An alternative for rawhide chews?

Raw butcher bones are the most natural outlet for your dog's chewing instinct. Probably beef knuckle bone for a pit mix. These bones are GREAT for growing dogs, too! Just watch them the first few times they get one.

Where can you get these bones? I would like to get a heavy-duty one for Basil so he doesn't eat it in ten minutes...

We use the sterilized bones they sell at PetSmart. Tried the ones at PetCo, but they splintered right away so we took them back. They come in several sizes and some of them have filling as well. As for the equity of bones and dogs, even though I buy two, it doesn't matter because each dog wants both bones!

Any heat-treated bone is more likely to splinter and break than a raw one, and that includes sterilized bones... so they really aren't very safe. You can find raw bones at a butcher shop and often at regular supermarkets, in the meat section near the organ meats. Some specialty pet stores are starting to carry raw options including bones.

I've heard that a way you can tell if the bone is likely to splinter is to drop it on the floor and see if it cracks.  I've never tried it, because I have only just started feeding bones, and I use the raw bones.

Hi
 
We use both Nyla bones and other bones like those, they just chew on
the ends and then you throw them away, which is why we don't buy the
really big ones. We also buy the bones from the meat area in the grocery
store. We had been in the habit of boiling them and trimming the fat off
the outside and sort of  "cooking" the stuff in the  middle of the bone. Didn't
know that about cooked bones breaking easier.
Pam

Thanks for the advice!
Janet

If I buy the raw bones, like the beef knucles from the butcher or supermarket...do I have to cook them first or just give it to them?
Thanks
janet

Give them raw, like others said, cooked bones aren't really safe for dogs because they splinter. The raw knuckle bones should work fine []

You could also try bully sticks, although depending on how voracious of a chewer your dog is they may not last long   I've found that a 12-in bully stick lasts approximately as long as a 6-in rawhide (in other words, a half hour!).  In terms of bones... I've found that fully-cooked bones DO break (I got my dog a "saddle bone", it had meat on the outside and had been fully cooked.  I turned around, and suddenly half the bone was missing!  She threw up bone chunks the next day, but thank god there was no serious damage done).  She also picked up a fully-cooked ham bone at some one else's house, and within seconds cracked it in half (I got the pieces out of her mouth before she swallowed any).  I have had good luck so far, though, with smoked bones, it's enough to cure the marrow so it's doesn't go bad, but the bone seems to be durable enough.  Scout's been chewing on the same smoked shin-bone for about 3 weeks now, and she's only gnawed off about an inch.  And she likes to throw it down the stairs, and it doesn't break.  I still haven't tried raw bones yet, but I found a butcher in the area so when she finishes off the smoked bones I got her I'll give the raw ones a try.  I'm worried they'll start to get stinky, though after a while.

smoked, cooked, sterilized bones are all UNSAFE for dogs. I know they sell them at the pet store, but they are still unsafe. There is a good chance you'll end with a dead dog or a big vet bill if you routinely feed these bones.
Raw bones only. Bonus, raw bones from the grocery store are cheaper than bones from the pet store.

Mudpuppy, I know you've been feeding raw bones for years, so you should be able to answer my questions about them... do you find that the marrow starts to rot  after a while?  Do you throw them out at this point?  Or do your dogs tend to get the marrow out before this happens?  Also, even once the dog gets all the meat and marrow off the bone, can the bones themselves go bad?  I'm not debating the fact that raw bones are safer in terms of breaking/splintering, I just worry they they'd be  a breeding ground for bacteria.

Generally if given one of the round marrow-filled bones the dogs suck the marrow out within half an hour, and then they have no interest in the remaining bone. I don't feed that type very often. A big knuckle bone, with the round knobby joints, the dogs will chew on for days. I usually end up tossing them after three or four days because they start to get a "rotten" aroma, which bothers me, not the dogs. You could store them in the fridge in-between chew sessions to prolong their life, but my dogs tend to "finish" the bone after a few days anyway and lose interest. For hygenic reasons you should insist your dog only do his raw bone chewing on something that is easily washed-- an old towel, a mat, or something like that. In a crate on an old towel is an easy option.
I have heard that if you leave raw bones outside for months to be sun-bleached they can become brittle and dangerous.

Someone had mentioned on another post that they freeze their bones... I suppose this would extend the life of the bone even more, but couldn't freezing cause the same problems as cooking?  I would think that any drastic temperature change could affect the integrity of the bone.