Ranger Ready JRTs suggests these canine snacks when you need some human time.
By Erin C. Healy
Let’s face it, as much as we love spending every minute of every day and night with our Jack Russell terriers, there are times when we need a few minutes’ of freedom. Maybe you need to clean the house without a Jack screaming and biting at the vacuum, or to work on the computer without your pup constantly hitting the cap locks or delete keys. Maybe you’re entertaining and your dog needs to be crated for a few hours, you know, so it won’t snatch appetizers out of someone’s unsuspecting hand or lick people’s unattended beverages. You may just want to enjoy a relaxing bath without peering eyes, bubble-popping pawings, or your towel being spun into a makeshift dog bed. Whatever your reason, here are our top recommendations for long-lasting culinary distractions specifically for Jack Russells.
1. Raw Meaty Beef Neck Bones are meal replacements that take hours to ingest. Serve them in a crate with washable bedding. We start our puppies on them once they’re eating solid food regularly. The advantage of raw bones in general is that the dog must pull and scrape at the bone, which flosses teeth and chips at tartar. Marrow bones, like you find in the grocery store, tend to be too rich for tender digestive systems and the shank bones themselves are too hard for tiny teeth, causing breaks. Other possible options are raw turkey necks or duck feet. Bone, of course, is the quintessential canine-preferred source of calcium.
You’ll need a local natural dog food store for raw bones; you won’t find them in the big-box pet stores. We get ours from South Paw Natural Pets in Ellijay, Ga. They are low-cost and should be given sparingly, perhaps once every two weeks or so depending on how much bone is provided in the dog’s everyday diet. (Natural bone can be constipating, so be sure to provide plenty of fresh water and exercise.)
Fake bones made of corn, wheat, or potato starch are presumably safe, but in our opinion, especially if chemicals are added, are not a healthy chew. Nylon bones don't make any sense to us at all. Why ingest tiny particles of nylon, which provide zero nutritional value, just for a confetti-speckled potty.
2. Beef Kneecaps (Patellas) keep Jacks occupied for days. When opening the individual wrapping, don’t throw away those flakings of fat. Shake them out with the bone and let your dog gobble them up. This is another crate-only treat, but after all the soft tissue is removed, the bones can be eaten anywhere without leaving anything other than perhaps a faint and washable oil mark. You want a U.S. source for your kneecaps, and buying them in bulk offers the best chance for a reasonable cost-per-unit price, especially if you have multiple dogs. Other countries do raise closely monitored beef and work with U.S. processors, however, we opt for 100-percent U.S.-made products whenever possible.
3. Odorless Beef Bully Sticks (Pizzles) are one of only two rawhide alternatives we recommend. Skip the rawhide because it wreaks havoc with a small dog’s intestines, absorbing all intestinal fluids, pulling at intestines, and often causing blockages. Most rawhide chews are made in China, and after longterm heavily salted brines, chemicals are used to dehair and defat the hide. Your terrier will thank you for spending a little more on 100-percent U.S.-sourced and -processed pizzles.
Although easier to digest than rawhide, some older dogs will still have issues with bully sticks, especially if they gulp them without thoroughly chewing. If you have more than one Jack, serve bully sticks in a crate so that each dog can slow down and hopefully gnaw their sticks for a longer period of time without fear of it being snatched from them. Be sure to get the odorless variety.
4. Smoked Cow Hooves, Buffalo and Sheep Horns can be a great long-term terrier treats if softened with hot water. There are two things to be aware of: 1.) pieces can break off and create choking hazards; and 2.) terrier teeth can get chipped because they’re such aggressive chewers. TIP: To address both these issues, we don’t let our terriers have hooves or horns if we’re not going to be home, and when we do give them, we run them under hot water to soften them before distributing. Don’t leave uneaten portions lying around. Pick them up and store them in an open bowl where they can dry. At a later time, water-soften those sharp edges and redistribute. We don’t like the ingredients in the pre-stuffed versions, but a smear of natural peanut butter (no sugar added and especially no sugar substitute) on a hoof or horn is a great way to reignite interest. You can also fill with yogurt, peanut butter, banana and/or pumpkin and freeze. Be sure to get the smoked versions of the hooves to minimize odor.
5. Earth Animal No-Hide Wholesome Chews are a rawhide alternative made with six ingredients (brown rice flour, agar-agar, organic egg, olive oil, banana, and pineapple) along with one protein (chicken, venison, beef, pork, salmon, or peanut butter). The peanut butter variety is a big hit around here. In our experience, the small sticks don’t last very long. Give the thicker ones in the small size a try. If your local store doesn’t provide them, request they look into it, or visit the Earth Animal website directly to find a distributor in your area.
6. Himalayan Yak Cheese Chews are a good choice, but unfortunately don’t seem to last very long with such voracious chewers. Of course, the fact that we try to cut larger ones in half might be part of the problem. We also don’t like to over-feed cheese since we use string cheese niblets for training. Still, they are a good option once in a while. Prices can run high on these treats, so if you have more than one dog, you might want to space them out.
7. Deer Antlers can be too hard for terrier teeth. This could be because what are usually offered in stores are aged. Perhaps fresh sheds or those directly from a kill would be more appetizing to the dogs and softer on their teeth. We don’t rule them out when offered or found, but they can be prohibitively costly in stores and online.
8. Beef Tracheas, Pigs Ears, Chicken Feet, Fish Skins are crunchy natural protein options that you may want to try. We find these chews just don’t last very long with terriers. We also, probably unwisely, don’t opt for much fish because we’re constantly getting licked in the face by our dogs and don’t like any lingering or internal fish smells. That being said, there is nothing wrong with these options if your dog digests them easily. Tracheas are another vessel for mixes of yogurt, natural peanut butter, banana, and pumpkin. Freeze them and you'll have a more long-lasting treat. Maybe you can even keep them distracted long enough to pick something up off the floor without getting a fat lip from a terrier head butt. Good luck!
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