Penny's Chew Bones: How Many Is Too Many?

Hi, I’m Savanna! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my spunky Chihuahua mix, Penny.

Most of us dog owners give our dogs dental chews to help keep their teeth clean and their breath fresh. Greenies are a popular choice, but for some reason, Penny doesn’t tolerate Greenies well, so we give her Minties instead, but we just call them her “chew bones.” According to the feeding instructions on the bag of Minties, I should give her one per day. That’s what I try to do, but Penny sometimes has other ideas about how many of her chew bones she should eat at one time. Let me explain.

Chew Bones: A Crate Incentive

Besides being something to help keep her teeth healthy, we originally started giving Penny a Mintie as an incentive to go into her crate if we had to leave the house. We tried putting up a baby gate to keep her in one room so she didn’t get into the cats’ litter boxes and food while we’re gone, but after coming home one day and her greeting us at the door after she chewed through the baby gate, we realized a crate was necessary.

So, the chew bones started as a crate training tool. We say, “Let’s get you a chew bone,” get a Mintie out of the bag, and give her the cue, “Go to your crate.” When she goes into her crate, she gets the chew bone. This is especially helpful when we travel with her, because it gives her consistency in a place where the rest of the routine is different. She still expects a chew bone when she goes into her crate even if we’re somewhere else besides home.

The other idea behind this was that she could chew on the chew bone while in her crate to keep her busy for a little while when we’re gone. But she doesn’t eat them while we’re gone. Instead, she usually saves them until we get back and eats them while sitting on the couch with us. It’s sort of like she was showing us that she “earned” it by staying in the crate. The crate very quickly turned into her safe space that she often goes to nap even if we are home.

Hoarding Chew Bones

Some days, I’ll notice that Penny doesn’t eat her chew bone as soon as we get home. I usually don’t think anything of it. Maybe she’s just not hungry, so I forget about it.

But one day, she jumped up on the couch with a chew bone after we got home, ate it, and then went to her crate again. A few seconds later, she came back with another chew bone, and ate that one too. Then, a few seconds later, she comes back with yet another chew bone. At this point, I’m wondering, “Where are all these chew bones coming from?” I thought maybe one of the cats had knocked the bag off the shelf and it spilled.

But nope, the bag was still on the shelf and sealed. So I go look in Penny’s crate, and tucked into her blanket, I find about 3 or 4 more chew bones that she’s been hoarding. Apparently,  she’s been holding chew bones back once or twice a week, burying them in her blanket and bed to save for later.

I know dogs do this as a natural instinct to hide food from competition, but it’s funny to me, because she has no competition in our house other than the kitties, who aren’t interested in her chew bones anyway. But I guess she doesn’t know that.

How Many Chew Bones Is Too Many?

After she ate the third chew bone and I figured out where they kept coming from, I thought, “I might need to step in here, she’s going to be sick!” I’m not sure how many chew bones is too many, but I’m guessing since the bag says “one per day,” three is pushing it a little. But I was afraid to move stuff in her crate and take out the other chew bones, because she’s very particular about her stuff.

So, I started playing with her to distract her, so luckily she forgot about the chew bones. Or either she got full from the three she already had and wasn’t going to eat any more anyway.

Every once in a while, she still eats multiple chew bones in a day, but I’ve started trying to make sure she has no more than two extra in her crate at all times. I think three is probably enough for one day. But she loves Minties, and they seem to help because her vet always says her teeth look good when we take her for checkups.