Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Love It: Nylabone

A couple of weeks ago I decided to pick up a Nylabone for Athena.  I am always on the hunt for dog toys that can stand up to our power chewer.  One of Athena's favorite things to chew on is actually cheap tennis balls, but she destroys them within a few minutes.  She will also sit quietly for hours if we give her a cow knee cap to chew on.

When looking for toys to satisfy our pitbull's desire to chew, I found that many people online suggest Nylabones.  I even saw that Ms. M and Mr. B from Two Pitties in the City have a Nylabone.  However, for how many people that praise Nylabones, there are just as many people who are against them.

Nylabones are not actually real bones, but are nylon bones that are flavored and shaped like actual animal bones.  When dogs chew on them, small pieces of nylon come off from the bone.  It is said that the nylon is safe for dogs to ingest because it comes off in such small pieces.  However, many people caution the use of Nylabones for dogs who are able to chew off larger chunks that could cause blockages.

When we first introduced Athena to her Nylabone, we supervised her the entire time and continually checked the bone to see if she was able to chew off large pieces from it.  We continue to inspect the bone after each time that Athena is allowed to chew on it.  So far, Athena has not made any large dents in the bone, but rather has made one side kind of jagged.
Whenever we crate Athena, we always give her something to chew on.  Often times we leave her with her Nylabone, however we have found that she is much more content in her crate if left with a cow knee cap (we are currently working on her minor separation anxiety while crated).

Athena is currently chewing on the BIG Beef Bone.
The next time that we buy her another Nylabone we plan to get the large DuraChew Galileo Bone because I have read that is the strongest in the Nylabone brand and our trainer also suggested it to us.
The only bad thing that I can say about the Nylabone is that it starts to look really gnarly.  It seems to collect all of Athena's fur that she has shed and anything else that is lingering on the carpet.  But, she doesn't really seem to mind =)
Don't mind the ick!
Oh I forgot to mention that Athena is only allowed to chew on her bone for small periods of time because if she has it for too long she decides that it's time to play and will whip it around the house almost causing injuries to us and the furniture!

Do you let your pooches chew on Nylabones?  Which ones have you found to work best for power chewers?

-A
Follow Me on Pinterest

9 comments:

  1. We LOVE Nylabones! It is one of the only bones that our dogs both LIKE and they can't break them into chunks. We do have to avoid the chicken flavored ones though because Turk is allergic to chicken.

    Oh, and I feel your pain with Athena whipping around the bones and hurting you and the furniture - Turk does that too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What kind of Nylabones do you get for your dogs? There are so many to choose from that I never know which one to pick!

      I'm glad we aren't the only ones who have the whipping problem! It is seriously scary when she comes running with that bone in her mouth!

      Delete
  2. We tried the normal fake looking nylabones but they didn't last too long, so we switched to the Nylaring, sold at Petco and on amazon.com, they are amazing and last a really long time.

    Missperfectlyimperfect.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the suggestion! I just looked up the Nylaring online and I don't think I've noticed them in the store before. I will have to check my local Petco the next time I'm there!

      Delete
  3. Any dogs in our house have loved Nylabones and I've never met a dog who can chew off chunks. They work great for us, since due to multiple protein allergies I don't give any kind of real bones to our dogs. I can also tell you we've had to stick our hands down our dogs' throats numerous times when they did get something like that to chew on beause they choked. Nylabones are theeee best go-to toy in our house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As of now we have still yet to have any issues with the Nylabone. We leave it out for Athena to chew on 24/7 and she hasn't broken off any large chunks.

      Delete
  4. Word of caution, my 70 lb bull terrier chewed up a small nylabone intended for my small dog. He passed part of it - weren't sure about the rest. He ate and drank normally for 3 mos. & occasionally would have nausea. 3 mos later he would not eat or drink. Vet removed a piece of nylabone lodged in his intestine. Dog doing fine, so far.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your story is similar to many that I read online before deciding to actually purchase a Nylabone for Athena. I made sure to buy an extra large bone so that it would be much more difficult to break off large pieces that could get lodged.

      We have yet to have any problems with the Nylabone. Athena only chews off little tiny pieces from it, nothing that could cause a blockage.

      I'm glad that your dog is doing well after having the piece of Nylabone removed!

      Delete