An Ill-fated Birthday

Emme's first birthday was a rather ill-fated affair. First we were on vacation and Emme was in the kennel on the actual day. Second, when we had her party, I gave Emme too much doggy ice cream and she suffered some digestive upset (which is all over now). And third, I bought two chew toys, one larger one in the above picture and another just a little bit smaller, that Emme was able to chew through before we went to bed on party day and which we returned. Some birthday.

The two new toys were marked as "durable chew toys" on the packaging. They looked like they would hold up well. Shortly after we finished partying, Emme grabbed the smaller one and ran to the rug in the living room. She sat down to chew on it and not more than a few minutes later, we noticed several little pieces of blue plastic on the rug. Emme had begun to chew on the rim of the toy and had chewed off about six pieces. The largest piece was about 1/4 inch by 3/4 long and the others were smaller than that. We picked up the pieces and took the toy away, only to discover a little later that she had chewed a piece off the larger toy. We haven't discovered that piece yet. It may show up in a doodle in the near future.

Yesterday we returned both toys. I purchased them from Petco and they were good about accepting them back. For a small dog, Emme is a powerful chewer. We have purchased some Kong toys which are billed as durable, but neither of the dogs like to chew on them. When we put peanut butter inside, both dogs will happily lick the peanut butter out of them. But as soon as they are empty, the dogs leave them alone. Neither Rudy or Emme has ever chewed on a Kong. I bought a tire made out of rubber but neither dog will chew on that. I am cautious about Nylabones because of some of the things I have read about dogs chewing chunks off the bones and swallowing them. I am similarly cautious about rawhide. There must be some other durable chew toy on the market that the dogs will like, but I haven't found one yet.

Both dogs like to chew on marrow bones but that is about it. We haven't yet found a durable chew toy.