Everyone, meet George.
George, everyone.
George is, obviously, a Chocolate Lab, no longer a spring chicken, but not a senior. George met an all natural bone last night and fell in love. I preface the following photos by saying I borrowed a camera instead of using my phone, so the settings were unfamiliar. New technology kinda freaks me out.
George has been off his feed the last couple of weeks. His family is in flux, with dad taking a new job a state over and gone for the first time while mom and the kids sell the house. They think George hasn’t been eating much because of this. In fact, as many labs are prone to be, George was overweight prior to this shake up. It’s still unnerving.
Mom got George a big bag of rawhide treats this weekend, trying to entice him to eat. I gave mom a lecture. No rawhides. They don’t digest and are generally not good for dogs. I brought George a Jones Natural Chews Slammer Bone.
I also had some Chickly Links left over, so I used them as a warm up act. In my experience, many dogs react more quickly to a meaty treat than to a bone, but will come back to the bone long term. I love that ALL of Jones chews are all natural. It was especially fun to watch the kids give George the Chickly Links. Watch as I make them famous –
It never fails to amuse me, watching kids work with dogs when I’ve brought treats. The dogs know I have treats. They smell the meaty goodness. Some of them salivate. It’s killin’ ’em, having to sit and stay while they wait for the treat. So all these great tricks they know? Most dogs have a tough time obeying when it’s a kid giving directions. Unless you’re this kid. George takes her seriously.
Later, when the kids got bored and wandered inside, the mom and I watched George demolish the Slammer Bone while we talked about her move. George splintered the bone, removing a long section, while we watched. It was a great lesson in dogs and bones – always monitor your dog when it’s chewing a bone, any bone. Jones all natural bone is the closest thing you’ll get to a raw bone, without the raw element, given the way it’s slow baked. But any bone will splinter with an aggressive chewer. I removed the splinter and we threw it away, leaving the bulk of the bone.
Slammer Bones are the femur of a cow with one knuckle attached, dipped in all natural liquid smoke and baked. They’re meant for medium to large dogs, or seriously aggressive smaller chewers. I really was surprised at how quickly George chewed up most of the bone. My dogs get all the good stuff off of a bone and will gnaw on them for weeks. This ain’t no small dog bone.
The long and short of it is, George seems to be healthy. He plowed through half a bag of Chickly Links and tore up a Slammer Bone. I think he just misses his dad. Nearly as much as the rest of the family does. Here’s to a quick sale of the house.
If you’re looking for a place to get Jones Natural Chews, we encourage people to look at pet and feed stores in their vicinity. If they’re not local to you, Natural Dog Treat Shop has all of the Jones line online. This month we’re highlighting the Slammer Bone for larger dogs, and the Rabbit Entree’ Jerky for all sized dogs. Regardless of which treat you decide to get, it’s hard to go wrong with Jones.
Until I write again …
Flea