Toy recommendations for 4 month old GSD pups? - Page 2

Yikes!!!

So what does your dog chew on?

Dental care, never ever did it with my other dog (RIP).

What is the ideal dental care plan for a GSD?

Dotty, you will hear many oppinions about what to do with your pup.  There isn't always a right and wrong.  Many will use extreme cases for why you shouldn't do something with you pup.  In the end, you just have to know your pup.  If your pup doesnt chew on rocks, as most of my dogs havent, put rocks in the bottles for a toy.  If she chews on rocks, you know not to put rocks in the bottle.

I disagree about unsupervised toy play.  I have put treat toys in the crates on the advise of many with much more puppy experience than I.  I have left them in an outdoor kennel with a treat toy.  Try these nearly indistructable treat toys:

Everlast Fire Plug

Everlast Fun Ball

Also, just because a vet said tennis balls are bad for teeth doesnt mean that the vet is correct.  Vets also say feed Science Diet, feeding raw will kill your dog, and vaccinate your dog every year...

As for dental care, I have never brushed my dogs teeth or had them scaled, and even my 11 y/o are looking good.  In addition to raw chicken quarters, I give my dogs raw beef bones to chew on.

Well actually, the dentist is a human endodontist who trains veterinary dentists and he does wild animals in zoos as well a Siegfried and Roys big Cats and he DONATED 6 + hours of his time and skill to save my dog's life.  He does not sell Science Diet for profit nor did he get anything out of helping me and my dog other than our thanks and eternal gratitude.  To liken him to vets who are profit driven is unfair.  He had no reason other than to help me to tell me about his decades of experience with animals and their teeth and what damages them.  I never thought about it until it happens to you.  So many junkyard dogs with broken teeth, nothing happens, but this time, the infection set in and it was on its way to killing my dog.  Problem teeth can kill.  If it were not for the trauma, probably nothing would have happened, but it did.  Better not to take chances.

Until things happen then they seem remote...never thought about socks much (have kids, leave socks around) but my next door neighbor paid almost 10 thousand when her dog ATE her knee high and got peritonitis had to have ER surgery and then got an infection again.  Not saying she has to listen to me, but be aware of what could happen.  Why take chances?

Everlast balls are great.

One thing I will also say, is RAW diets really do help keep the teeth (and the whole dog) in optimal shape.  Probably the RAW diet and the meaty (not cooked) bones is all you will need to keep teeth white and clean. 

It is unfair of you to expect me to read your mind about your vet's experience .  Anecdotal evidence, though, is the least accepted in any medical field, that is why I am still looking into making changes to my tennis ball use.  Now, if the vet whipped out an experiment or observation study, that's different.

There is always risks in life.  It is risky to drive your dog to training because you might crash.  It is risky to play fetch with a dog because he/she might accidentally swallow or choke on the toy, or take a bad leap and break a bone.  Sometimes you have to take good chances to give your dogs a quality life IMO.

My top thr4ee are already on the list  Ikon is a "Toy grinder"  destroying almost everything he can find.     

Everlasting balls
Kong
marrow bones

The last can be recycled by filling with peanut butter and keeping in the freezer,  

I'm glad someone mentioned the water bottles... my dogs favorite!  Unfortunately, he tries to take them off the coffee table while we are drinking them...lol