A quick safety checklist for chews

Chews are genuinely good for dogs. They occupy, they help scrape plaque, and they give a dog something to do with a mouth that would otherwise find your skirting board. They are also the source of two common emergencies: a fractured tooth and a swallowed piece. Both are avoidable.

The hardness test

Press a thumbnail into the chew. If it leaves no mark at all, it is hard enough to fracture a tooth. Antlers, hooves and nylon bones are the usual culprits, and the slab fractures they cause on the upper carnassial teeth are expensive and painful. The other version of the same test: if you would not want it to land on your kneecap, it is too hard.

The size rule

• The chew must be longer than the dog's muzzle when you hand it over.
• Take it away when it becomes small enough to fit entirely in the mouth.
• Size up if the dog is between sizes. A large chew for a small dog is only slow; a small chew for a large dog is a blockage.
• Never leave a chew down with more than one dog present. Competition makes both of them swallow faster.

Supervision

No chew of any kind is unsupervised entertainment. That includes overnight, in a crate, and while you are on a call in another room. Most of the incidents we hear about happened during the twenty minutes somebody stepped out, and the dog was fine every previous time.

A chew is finished when it is short enough to swallow, not when the dog says it is finished.

Niamh Doherty, Wexfur care desk

Who should skip them

Dogs with recent dental work, known fragile teeth, a history of swallowing objects, or a diagnosed pancreatic condition should not have hard or fatty chews without veterinary say-so. Puppies with milk teeth need something with give in it: a frozen wet-food toy or a soft rubber chew, not a pressed bone.

Finally, count the calories. Long-lasting chews are calorie dense, and a daily one can quietly add ten per cent to a dog's intake. Take it out of dinner rather than adding it on top.