How to get your dog interested in Nylabones

JacksonsMom

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#1
So, I'm kind of sick of buying bully sticks. They are so expensive (even when I order in bulk, online) and he really has been eating them way too fast for my liking and how pricey they are. I got him some Himalayan Chews but he really doesn't seem to like those either. He is just not interested.

Never been interested in Nylabones, either, except for one time he ate a chunk off one of the Flexi kind but it was a huge chunk so it kind of made me nervous.

But is there anything you can do to get a dog more interested in a Nylabone to chew on? I was thinking about putting it in a baggy maybe with some chicken broth or something and putting it in the fridge for a day? I dunno how that would work out, lol, I was trying to think of ways to get him to enjoy chewing them. If he doesn't have something to chew, he'll start to drive me nuts.
 

stardogs

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#2
Give them to another dog to start? That always seemed to work best with my fosters!
 

Fran101

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#4
I've heard of soaking them in broth as well..
freeze em', play fetch with them, tug with them..

Playing fetch with it first helped with Merlin!
 

PWCorgi

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#8
What about doing something else that is cheap? Like Kongs?

Frodo gets a frozen kong every day, holy cow have I saved money since I stopped buying bully sticks!! Plus you can keep it super fun and interesting (raw meat, canned food, fruit, veggies, peanut butter, etc etc.) The opportunities are ENDLESS! The other day I had a banana that was super ripe, so I squished it up and mixed it with peanut butter. nom nom!
 

Hillside

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#9
With Saga I took some sand paper and scuffed it up first. Some dogs don't like the slick surface. Nico just takes some teasing to interested in something. I've also heard that the combo of scuffing and chicken broth works pretty well.
 

JessLough

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#10
Threaten to give it to your dad's dog, or another dog he'd know by name?

I mean, to get Rosey interested in anything, all I have to say is "ok, I'm giving it to the ferrets then!" :rofl1:
 

RedHotDobe

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#11
I boiled Rumor's in chicken broth. She had never been interested in them before, but afterward she thought it was the best thing ever.
 
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#12
What about doing something else that is cheap? Like Kongs?

Frodo gets a frozen kong every day, holy cow have I saved money since I stopped buying bully sticks!! Plus you can keep it super fun and interesting (raw meat, canned food, fruit, veggies, peanut butter, etc etc.) The opportunities are ENDLESS! The other day I had a banana that was super ripe, so I squished it up and mixed it with peanut butter. nom nom!
This! I do frozen Kongs almost daily with my dogs - I stuff them with freeze- dried food, kibble, canned food, treats, whatever. I have five Kongs for each dog, I spend about an hour stuffing them all and then they all go in the freezer so I can just grab one when I need one.

They still get chewy things about twice a week but Kong's are so much cheaper! Especially since I can get the majority of the fillings for free or really cheap!
 

Southpaw

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#13
Luckily Juno likes Nylabones lol. She treats the different shapes and textures differently though - the galileo and dinosaur ones she'll chew on, but the ring shaped one just gets thrown around the house lol.

Have you done antlers? Or hooves - cheaper than dirt, lasts Juno a long time (waaaaayyyy longer than 12", thick bully sticks), and if you can get your hands on raw ones instead of the brittle cooked ones, they don't smell horrendous.
 

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#14
You could also look into the new Romp n Chomp line, cause they have treats that go into them. Maybe you can just eventually not buy the fillings and he will keep chewing?
 

JacksonsMom

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#15
Give them to another dog to start? That always seemed to work best with my fosters!
Tried this - he'll chew it in front of other dogs, but onc we're home, he could care less! lol.

What about doing something else that is cheap? Like Kongs?

Frodo gets a frozen kong every day, holy cow have I saved money since I stopped buying bully sticks!! Plus you can keep it super fun and interesting (raw meat, canned food, fruit, veggies, peanut butter, etc etc.) The opportunities are ENDLESS! The other day I had a banana that was super ripe, so I squished it up and mixed it with peanut butter. nom nom!
We do Kongs but they don't last us long at all. Maybe I'm not stuffing them enough. He does like PB now (which he never used to) so that's a yay! He doesn't care much for frozen yogurt anymore, so I guess I'm going to have to get more creative. Oh and bananas are a big 'yuck' to him. LOL. He's such a PITA.
 

JacksonsMom

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#16
I boiled Rumor's in chicken broth. She had never been interested in them before, but afterward she thought it was the best thing ever.
I think this is what I'm going to try! He's SUCH a food mongrel freak, that I think as long as it tastes like something really yummy, he'll chew on it.

Luckily Juno likes Nylabones lol. She treats the different shapes and textures differently though - the galileo and dinosaur ones she'll chew on, but the ring shaped one just gets thrown around the house lol.

Have you done antlers? Or hooves - cheaper than dirt, lasts Juno a long time (waaaaayyyy longer than 12", thick bully sticks), and if you can get your hands on raw ones instead of the brittle cooked ones, they don't smell horrendous.
He won't touch antlers at all, lol. I've tried the kind that is split in the middle, and the other kind, and three different sizes. I end up giving them to my family members dogs. I kind of worry about broken teeth with them too to be honest.

But maybe I'll try some other nylabones, like the dinosaur shaped one, etc, rather than just the original shaped.
 

Upendi&Mina

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#18
Boiling them in chicken broth sounds like a great idea! We have a few that just sit around the house because none of the dogs have been interested in them, so I might try that myself.

Although I got Cara the nylabone 'stick' for Christmas and of course gave it to her early and she's been playing with it and chewing on it all night.
 

JacksonsMom

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#19
Boiling them in chicken broth sounds like a great idea! We have a few that just sit around the house because none of the dogs have been interested in them, so I might try that myself.

Although I got Cara the nylabone 'stick' for Christmas and of course gave it to her early and she's been playing with it and chewing on it all night.
Jackson also had a nylabone stick in his stocking this year! It says it's made of real wood, and polythene or whatever? I'm going to see if he likes it later - he's snoozing now. All the Christmas excitement wore him out :)
 
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#20
Gus was the only one of my dogs that really cared about Nylabones and Gumabones. Gumabones lasted minutes, so they were just a waste of money, but he got some chew time on the Nylabones, but he eventually would break them into pieces, so they weren't ideal either. Basically, to satisfy his chewing compulsion, we just bought endless boxes of rawhide strips. He ate about a dozen a day for 14+ years.
 

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