Should you give cooked or raw beef rib bones for dogs? Understand the important differences for dog safety.

Alright, let's talk about beef rib bones for dogs. People keep asking me about 'em, if they're okay, how I do it. Honestly, it's not something I do super often, but I gave it a go not too long ago with my buddy, Max.

So, I was making ribs for us humans, the big beef back ribs, you know? Had a couple left over that were mostly meat-stripped but still had some good stuff on 'em. Now, the big debate is always raw versus cooked. I've read all sorts of things online, vets saying this, breeders saying that. Cooked bones are a huge no-no in my book. They get brittle, they splinter, just asking for trouble. So, if I was gonna do this, it had to be raw.

These particular bones weren't raw though, they were cooked leftovers. So, what did I do? Simple. I didn't give him those cooked ones. Big temptation, sitting right there, smelling all good. But nope. Threw 'em out. Instead, next time I went to the butcher for our meat, I specifically asked for some raw beef back ribs. Not the tiny little ones, but the decent sized ones.

Getting Started

Got home with maybe two good-sized raw ribs. Didn't season 'em, didn't do anything to 'em. Just plain raw bone with a bit of meat and connective tissue still attached. That's the good stuff for them, apparently.

Called Max over. He knew something was up, tail going like crazy. I didn't just toss it to him and walk away. Big mistake people make. You gotta supervise, especially the first few times or with a new type of bone.

The Actual Chewing Part

I put down an old towel first. Learned that lesson the hard way ages ago with some other messy treat. Gave him one rib. He took it pretty gently, actually, carried it over to the towel like a little gentleman, and then got down to business.

• He wasn't trying to crunch it down whole, which was good.
• Mostly gnawing and scraping off the meaty bits.
• Spent a good 45 minutes just working on it.

I just sat there, watched TV kinda, but mostly kept an eye on him. Made sure he wasn't breaking off big chunks or looking like he was gagging. Everything seemed cool. He was focused, happy, making those little grunty satisfied noises.

Aftermath and Thoughts

After about an hour, he'd gotten most of the good stuff off. The bone itself was still mostly intact, just scraped clean. Now, here's another point people argue about - do you let 'em eat the whole bone? For me, with big beef ribs like this, no. They can break teeth trying to crunch through the really thick parts. So, when he lost interest and wandered off for a drink, I picked up what was left. He wasn't thrilled I took his treasure, but better safe than sorry.

Clean up was easy 'cause of the towel. His teeth looked good, got a nice cleaning from the gnawing. He was definitely tired but seemed really content afterwards. Slept like a log that afternoon.

So, yeah, that was my experience this time around. Raw beef back ribs, decent size, fully supervised, and I took it away before he could try and swallow the whole thing or crack a tooth on the dense bone. Seemed to work out okay for Max. It's not an everyday thing, more like a special treat, a project for him. You just gotta be careful, you know? Watch your own dog, see how they handle it. Every dog's different. That's my two cents on it, based on what I actually did.