*Many of the chews listed in this blog post were sent to me to review. However,  most of them were not sent to me for inclusion in this blog post. These are my honest opinions & experiences. There are affiliate links in this blog post.

Soon after bringing Frank & Beans home I realized that chewing helped them handle anxiety. They both get anxious easily, so “chews” are our friend. Over the past 14+ months I have been blessed to work with many wonderful dog brands as well as retailers for dog products to try out several types of dog chews.

Before I get into our types of dog chew comparison, I should let you know more about my dogs so that you understand the lens that we are looking through.

Both of my dogs are primarily pug in breed. When we brought them home Frank was 8 and Beans was 9, it’s been 14 months since we adopted them.

Frank is about 28lbs. Frank’s remaining teeth are free from visible plaque but on the bottom left side of his mouth he has a large gap with no teeth – I think he’s missing at least 3 in a row.

Despite this, Frank chews more aggressively than Beans does, but I would not say he is an aggressive chewer. Frank will attempt to swallow any piece of chew that is smaller than a couple of inches in size.

Beans is about 25lbs.  She has great teeth for a 10-year-old dog, they are bright white and I don’t believe she is missing any. She is not a ‘gulper’ like Frank is.

Penny is my mother in law’s dog. She is a pit-mix that is about 75lbs and about 7 years old. She is a much more aggressive chewer than my pugs are.

Rawhide. Growing up I saw all kinds of families give their dogs rawhide, it was just sort of “a given”. The first week that we had Frank & Beans I bought some rawhide rolls at Meijer that were about 1/4-1/2 inch thick and maybe 5 inches long each. They would last my pugs probably 30 minutes to finish them off. On an interest level, I’d put Rawhide at about a 6.5.

Thankfully, within just a short time of beginning to give the dogs rawhide I found an article about how rawhide can cause blockages because it’s hard for dogs to digest so if they swallow large pieces, it can get stuck in their digestive track and require surgery to remove. I was immediately scared because I knew that Frank had been “gulping” down the end portions of his rawhide.

Thankfully, he didn’t have any big problems and we quit giving the dogs rawhide. This is when my search for alternative chews began.

Pork Chomps. Pork Chomps are made out of pork skin as opposed to beef hide. Pork hide is believed to be easier for dogs to digest than rawhide. For pet owners looking to avoid traditional rawhide but who are unwilling or unable to pay for bully sticks or more costly alternatives, Pork Chomps can be a good in-between option.

My dogs get bored if I continue to give them the same type of chew repeatedly so we sometimes alternate Pork Chomps. We primarily use the “Stripz” which are small pieces that range from about 4-7 inches long and are about 1/2 of an inch thick. Sometimes they twist or curl as well.

The $12 10oz Pork Chomps® Stripz® bag lasts my dogs for months. They get 10-15 minutes of chew time out of each strip. Beans likes these much more than Frank does. For Beans, these have an interest level of about 7.5 where as for Frank they are only about a 6. Pork Chomps Review

Raw Bones. I have read on dog-forums online that cooked bones are softer and more prone to fracture than raw bones, so many dog owners only give their dogs raw bones. If you’re looking to avoid cooked bones make sure what you purchase doesn’t say smoked or baked on it.

I did hear from Jones Natural Chews on the issue and they said that they have tested their cooked bones and that they are as strong as raw bones. I also know some pet owners who avoid bones all-together because of the fear of having their dog break a tooth. I went to Meijer and saw that raw dog bones are quite cheap ($3-$5) so I picked up a simple bleached bone and a 3 pack of small marrow bones.

Bleached Bones – the bleached bone that we picked up was about 1/4 inch thick on all sides and seemed much less “gross” than other bones because it was clean. Beans had no interest in the bleached bone, she didn’t even sniff it. Frank was interested and tried to chew it for maybe 20 minutes. After that time, it had a few scratch marks from his teeth but was basically untouched, but he never went back to try chewing it ever again.

Marrow Bones. My reason for trying these was because they were smaller (maybe 2 inches across) and my dogs tend to be intimidated by big things. Both dogs were very interested in the marrow inside of the bones and the meaty skin bits as well but once they had them “cleaned” Beans wasn’t interested in trying to chew on the bone itself.

