I feed my puppies on nutro choice which has been excellant for them.

I wish to give them extra things to chew like bones and hide etc.

Does anyone have any ideas on teh best things for them and what to avoid.

Please post threasons for your choices to give or avoid

Thanks

If feeding rawhide chews please make sure that you are with your dog the whole time. I personally think they are dangerous as the soon become soft and can be swallowed in this state. I have know 4 dogs that have either choked to death or required surgery to remove obstructions (rawhide chews). I much prefer to give my clan a raw meaty bone twice a week, they also have lambs carcass, beef ribs and of course marrow bones. These can be obtained usually from your local butcher, do not give cooked bones or the fried bones from PAT as these can splinter and cause dmage.

It's not a food type chew thing, but we have given all our puppies the chew/dental toys from Pets At Home, and they love them. They are made from very tough rubber, I think.

These are them:

http://www.petsathome.com/invt/13976

http://www.petsathome.com/invt/13973

I give my dogs

raw bones (natural, no chemicals, contains nourishing marrow, cleans teeth)
nylabones (not so smelly when in car, last long time, can be refreshed in boiling water, harmless if bits consumed as inert substance)
stuffed kongs (keeps dog occupied, interested, has to work for food)

I avoid commercial products which can cause the problems they are supposed to cure, rawhide chews of any sort because there is no source, idenfication of animal, what has bleached it or the colours that go into them.

I only feed air dried pigs ears.

I avoid paddywhack, pigs ears, roasted bones as they are all dripping in fat

i normally give my pup ham bone from tescos £1.99 , its got all meat on it and my pup loves it!

Also pigs snowts, ears, and trotters which i get from the market aswell she loves too and dental stix after breakfast and dinner!

I wouldn't give a ham bone to a dog. For a start the meat is generally too salty, and of course the bone is cooked, and therefore unsafe.

I personally wouldn't give rawhide to any dog and wouldn't recomend it to give to a dog under the age of 6 months.

I would give raw bones, chicken wings etc as something edible to chew and then chew toys and nylabones aswell :)

I've never had a problem with rawhide chews, there are always masses of them lying around here. I wouldn't ever give a cooked bone, like a ham bone though. Raw chicken wings are great, when they're raw the dogs are able to digest them better - NEVER give cooked chicken bones. Raw marrow bones are a real favourite but not as practical in the house, they're ok on a nice day when the dogs can lie outside to knaw on them :)

Can you give them raw chicken legs/drumsticks?
As ive seen them in the supermarket a big pack of them so i thought they might be worth a try?

Depends on how old the pup is I wouldn't give a tiny (less than 8 weeks old) pup a leg etc, but a chicken wing should be very manageable............if it's an older pup, who has mastered chicken wings, then a drumstick or leg would be OK IMO

she is nearly 6 months old!

maybe start with a chicken wing and progress to the legs/drumsticks when you feel confident .............I only started feeding chicken wings to mine at 14m & 4years old   but they both had chicken legs for tea tonight

I always thought not to feed weight bearing bones such as legs and thigh quarters as they are a lot thicker than wing bones, occasionaly i have seen small fragments of bone in poop so i wouldnt really like to chance feeding bigger harder bones such as legs/thighs..

I feed chicken legs a lot of the time, along with chicken wings and pork rib bones. I find it very difficult to obtain bones from our local butcher, so i have to rely on what i can buy from the supermarket shelves.
Never had any problems with the chicken legs, and this is with 2 Tibetan Terriers. Not huge breeds :)