Good toys for dogs that chew a lot?

[Algeh]

I adopted a new dog about two weeks ago. He is a very good dog, but, for the first time since the 1980s, I have a dog that destroys toys by chewing them up. In the last few days he has pulled the squeaker and most of the stuffing out of one of his two stuffed toys (and unraveled some of the rope). He also counter-surfed an empty plastic milk jug before I could take it out to the recycling and chewed on it and chased it around the house for two days until I took it away from him (when it got to the point that he could pull pieces of plastic off of it and thus became a choking/digestive hazard).

My recently previous dogs were mostly uninterested in toys and would at best occasionally carry a stuffy around without chewing it up. Clearly, my current dog is going to need a different category of toy for both his safety and my budget.

What's good these days in terms of dog toys that are satisfying to chew and hard to destroy? He is a 50-ish pound basset mix. He likes to shake his stuffies around and chase them as well as chew on them. He mostly prefers stuffies to the ball I also bought for him but will occasionally chase that as well. His very favorite toy so far was the milk jug, which he carried around the house and slept with until I had to confiscate it. So far, he has been very good about confining his chewing to either his dog toys or my recycling rather than anything I'd be sad to lose, but I don't want him to run out of acceptable targets, so I need to find him something durable yet satisfying before he destroys the rest of his current stash and tries to solve his own problems.

[Vinyadan]

You can take a look at these: https://www.kongcompany.com/

They are very thick and have a good consistence for chewing, but they don't lose parts. They probably are the most resilient toys around.

[Chronos]

I was going to suggest Kong, too. My mom has had four dogs, over the span of over 30 years. All of them have been chewers. Most of the toys we've gotten for them have lasted a week, tops. The Kong we got for the first dog, meanwhile, is starting to show slight signs of wear.

I have no idea how they make those things, or what they put into the recipe, but whatever it is, it works.

[Imbalance]

You have my sympathy. My last dog ate a lilac bush.

[Tvtyrant]

Cow thigh bones would be my suggestion.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Maybe a nice chunk of preserved mastodon?

[Melayl]

Another vote for Kongs and actual bones. Nylabones are a good tough toy as well, and made to be slightly destructible so dogs get that satisfying feedback.

[Logic]

A dog that exclusively chews toys probably won't do well with stuffed anything - those kinds of toys aren't meant for unsupervised play.

However, anything made of thick rubber like the ones that Kong makes are my go-to. My dogs (a Boxer and an Australian Shepherd) are both chewers, and for them I specifically got rubber rings and "tires" made for dogs.

[Melayl]

Another option is to cut a cotton t-shirt into 2-3 inch wide strips, twist those strips, and braid them tightly together, knotting the ends together. Our new Dane-mastiff pup is a heavy chewer, and hasn't damaged them in a month of play.

[Algeh]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I ended up getting him a stuffed log with squirrels toy while I was at Costco, and that seems to have been pretty helpful since he can pull the squirrels out and I can stuff them back in. I also got him a kong, a nylabone, and an antler from the pet store. So far I've given him the nylabone, and it has also been a hit. (Sometimes I stuff it into the log with the squirrels.)

I'll give him either the antler or the kong once the current crop of toys either get destroyed or lose their appeal.

I like the t-shirt idea - my family always made tug toys with old socks but I currently lack any socks I'm willing to sacrifice. I'll have to see what I have in the way of t-shirts or other similar items. He seems like he would like tug games.

Right now, my biggest issue is that he tends to sleep a lot of the day while I'm working from home, then at night/far too early in the morning it's Dog Party Time!!! which is fun for exactly one of us. I'm working on giving him more reasons to stay awake during the day so he'll hopefully sleep more at night.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Doing games later in the evening so he's tired and sleeps through more of the night should work. Unless he's just one of those 'up at the crack of dawn two states to the east heathens', in which case I suggest stocking up the ol' liquor cabinet.

[Leny Michaelson]

Every dog is different. In my childhood, we adopted a puppy. We gave him toys that make noise like a duck. He liked it. Now my wife insisted on taking pedigree puppy. We're having such troubled with him. He has tons of toys but he shews literally everything he sees. His favorite 'toy' was my shoe so I've decided to scarifies it in order to avoid damaged house and this seems like to work. Find what your dog like and just give it to him.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

My first thought was pig ears and rawhide bones, although it sounds like those won’t be durable enough for your needs.

[Algeh]

Dog update: he still totally chews a lot. Toys that work well:


A Kong-brand squeaky toy (he has yet to desqueak it and it's been multiple weeks!)
Nylabones (his favorite was the bacon flavored, he has been less excited about the sweet potato flavored)
A normal Kong (but he's less excited about it than the squeaky toy)


He loves pig ears, but they're a 5-10 minute treat for him so it's not something that will keep him occupied for an extended period.

He continues to get into the recycling and I am learning new things about his ability to get things off of high places every time I leave him unsupervised. Now that I have some time to devote to it, I'm going to re-do how and where I store some of this stuff to give him fewer opportunities. He really loves milk jugs, though. I wish he'd stop trying to chew pieces off of them so I could let him have them, but that doesn't seem to be a compromise he's willing to make.

[BitVyper]

Spread some peanut butter inside the non-squeaky kong and throw it in the freezer overnight. That usually does the trick of generating interest.

Buster cubes can be pretty good for dogs that chew if you can get them interested in the food dispensing aspect. Less because they're meant for chewing and more because they're very difficult to destroy.

[Vinyadan]

He really loves milk jugs, though. I wish he'd stop trying to chew pieces off of them so I could let him have them, but that doesn't seem to be a compromise he's willing to make.

If they are made of plastic, I strongly advise against this. Last dog with this habit I saw slowly ended up with intestinal bleeding, because they actually eat parts of them.

[Algeh]

If they are made of plastic, I strongly advise against this. Last dog with this habit I saw slowly ended up with intestinal bleeding, because they actually eat parts of them.

Right, which is why I don't let him have them on purpose. He has now "rescued" them from several different places I've attempted to store the recycling. If he'd just settle for carrying them around and chasing after them after he drops them, I'd let him keep them, but he chews them up and I can't trust him to not eat pieces, so I keep adjusting the recycling storage and confiscating his prizes.