Give a dog a bone..........or not?

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Groom42

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Need some advice here. I know chicken bones are a strict no-no, but what are the general rules regarding dogs and bones? Specifically 16wk JRT - and continuing as he gets older. I have given him a shop bought marrow bone, which he can just about get his tongue in to get the marrow. His teeth are too tiny to do any damage to the bone, and I don't know if these are designed to be munched? The problem I have is my husband believes "All dogs should have bones" and tonight gave him the knuckle, and thicker bone of those is a lamb shank. (Boil in the bag jobbie, as I'm not doing "domestic" duties any more!) Puppy is enjoying the knuckle, obviously, but I feel very uneasy about him having these bones, which are still quite small. It is very difficult because of the domestic situation, and the fact it is my daughter's puppy, who is "lodging" with me. She know I will treat him/bring him up as she would, but her father simply ignores most things she asks to/not to happen. But, I digress. What about the bones?
 
Cooked bones are a no no, raw are fine. I have only recently started feeding mine raw chicken bones but have always fed beef marrow bones. Do you mean the pet shop type marrow bones, not a huge fan of those as my dogs can splinter them but probably fine for a little dog.
I would think you would be okay to give your pup an occasional raw chicken wing, but hopefully others more experienced in the raw diet will be along to advise. But please keep an eye on him with that lamb knuckle.
 
I took Bs shop bought marrow bone off her because she gnawed it down untill it had a bit of a spike and I kept standing on it! (I know im mean but it hurt!)

She has chicken wings / thigh (raw) once or twice a week and she LOVES crunching them.

We got a huge knuckle bone (it could have just looked huge next to B) from a butcher friend of my dad when he heard we got a puppy. She barely dinted it other than cleaning it up but she loved to drag it around with her.
 
Groom42....why do you think that chicken bones are a strict no-no?

For a sixteen week old JRT chicken wings, thighs, drumsticks and carcasses would be ideal. Raw of course, and NOT cooked. Most shop purchased bones are deep fried and therefore are a no-no, due to the fat content and the fact that the cooking process makes them more prone to splintering.

Start your pup off on a chicken wing.....you hold one end whilst the pup chews the other....that way they learn not to swallow whole. Even if they do, don't panic, they'll only regurgitate and consume for the second time!

BTW....bones provide hours of endless entertainment to a pup, gives it something it CAN chew (as opposed to your furniture) to help teething and CLEANS its teeth.
 
I agree with you completely gunnerdog regarding the chewing.

My pup never chewed any furniture because she always had bones around when she was teething.

I have also had to deal with alot of old fashioned 'chicken bones are bad' ideas. I would never feed them cooked obviously but it seems alot of people just think they are a nono whether cooked or raw.
 
Thank you for your comments. It is over twenty years since I had charge of a puppy. My last dog was a rescue beagle who's stomach/liver was so delicate the question of bones, or meat, or even "normal" dog food never arose. It was uber expensive prescription food only............ anything else, even in tiny quantities made her VERY ill indeed. I am not up to date on chicken thinking, obviously, and the idea of a raw chicken wing sounds good, as does the reasoning behind "raw bones bend". I will ask my daughter if she is happy with this, because I am very conscious he is her pup, and due to circs, she is missing out a lot of his early "milestones". I am sure I knew about "raw, not cooked", but memory fails me these days! But why, "no large weightbearing bones"?
 
We regularly give Chlo knuckles etc from Stroud Farm. Yes, they splinter, but she smushes them down and we've never had a problem and she eats them whole!
 
I would never feed a cooked bone as the risk is too great cooking changes everything it turns the bone itself to a hard concrete like substance with virtually no nutritional value which is prone to splintering with dart like sharp edges. It changes the marrow inside from a great source of vitamins and mineral and high quality fat to something from the menu of the worst junk food outlet and if you buy it from a pet food source the you have no idea where it has come from or how healthy the animal it came from was.

Even raw beef bones are very hard, cattle are much bigger and older when killed than other animals we eat and after generations of feeding commercial diets our dogs teeth amongst other things are getting weaker.

Go to your butcher and get raw lamb bones, they should practically give them away as they have to pay to incinerate all that lovely natural additive free dog food, what a criminal waste!!

If you do want to look into feeding raw look at the sticky at the top of this forum about raw feeding but one thing you should know is NEVER feed raw with any cooked diet especially dry dog food, they move through the system at different speeds and can cause an impaction in the gut.
 
Groom42 said:
But why, "no large weightbearing bones"?
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Because the pup could easily splinter his teeth on them. One rule is any bone into which you can easily stick a knife is fine. I would stick with small lamb bones and chicken wings for a few weeks to get his jaws strengthened so he can cope with bigger bones eventually. I would show your husband this thread and ask him if he'd like the dog to splinter his teeth by giving his huge bones. Harsh, but it can be easily done.
 
