What is the general consensus on yak chews for a young lab. My 11 week old seems to love the one I bought for him... ...but every time I give it to him I can only stand a couple of minutes of puppy teeth grinding noises (like nails on a chalkboard ) before I take it away from him. I've search the interwebs and half what I found states that yak chews are bad for puppies, while the other half of what I read says that these chews are fine. What's the real story? Anyone here had a puppy with an actual tooth injury due to a yak chew?
Sorry I can't help you with that specific chew but I have heard of incidents of broken teeth on products such as hard Nylon bones. If it helps I buy our dogs Petstages Dogwood Sticks. They're not soft/edible but not as hard as nylon either. As the dog chews it just comes off as little shavings and the bone wears down slowly.
If he is 11 weeks and has his puppy teeth, I think a Yak chew would be totally fine. He is unlikely to have the jaw strength to snap off large pieces of it and instead he will probably just gnaw on it and shave bits off it. Once he gets his adult teeth, Yak chews are one thing I'd be a bit careful of because they are very hard and can cause problems either with teeth being damaged (less likely with a Yak chew than a bone) or with the dog breaking off a large chunk and swallowing it in one go. Alternative problem with older dogs: They just won't last very long so defeats the point of the chew... But at 11 weeks, Yak chew are fine - as are deer antlers and buffalo horns and all the rest of it. But when adult teeth come in, take care with all these and switch to stuffed Kongs would be my 'safest' advice.
Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to find something he likes to chew on...so he will not chew on something I like. So far he has ignored a Benebone Wishbone, an elk antler, and various Nylabone puppy chew toys. The only things he seems to like are plastic containers, which go through him first before they end up in the recycle bin. A Kong also works, but he learned to pick it up and drop it on the floor, making the treats come out faster without the need to chew. What do you guys give/gave your puppies to keep them out of trouble?
Try stuffing/smearing a bit of cheese or soft treats into the antler, this is buddy’s favourite thing in the world, one decent piece is still going strong months later!
Try mixing a little peanut butter and kibble to go in the kong then freeze it overnight. Have a couple so you'll have one available always. They work great.
Hmm, you need to get much better at stuffing Kongs, in that case! The harder it is to shove something in there, the harder it is to get it out... Dropping the Kong on the floor is a valid Kong-solving method - but you need to put things in there that will withstand that. Look at healthy treats from the pet shop which only JUST fit in it. Yak Bites. Fish skin cubes. Bendy dried duck breast...
This is exactly what I do. I'll try to put a big treat at the end to block the opening -- perhaps a biscuit.
Bendy things are great too (dried duck/chicken breast treats etc), because you can bend them to get them inside - then they expand and don't come out so easily...
I topped off the Kong with a strip of chicken jerky treat that he loves. Wet kibble --> chicken jerky --> peanut butter --> freezer. I'll see how that goes tomorrow. I hope he does not give up on the Kong if it is too hard to get the stuffing out.
For adult dogs, I would avoid antlers (aka Sheds). They are very hard, much harder than bones. There are some Nylabones that have ground antler in them and they seem a lot safer, and also cheaper.
Well, he does not like the antler...and he has not liked any of the Nylabones I gave him (3 different ones so far). The only "long lasting" chews he has liked so far is the yak stick and some cow hooves I gave him -- these will keep him occupied for more than a couple of minutes.
Late to the party but just come across this one. My wife has a habit of thinking anything the pet shop says must be true. Are pup is 12 weeks old. Yes he loves it. I take it away often. I've been up all night with him. Explosive diarrhea. So if this rambles and doesn't make any sense sorry. The chew is the only thing he's had that's different. Anyone else have experiences like this? Check the packaging. Suitable for dogs over four months. So that's a no. It also says Yak and cows milk 99.9%. Doesn't say how much of each. Anyone know? Packaged in Nottingham product of india. Europe has very high pet food manufacture standards. While most of it you wouldn't want to eat you could. I can't find anything on India's manufacturing standard's. Again anyone know? Chris
This is old post but my 4 mon old pup had his first yak bone. Likes it but yes, the noise....I wondered how you did . My lab hates antlers, nylbone, benebone...no dog of mine ever did. I do stuff kongs but wanted a longer lasting chew. I use snuffle mats and lick mats but he's quick.