For a few weeks Frank would try chewing the clean bone for maybe 5 minutes and then would give up. I would guess that he got about 30 minutes out of the marrow bones before he gave up on them for good.

Beans with Buff Bites. I don’t know how or why her nails got so long in this picture. I would never let them get like this now.

Mojopet Buff Bites. This is a BIG bone with a big opening on one end and a split opening on the other, with marrow inside. Both of my dogs were interested in the marrow and stayed interested in the bone until they got the marrow out as far as they could reach into the end holes. They also pulled skin/meat off the outside. Neither was interested in trying to chew on the bone itself. $9.99 per bone. Mojo Pet review

Frank with Barkworthies split elk antler

Barkworthies Elk Antler . We tried a full antler as well as a split antler. Antlers aren’t quite as hard as bones so some people who want a very long last chewing with less risk of tooth injury will go with antlers. Dogs are usually primarily interested in the inside portion of the antler

Neither of my pugs was interested in the full antler, but Frank was interested in the inside of the split antler. He tried chewing it a few different days for maybe 5 minutes each but wasn’t really able to get at it well enough to keep his interest. Eventually we gave the antlers to Penny, my mother in-laws pitbull and she loved them and got hours and hours out of them.

My guess is that my pugs wouldn’t use antlers long-term because it takes too long to get pieces off but I would like to try a smaller antler sometime as I think the ones we tried were too big for pugs.

Half of a twin hoofer (from a merrick hungry dog value bag)

Merrick’s Twin Hoofers. This is basically a cow foot that includes a little bit of the skin/meaty part of the hoof as well as the hoof itself. My dogs aren’t interested in chewing on the hoof itself (though some dogs are and they are not as hard as raw bones, so less risk of causing dental damage).

However, they go CRAZY for the bit of skin/meat above the hoof on these. That part of the hoof is definitely a 10 on my pugs’ interest scale. Sadly, they can get the hoofers “cleaned off” in about 20 minutes. Twin Hoofers are $10.99 on Amazon.

Bully sticks (sometimes called pizzle sticks) are made from the private part of a bull. Bully sticks are easily digestible so they are viewed as a very safe chew option. They have an odor that seems to get worse after being chewed on for a while because the chewed part will soften.

If left out for too long, they will lighten in color and get harder, which makes my dogs less interested in them. To re-gain their interest I sometimes soak them in water for about 10 minutes and then they will stink more and be a bit softer which gets my dogs’ attention again.

We’ve found that bully sticks range in size, thickness and harness a whole lot so for this particular type of chew I will be comparing brands. I have looked at Bully Sticks in Meijer and they carry a 12 inch 2 pack for about $7-8 for the set, and they seem to have one normal thickness stick and one pencil-thin stick in the pack. So compared to that, all of the brands listed below are a more affordable option.

Beans & Frank with 25 count bag of BestBullySticks 6″ bully sticks.

25 standard 6″ bully sticks from BestBullySticks.com

BestBullySticks.com bullies are very uniform in width and are primarily round and very compact, not as bumpy as other brands. They sell bully sticks based on width such as thin, regular, thick etc which I find to be of large benefit because you can choose the width that you need for your dogs chewing level and you don’t have to worry that you’ll get a “bad bag” that has several thin ones.

We have tried only the standard width of bully sticks from BestBullySticks.com. They offer regular and “odorfree” sticks, we’ve tried both. There is definitely less odor with the odorfree ones but I do still pick up some odor. I feel that even the regular BestBullySticks bullies have less odor than many other brands. The standard width bully sticks last as long or longer for my dogs than any other brand of bully stick that we’ve tried.

They usually will chew for about 45 minutes and then give up and walk away until another time with 2-3 inches of the stick still remaining. I think the lack of odor as well as how they take longer to soften results in my dogs being a bit less interested, I’d put these at a 7 on the interest scale.

SitStay.com brown beggers bully sticks canister

SitStay.com bully sticks size comparison

SitStay.com Bully Sticks (that come in canisters) are from the Brown Beggers brand that is exclusively sold at SitStay.com. They are 9 inches long instead of the typical 6 or 12 inches. They are quite bumpy, and range in thickness but I wouldn’t call any that we have gotten thin, none have been even close to as thin as a pencil.

