The Best Dog Chews (Review) in 2020

Your number one concern is to get safe dog bones for chewing, above flavor, above price and all that. Safety comes first, and Nylabone has had a problem here and there, but so has just about every other company. The goal is to get long lasting dog chews that aren’t built with small ends, or other components that your pup can bite off and swallow.

This is where the debate between dog owners comes in: digestible, or non-digestible. Digestible chews, of which Nylabone has some, will take time, but dissolve in your dog’s stomach. A traditional Nylabone is not okay to swallow, so if you find your dog biting off the ends and getting small fragments, then it’s not good, and you should seek your vet as soon as possible. These issues are few and far between, just be sure to only give your dog a Nylabone for the expected use, and not let them chew it into oblivion.

Whether they’re natural dog chews or hardened bully sticks, storage is key to ensuring their flavor retention, texture, and of course to prevent bacterial buildup. You can get just about any zipper bag (half-gallon Ziploc bags usually do the trick), to preserve long lasting dog chews in between sessions. If your pup tends to get a little crazy over bully stick time, you’ll find yourself limiting their sessions. That’s okay, so long as you have a foolproof storage solution.

This one has a lot to it. The short answer is no, most standard chews that are marketed as dog toys don’t harm your dog’s teeth, unless they have extremely brittle teeth to begin with. It gets difficult when you get into dental bones and rawhide, because there are actually less benefits.

Non-edible chews are excellent because they provide zero risk of choking, provided that you follow the weight requirements and recommendations. That being said, non-edible chews that eventually lose their softness and flavor do need to be switched out. If not, they harden, whether it’s from dried saliva or simply from drying out, and can cause microfractures to your dog’s teeth.

Edible chews have the least likely chance of damaging your dog’s teeth. They aren’t only ingested, but break down with your dog’s saliva. There’s more give, which is something we’ll break down in a minute. This lets them exercise their jaw, use their teeth, get any aggression out, and actually enjoy themselves in the process.

Then you get into dental bones, which sort of blow our minds. Dental bones have their place, but they’re often misinterpreted as being dog chews. They are very simply not replacements for, or in the same category as standard dog chews. Dental bones are designed to maintain tooth health in terms of bacterial buildup, prevent dulling, but they also have relatively no give, just like rawhide and antlers.

Rawhide and antlers are the two worst things you could throw to your dog. Not only are they insanely tough, but they can actually grind down your dog’s teeth instead of maintaining their sharpness. These two being the worst, have no give whatsoever, which we’ll now break down.

Give is how malleable the chew is. If it’s not malleable even a bit, like rawhide, then you’re essentially making tooth dentin and enamel collide with a much tougher force than itself, and that only causes harm. If you hit two rocks together for long enough, eventually one of those rocks will split or chip. It’s the same principle with your dogs’ teeth, except that their teeth are weaker.

A chew with give will slightly contour to the shape of their teeth, which helps in preventing damage and microfractures. Just like you and I have different sets of teeth, so do all dogs. It doesn’t matter if they’re the same breed, circumstances, diet and dental care all play into microscopic differences in every dog’s set of teeth. That means that while your friend’s pup likes hard, non-edible chews and hasn’t had any problem with them, it could just mean that their teeth are better equipped to handle the harder substance.

Having give on your dog treat is something you want to look out for. The more brittle or old your dog’s teeth are, the more give you want on chews. This still lets them exercise their jaw and teeth, but doesn’t bring on the same potential hazards.

Yes, they absolutely can. Edible chews should be treated exactly like your standard shelved food products that you eat every day. While usually every single ingredient in your dog chews are shelf stable, that doesn’t mean they’re being kept in proper temperature ranges. You should keep a small pop-up metal thermometer (the ones you typically see hanging off a shelf in the fridge) in the cabinet where you store your dog chews. While not all packaging reflects an acceptable temperature range, your dog chews should never exceed 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and shouldn’t be fed to your dog below 45 degrees Fahrenheit (to avoid tooth chipping).

When edible chews hit a certain temperature, they attract insects. Heat releases scents and particles from any shelf food, save for canned goods, that you and your pets can pick up on. That means scavengers like ants will also be able to locate these, and tear into the packaging.

After prolonged exposure to high temperature ranges, your dog chews can also start to mold. This process takes quite a while since they are most likely dehydrated properly, but can absolutely still happen. Sometimes it’s because the temperature in the environment causes humidity in the air, which can stick to your dog chews just like anything else.

If you’re feeding moistened chews to your pup, you’ll have a lesser shelf life. Dry chews tend to have two years of shelf life, while moist chews will have eight months to a year. You’ll find expiration dates on these packages just like you would in the grocery store: don’t ignore them.

The last note we want to touch on, is that not everybody buys chews for their dogs, and not everyone who buys chews needs a bulk supply. What we’re getting at, and we’ve seen this firsthand in local shops, is that dog chews will often sit on the shelves for far too long to the point of expiring. Yes, the clerks and stockers should pay attention to this, but they usually don’t. If you go into a store to buy dog chews, don’t overlook the expiration date. Purchasing these online has a virtually nonexistent chance of receiving expired or close-to-expiring dog chews. There’s a lot more quality control.