I, personally, wouldn't leave a dog unattended with a bone of any variety. There is always the potential for bone chips to break off and become a choking hazard, no matter how indestructible they appear to be. Eight months is getting old enough to do some serious work on bones.
Having given that disclaimer warning, I think the only 'safe' bone you should use for unsupervised chewing would be the dense marrow bones. Once the marrow has been licked out, you can then use things like peanut butter, cream cheese, regular cheese or any other food-stuffs you can put inside the shaft. Once you see pieces of the edge breaking off, you might want to replace with a 'fresh' bone with more moisture content and start all over again. The drawback to these dense bones is that they can do damage to teeth. I don't know that you'll find the perfect answer. What I do is walk my three for about 1 hour (leash free) in the morning. Then while I'm getting ready for work, they chew their beef NECK bones in the yard. I feed bones about 3 - 4 times per week but always while I'm home. The neck bones are curvy enough to still have plenty of meat on them. They're big enough to provide a safer bone chew, but they have smaller portions that can be broken off and again, become a choking hazard. Please stay away from pork hocks (I've heard the most choking stories involving pork hocks or feet). Rib bones are too easily chewed into nothing and the pieces I've seen look rather sharp. Better safe than sorry. Jenn Popp ************************************ Healthy Paws Bones and Raw Food Diet http://www.healthy-paws.ca Toronto, Ontario (Canada) 416-264-1313 / email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************ ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | hi there everyone! i know it's been a topic of discussion, but just to cut through any confusion, i was wondering which raw meat bones from the supermarket i could buy and safely leave my 8 month old puppy alone with? i already know that the marrow bones, the small ones, are pretty much unbreakable, but they don't have so much meat on them--so any other choices? ....