On an interest scale, these get a 10, my dogs get more excited about these than they do any other type of bully stick we have tried. SitStay.com review

PetFlow.com bully sticks. These are the cheapest bully sticks I’ve found to date, as they sell for .99 inch for a 6 inch stick. They are compact, and while they do have a slight variation in width it’s minimal.

Like BestBullySticks, they take longer to soften and are less stinky than other varieties. These are pretty similar to BestBullySticks bullies but they are a hair thinner most of the time. Sometimes they have multiple bully stick brands but I order the “gourmet natural bully stick” ones which are exclusive to PetFlow.com. I’d put them at a 6.5 on the interest scale for my dogs. They last about 45 minutes for my pugs.

I and Love and You bully sticks

I And Love And You bully sticks. These are low-odor bully sticks that are made from free-range, grass-fed Brazilian cattle. The I and Love And You 5 pack 6 Inch Bully Sticks is pricey at $30 for the 5 pack. These are a bit thicker than other brands (like BestBullySticks). I would say the thinnest one is similar to BestBullySticks or PetFlow bullystick size while the others were thicker.

They are “lumpy bumpy” but feel more compact than other “lumpy bumpy” bully sticks like SitStay bully sticks. My dogs really liked these sticks, I’d rate them at a 7.5 on the interest scale. They last quite a while, probably 45 minutes for my pugs.I and Love and You review

Loving pets buffalo bully sticks

Loving Pets buffalo Bully Sticks. These are 100% buffalo as opposed to beef. We tried the six pack of 6 inch sticks and they were primarily very thin as you can see. They lasted maybe 15 minutes per stick but were of high interest to my pups, I’d rate them at an 8 for interest. The 12-Inch 3-Pack is $9.46 on amazon. Loving Pets review

MoJoPet Bo-vee sticks

BigBark bo-vee sticks are quite similar to bully sticks but are made of beef tripe. They range a lot in width and are “bumpy” in shape. Some that we tried were about as thick as a pencil while others were 3 times as thick.

My dogs get pretty excited about these, I’d rate them at an 8 for interest level. I would say my dogs got about 20 minutes out of each stick on average.  The 6 inch 12 pack sells for $6.49 while the 12 inch 12 pack sells for $11.99 on MojoPet.com. Mojo Pet review

MojoPet trachea. These were quite large  – in fact, they were so big my dogs couldn’t get their mouths around the chew. They felt oily/fatty on the outside and my dogs were definitely interested in them as they did try to chew them for quite a while but they were just too big and hard for my pugs. They weren’t soft enough for us to break or cut with random knives or scissors we had around the house. Mojo Pet review

Jones Natural chews windees

Jones Natural Chews Windees. I was eager to try these because they are pre-sliced pieces of trachea which I knew my dogs would be interested in because of our experience with the MojoPet trachea chew. Windees come in a pack of 6 to 7 per 2oz pack, each ring is about 1-1.5 inches across and about 1/2-3/4 of an inch thick each though they vary some. My dogs LOVE these little rings and they last about 20 minutes per ring. SitStay.com sells the packs for $2.05 per pack. These are a 9.5 on my dogs’ interest scale. Jones Natural Chews Review

Jones Natural Chews trachea come in 6 and 12 inch lengths and are soft enough that my dogs can chew them but it takes quite a while. We cut 6″ chews in half or 12 inch chews in 1/4s (so each piece is about 3 inches long) and those last my pugs about 45 minutes to chew. They are a bit greasy but they don’t have the visible gobs of white fat on the outside like some other brands. They soften up really nicely, when soft they almost look like a softened bully stick.

Frank with a Jones natural chews 6″ trachea. 

I once caught the Pet ‘n Shape XL Trachea Chews for sale on Amazon for around $8.00. These are 18 inches long each so I cut them into about six 3-inchl-long chews each, getting a total of 12 chews out of the 2 pack. They were fatty with visible white spots on the outside. They were soft enough for my dogs to chew well, lasting about 45 minutes for them to consume a 3 inch piece.

These were the a great bargain but I see they are currently $14.99 on Amazon so keep an eye out for a sale and then definitely give them a try.

