so I don't need to buy them more bones. My favorite brand of treats is Zukes. I use just about all of their stuff.
I've never used the Get Naked chews or the bladder bully sticks. We do use regular bully sticks, though not as often as we used to because Elwood has starting going through them way too fast. I recently bought some all natural elk antlers at our local doggy boutique & the dogs seem to really enjoy them. They last a long time too, they've barely made a dent in them & it's been a few weeks now.
As far as peanut butter, I use Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter when I'm making cookies for the dogs since it doesn't have any sugar or oil added. I think you'd be fine with any kind of unsweetened organic/natural peanut butter.
I don't reduce their food since they seem to self-regulate pretty well. If they've had extras throughout the day, they never end up finishing their dinner. But not all dogs are good about self-regulating, so I think it would depend on the dog.
Hey, I was wondering if it'd be okay to give Hammond bits of boneless smoked herring as treats?
I went grocery shopping while super hungry the other day (bad idea, haha) and I've never tried smoked herring but was curious. Today I learned that it is disgusting, lol. I gave Hammond a teeny tiny piece, though, and he went nuts. He tried to climb the stove to get the rest of it, haha.
So would it be similar to sardines, which I've seen people here mention using as treats? Or would it be too salty, since it's smoked? It's not dried, like jerky, but it did taste kind of salty to me. Or even with that, would it be okay to use as treats once or twice a week (like at class as a super high-value item to keep his attention) since I'd cut it up into tiny, smaller-than-a-pea sized pieces?
I'm not a big fan of bones, antlers or anything perticularly hard. I have seen too many dogs with broken teeth. But if you choose to that's your call : ) .What I have done for my guy that seems to occupy him is take wet food stuff it into a kong and throw it into the freezer for a while. That way it isn't too hard but makes it a little more difficult. You can mix in other treats into the soft food to make it more exciting.
Get naked is good, Bea loves them. She also loves Zukes. She likes the bully sticks but is currently tired of them. I have to rotate her treats. Bea doesn't like peanut butter so not sure about that.
@ttddinh, I saw "Get Naked" in Pet Co now...not in pet food express yet. How long do they last?
Zukes looks a bit small...
I was interested in getting them something that they can chew on AND freshen their breath, since bully sticks...well if you had them you'll know why i want breath fresheners!
Get Naked DOES NOT last long at all. Bea could finish it 10-15 min. I use Zukes as a high value training treat because Bea is not readily biddable...she is quite stubborn. You know, contrary to what you may think, feeding your dog raw would really help with the odor problem. Plus, feeding them RMB will help with the dental problems--I never have to brush Bea's mouth.
10-15 mins...that not bad. Bully sticks only last 20-30 mins with Bootz. Oh i'm not against raw feeding...my boyfriend is. I might try RMB but I think i've read somewhere, somebody's dog broke a tooth on RMB?
If you are familiar with what the upper carnassial is supposed to look like, you will recognise that these two are chipped and broken. Sasha chipped tooth.Juneau broken tooth. My suspect is an old bone that I missed in the yard that did it, or a rock that was accidentally chewn while munching on a stick, since they haven't been given any hard bones or chews recently. (FYI: that broke tooth is going to cost about $480 to fix.) If you want to avoid potential broken teeth, don't give: soup, knuckle, legs/femur or rib bones. Poultry bones are fine and they do count as a RMB, just make sure there is a lot of meat on it. Legs, necks and wings are good for that, and always supervise your dog with new items. My general rule with bones is if I can't break it with my hands, or can't chop it in half with a knife, without using a ton of force, it can chip their teeth, so care must be taken when giving one to them.
Any bone can splinter regardless of the animal it came from, but raw bones are far more easily digested so they tend to become rubbery and break down instead of staying sharp. With cooked bones, they are quite hard and don't digest as easily, so I never give them. Raw bones have less chance of causing problems than cooked bones do, but there is always a chance of something bad happening (as seen by my previous post), same goes with kibble or anything else your dog puts in his mouth. I know of a dog who choked and died on a few pieces of kibble, as odd as that sounds.