KarynK - pup is being fed premium dry food (royal canin). I note your point about not mixing raw and dry - does the occasional raw bone on a "treat" basis have the same risks?
CT - Utterly pointless showing my husband anything like this. What I'd REALLY like him to watch, and inwardly digest, is a friend's photographic guide to castration! And then explain that I have watched it so thoroughly, I could do the same procedure in my sleep!
 
No it doesn't stop you feeding bones just make sure you separate any RC meals by several hours.

What the bones will do is clean the teeth, but raw bones are a very good food source for dogs, raw meaty bones provide virtually every nutrient and most of the vitamins and minerals a dog needs in a natural form in the correct proportions with no addatives presevatives or flavourings. So think of them as a meal more than a treat and it should be ok!

I would get raw meaty lamb bones and replace an RC meal with it. I buy the breast of lamb from the butcher which ia all the ribs plus a bit of the belly meat and fat, there are bigger bones at the breast end and cartilage at the rear end, but you could devide it up into quite a few meals and freeze it and it is a really cheap cut. But amy lamb bones with meaty bits on them will keep him occupied and constitute a meal.

Pic of the Breast of lamb
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/userfiles/image/LAMB/lamb-breastHT.jpg
 
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Oh dear, your husband should be buying a metal protector!:D

I'd suggest choosing a different dry food for the pup: although RC is advertised as 'premium', it's not, frankly. There are much better dry foods for a similar price out there.:)
 
katielou said:
Have to agree with this. Is a pretty poor food even though its advertised differently and horribly expensive.
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It's mental that the advertising budget appears to dictate how much/how popular the feed is, even if it's utter crap.:( I swear I'm going to stand by the commercial rubbish in Asda with a sandwich board detailing just how crap it is!
 
Thank you all! To avoid advertising (;)) can you please PM me with some suggestions of other recommended dry foods?
I DID stress to husband that cooked bones were really NOT good, and explained reasons, also passed on the fact that tiny teeth can splinter on big bones. The response? "Well, all the dogs I've known over the years have never had any problems, so it's obviously a real issue, isn't it?" Half an hour later puppy was happily splintering a long lamb shank bone! (I removed it asap, and told husband pup must have buried it!) Can you see why I am liking the photographic option more and more? (Oh, and him having a girlfriend doesn't help!!!!)
 
Mine had the bone from the leg of lamb on Sunday, that was cooked, but I don't do it regularly (can't afford a WHOLE leg very often lol) they're adult JRTs - I figured they would be ok as they wouldn't stand by the bin, debating "cooked" or "not cooked" before helping themselves (not a regular thing either!) Maybe I'm wrong in doing so though. Cooked chicken bones do however, go in the big bin outside.

We used to regularly get raw bones from the butcher, they're fab when pup's are teething, think someone else has already said that :D
 
Perhaps we could suggest Commercial Dog Food as the next big project for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall? He does have a Spangle after all!!

Care for a little wager everyone, what do we think he feeds it on????? Shall we ask him????
 
echodomino said:
Mine had the bone from the leg of lamb on Sunday, that was cooked, but I don't do it regularly (can't afford a WHOLE leg very often lol) they're adult JRTs - I figured they would be ok as they wouldn't stand by the bin, debating "cooked" or "not cooked" before helping themselves (not a regular thing either!) Maybe I'm wrong in doing so though. Cooked chicken bones do however, go in the big bin outside.

We used to regularly get raw bones from the butcher, they're fab when pup's are teething, think someone else has already said that :D
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Yeah i wouldn't feed it cooked i have had and seen to many bad outcomes of cooked bones.
A chicken bone and a lamb bone splinter the same way.
 
KarynK said:
Perhaps we could suggest Commercial Dog Food as the next big project for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall? He does have a Spangle after all!!

Care for a little wager everyone, what do we think he feeds it on????? Shall we ask him????
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Hmmm i am not sure. I really hope that he feeds something at least half good so i don't have to hate him.
 
Any bone will splinter when cooked if the teeth chewing it are hard enough only those sterile bones you can buy in pet shops don't, I don't know what they do to them but they are like reinforced concrete. Probably freeze dried.

I a hoping that Mr FW (got fed up with typing it in full) doesn't feed Bakers probably a safe bet he doesn't feed Tesco's own though. Would have loved to have given the boys some of that lovely fish he "found" the other day and was giving away, Dogs have good taste too Mr FW!

I think I feel an email comming on!!
 
Ok you owe me big time!!

I am now a member of the River Cottage Forum and have posted the question to him, now we have to wait!!!
 
KarynK said:
Perhaps we could suggest Commercial Dog Food as the next big project for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall? He does have a Spangle after all!!

Care for a little wager everyone, what do we think he feeds it on????? Shall we ask him????
Click to expand...

Does he? We need pics!

KarynK said:
Ok you owe me big time!!

I am now a member of the River Cottage Forum and have posted the question to him, now we have to wait!!!
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Wow! Do NOT forget!

I was sickened by the waste of discards-how very stupid and illogical (très European-duh!:rolleyes:) The boys would have scoffed that more than happily!
 
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