MojoPet whole pig ears – these are BIG (about as big as my entire hand) but not super thick so my dogs are able to eat them just fine. I like how they aren’t greasy/oily like some other brands of ears are. My dogs really get excited about these ears, I’d put them at about a 7.5 on the interest scale for both dogs. They last about 45 minutes. They sell for $2.00 each. Mojo Pet review

Petflow Buffalo ears. These regularly go on sale for .59 each. They are a good size – bigger than the palm of my hand. The tip of the ear is really quite thin but the portion where the ear would attach to the head is a bit thicker.

I can cut these in 1/2 length wise with regular dollar store kid scissors. They last about 20-25 minutes for my dogs if I give them whole or about half that if I cut them in half.

I and Love and You cow ears. These are from grass-fed free-range Brazilian cattle. These ears are BIG – the biggest one in our bag was 10 inches! Most of the others were 6-7 inches. My dogs tried eating these when we first got them but quickly lost interest so I put them away and would offer them again every few weeks with little interest.

Then suddenly about a month ago (some 3 months after we first got them) both dogs suddenly became very interested in them. Since then they have chewed on these for 20+ minute son at least 5 different occasions and more than 1/2 of the ears are still around. I’d say they last my dogs at least 2 hours per ear which makes them one of the longest-lasting chews that my dogs will remain interest in. ILY pet review

Merrick cow ears are “puffed” ears that are a bit thicker than other ears that we’ve tried. They are soft and very dry, not greasy or oily at all. They are a little bigger than the palm of my hand and my dogs really enjoy them, I would put them at a 7.5 on the interest scale. They last my dogs about 30 minutes. When purchased separately they are $3.52 on Amazon.

Yakmilk chews are made of yakmilk and are quite hard. They have very little odor and come in a variety of sizes for the size of your dog. A cool bonus of Yakmilk chews is if your dog doesn’t care to consume the chew in its hardened state, you can microwave the chew and it will puff up into a crunchy treat.

Beans and Frank with medium-sized himalayan dog chews

Himalayan Dog Chew. These seem to be the most popular brand of yakmilk based chew out there. At first, my dogs were interested in the himalayan dog chews and had maybe 20 minute chew sessions before getting bored/tired and giving up. Then there was a period of time where they just let them lay.

One day I soaked the chew in water for about 15 minutes and then both dogs were interested again. I’m not sure if it actually softened (it didn’t seem softer to me) but maybe it made it a little smellier? Anyway, after soaking them that one time the dogs would randomly decide to start chewing on their himalayan chews once a week or so for maybe 15 minutes each time until they finally consumed the entire chews after several months. The medium size Himalayan dog chew (for dogs 20-40lbs) is 7.08. Himalayan dog chews review

Milkotein dog chews (top is microwaved into a puffy treat, bottom is in chew form)

Milkotein dog chews. These are yakmilk based dog chews with added protein. They are very rectangular in shape and are lighter than himalayan dog chews. My dogs weren’t interested in these in their regular chew form but we put them in the microwave to puff them up and then they enjoyed them. The medium size Milkotein bar (for 40-80lb dogs) is $7.13 on Amazon. Milkotein review

Moozles OR puffed ear pieces from a merrick hungry dog variety pack. My guess is the two big pieces are part of moozles while the triangular piece is an ear – they are quite similar in color and texture so it can be hard to tell them apart in the variety bags. 

Merrick’s Moozles are beef snouts. In texture they are similar to the puffed Merrick ears. They are a very dry, lightweight chew and when full size, are really quite big (bigger than my hand). When we order the hungry dog variety bags we often get partial pieces. The larger pieces last my dogs about 25 minutes per chew and they are very interested in them, at about an 8 on the interest scale. $3.59 each.

Two small pieces of of merrick texas toothpicks from a hungry dog variety bag. In other bags we got texas toothpicks that were up to 3x as long as these – up to about 6 inches long. 

Merrick Texas Toothpicks are cow tails. I really liked these at first because my dogs liked them (8 on the interest scale) and they last quite a while (30-40 minutes). I didn’t realize that they have bones in them. And they are very small bones – roughly 1 inch long, pencil-thick with “knobs” on the ends. I worry that my dogs would accidentally swallow one of these bones so I don’t give these to my dogs anymore. 5.5oz bag is $18.45.

