What kind of chews?

[Twisterdog]

I think that's a bit of an overstatement...

I agree. Yes, you will always hear someone say, "Well, let me tell you .... my grandma's cousin's friend's brother's pomeranian chewed the leg off the couch and died!" No matter what you mention, someone knows someone who knows someone who had a dog that died from eating it, drinking it, chewing on it, sniffing it or thinking about it.

The fact of the matter is, that freak accidents DO happen. But you can't remove everything that is dangerous from your dogs, your kids, or yourself. You will be a paranoid basketcase thinking about it all. And even if you tried, there is still no guarantee. One of my customers dogs ate a hole in the side of his crate, just big enough to get his head through, and then starting thrashing around, couldn't pull his head back out, cut his neck on the sharp edges and bled to death. Seriously. In a crate. So should we all stop using crates? Of course not! It was a freak accident.

I think basic common sense must prevail. If you dog devours rawhide and swallows it, obviously they shouldn't have rawhide period, let alone unsupervised. If your dog chews on it for a few minutes and loses interest, and you keep the same rawhide for a year before finally throwing it away, then sure, give them rawhide. Kongs are pretty much indestructable for the vast, vast majority of dogs. You know your own dog best, his habits and quirks. What one dog does, another will not.