Best Chew Toys for Small Dogs: Safe & Durable Options!
Okay, here's my blog post about finding good chew toys for small dogs, written from my personal experience:
So, my little chihuahua, Peanut, is a chewing machine. I swear, that dog can destroy a toy faster than I can finish a cup of coffee. I started this whole journey of finding the perfect chew toy because I was tired of constantly buying new ones, and, frankly, I was a little worried about what he might be ingesting.
My first step was just hitting up the pet store. Total chaos. There are, like, a million options. I grabbed a few that looked promising – a couple of rope toys, a rubber bone, and one of those "indestructible" plush toys. Yeah, right.
- Rope toys: Peanut liked these at first, but he quickly figured out how to unravel them. Within a day, I was finding little strings of rope all over my apartment. Not ideal.
- Rubber bone: This one was a bit better. It lasted a little longer, but he eventually started tearing off little chunks. I got nervous about him swallowing those pieces, so that one got tossed too.
- "Indestructible" plush toy: This was a joke. Peanut had it ripped open and the stuffing pulled out in under an hour. I'm pretty sure I even saw him eating some of the fluff. Nope.
I started all searching for toys online, reading reviews, and asking for recommendations in some dog owner groups. I got tons of different opinions, but a few things kept popping up.
I learned the hard way, it is important that the toy needs to be small enough for Peanut to comfortably hold and chew, but not so small that he could swallow it whole. Obvious, I know, but I definitely underestimated Peanut's determination to swallow things.
Also I need to avoid anything with small parts that could break off – like buttons, ribbons, or those little squeakers. I also steered clear of anything that seemed too hard, like real bones or antlers, because I worried about him chipping a tooth.
My Top Finds
After all that trial and error, I've finally found a few go-to chew toys that Peanut loves and that actually last:
- Durable rubber toys with textured surfaces:. Peanut has had these ones for a while and still has no way of destroying it. I also put the food inside and he is very happy to try to dig it out!
- The ones that have no fill: Because I do not want Peanut to eat anything unsafe. And he loves to try his best to destroy all toys! So this is important.
Finding the right chew toys for Peanut was a bit of a process, but it was worth it. I'm saving money, and I'm a lot less stressed about his safety. It's all about figuring out what your own dog likes and being super picky about safety!