Jones Natural Chews Ligaments. We tried these via the variety bag mentioned below. They are made from the hind foot of cows. Some of ours were quite twisted instead of flat which almost made them more fun because it made them last longer. For Beans, these are a 10 on the interest scale. Frank likes them but they’re closer to a 7.5 for him. They last 30-40 minutes depending on how big the piece was and how twisted it was. Jones natural chews review

Beans with 2lb Merrick Hungry Dog chew variety bag

Merrick Hungry Dog Variety Bags. These are 2lb bags that include “imperfect” Merrick items like moozles, ears, texas toothpicks, bully sticks and bones that are imperfect. For example, the ears and moozles may have been folded over while baking so instead of laying flat they have a fold in them. They aren’t “pretty” but they are otherwise fine. I’ve purchased four or five of these bags on Amazon – price jumps around a lot, I have got the bags for as low as $6.50 and have seen them as high as $12.

The bags usually have two heavy items like a bone or hoof that make up the majority of the 2lbs but the bags are always at least half full and they are BIG bags. These bags are where I experienced moozles, merrick ears and toothpicks. Our bags have also included a bleached bone, half of a hoof, a full hoof and rawhide rolls.

One bag that I bought was nearly full of lamb lung which my dogs really like but I was bummed because they are more of a treat than a chew, they are consumed in seconds. Still, I feel like these bags are a good value for us the majority of the time even though I won’t give my dogs the texas tails and they won’t eat the big bones or hooves.

Contents of one of our Hungry Dog value bags. LOTS of lung pieces (these are not chews but treats – consumed in seconds), 9 ear or moozle pieces, 3 regular hooves, 2 stuffed hooves, 2 pieces of “texas toothpick” tails and 2 random bits/bones. This was one of our “worst” bags in my opinion because my dogs have almost no interest in un-stuffed hooves, I don’t feel the tail pieces are safe so we throw them away and the majority of the rest of the bag was lung pieces which are not chews. We still got 9 chews out of the bag that I paid $7.50 for so still a good deal even when it’s a “bad” variety for us. 

Jones 19 Piece Variety Bag. These come in 19 piece and 20 piece varieties. We tried the 19 count variety bag. Ours had a great assortment of chews, each of which was happily chewed by both of our pugs. All of the pieces had an oily or almost “wet” feeling to them. My dogs have sensitive bellies but we haven’t had any digestion issues after eating these chews.

They do make greasy marks on bedding so I make the dogs eat these on the floor but they like the chews enough that they don’t mind. The ears vary in size a lot and also vary in how long they would last the pugs – but roughly 20-30 minutes each. Most of the rolls that we got were fairly short so they were closer to a 20 minute chew. The 19 count bags are $5.98 with $4.99 shipping (10.97 total) on Amazon or just $8.99 at tractor supply co.

The bags have a transparent portion on the front so if you purchase in person you can get a peak at which chews are in which bag and perhaps control your odds a little as well.

Conclusion: most of these chews were well liked and worthwhile for my dogs. Yet, they clearly have favorites, there is a wide range in price as well as in how long the chews last. 

Beans’ top 5 most desired chews

• 1. Jones natural chews ligaments
• 2. Pork Chomps Stripz
• 3. Jones Natural Chews windees
• 4. SitStay.com bully sticks
• 5. All other bully sticks

Frank’s top 5 most desired chews:

• 1. SitStay.com Bully sticks
• 2. Cow ears (Jones #1, other brands next)
• 3. Jones windee rings
• 4. Merrick ears and moozles
• 5. Other bully sticks

Our top 5 long-lasting chews (that my dogs remain interested in until fully consumed)

• 1. Himalayan Dog Chews
• 2. I and Love and You cow ears
• 3. BestBullySticks.com and/or PetFlow.com bully sticks
• 4. Jones natural chews ligaments
• 5. Other brands of bully sticks

Our top 5 overall picks when comparing value, how long they last & desirability

• 1. Jones windee rings
• 2. Jones variety bags
• 3.Merrick Hungry Dog Value Pack
• 4. Petflow bully sticks (long-lasting for price) or Sitstay.com (desirability for price)
• 5. Himalayan dog chews

I will continue to update this blog post as the pugs try new types of chews or treats. If you are a brand or retailer for dog chews and would like to send Frank & Beans a chew to try out so that we can share their honest experiences email me at emilyreviewscom@gmail.com to arrange.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

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