Powerful chewers. Lock-jaws. Aggressive chewers. All interesting ways to describe the jaws of my two product testers Simon and Rosee, yet they do not seem to capture the true essence of Simon and Rosee’s incessant need to chew. They both have strong jaws, I’m not going to deny that, but their love to chew goes beyond the level of might infused within their teeth.
You see, Simon’s more of a nibbler. He nibbles. He nibbles on his toys to tease whoever is playing with him into trying to take it out from under him. He nibbles on the couch covers when he is lying down but still has too much pent up energy running through him to truly sit still. He nibbles on people’s clothes, while they are wearing them, when he wants you to pay him attention and he hasn’t yet graduated to whining or barking yet. If you haven’t caught on yet, Simon nibbles.
Rosee, on the other hand, likes to chew and I mean seriously gnaw on things. She likes to put toys in the back part of her mouth, you know where those pesky molars are, are just go to town on toys. Of course, her favorites things to do this to are rubber-like toys, sticks and branches she can find at the park or beach, and hard bones that still have a little give. In any case, having two strong-mouthed dogs, yet with very different chewing patterns it has always been a chore to find bones that lasted more than twenty minutes in our household.
Here to save the day: Nylabone!
Nylabone has been the holy grail of bones in our household as this type of chew has lasted quite a few weeks of chewing between Simon and Rosee. Now, Nylabone chews are made of nylon—what looks to me like a hard, plastic-like material—that you can find in various different shapes and flavors. Simon and Rosee’s favorites happen to be those that are shaped like twigs and taste like bacon, or the long white ones that taste like chicken. I can only go by the packaging for what the flavors are because I don’t necessarily smell the flavor wafting off of the bone, and it doesn’t leave a mess behind towards that respect. However, the shavings from the bones does tend to stick in our carpet, but I’d rather vacuum it up more often than have my dogs swallow so much of it. Either way, this one downside to the chewing of these bones does not detract from their usefulness. When I need something to distract Simon from whining at the back door, or something to get Rosee’s attention away from barking at the delivery truck next door, Nylabone chews work.
Simon and Rosee’s favorite type of Nylabone is called DuraChew, and as the website says this particular type of chew is made specifically for “powerful chewers.” And if it doesn’t get any better, their favorite DuraChew bone just happens to be called the Monster Bone. Though as I mentioned before, they are also partial to the brown branch-like bacon flavored bone and the long white chicken flavored bone. At this point in their lives I have amassed about five different types of Nylabone chews littering my living room floor.
Aside from their favorites though, Nylabone has many different choices to choose from, many shapes and sizes to fit pretty much any dog’s likes. So, if your dog is anything like my two energetic balls of fur then give Nylabone a try.
Now, please don’t take my high praises as proof these bones will rid you of all of your dog distraction problems, they are just bones. But they are bones that do not fall apart after being chewed on for one hour. They are not bones that my dogs can rip apart and eat completely. They are also not bones that are real and so act as an added source of food—but for my dogs’ sake this is a good thing because real bones really mess up their stomachs. Nylabone chews are good hard-material chewing instruments that allow my dogs the opportunity to have some fun, while taking it easy on my wallet since they last at least a few months, if not more, with moderate nightly chewing.
Play Hard, Bark Often 
One thought on “Keeping Up with the Bones-es”