The best chew toys, as reviewed by my dog

I was thoroughly impressed with the GoDog Dragon(opens in a new tab) — and so was my dog — so much so, that it easily made it to the top spot on this list.

It surprised me, to be honest. When I saw that the toy was made from fabric, I expected it to be the first toy to rip, tear, and end up in pieces after Stevie got a hold of it (even with its patented "chew guard technology"). But that wasn't the case. Far from it, actually.  

My dog was immediately drawn to the Dragon — she has a preference for cute, colorful chew toys, so this was pretty much the obvious choice. In fact, I had to start literally hiding the GoDog toy from her to get her to play with the other ones I was testing, which was one of the early signs that it would end up ranking highly.   

I monitored this one extra closely solely based on the materials it was made from, seeing as it was the only fabric-based toy I opted to try out. But even with the microscope honed in, the little blue dragon stayed strong. Seriously, my dog didn't hold back on this thing — I even attempted to really put it through the wringer by using it in an intense tug-of-war match with Stevie, and everything stayed intact. Even the squeaker. And all the while, the toy maintained its plush fabric softness, making it a perfect cuddle buddy for my dog in between play sessions. 

After a month of being her go-to chew toy, I haven't noticed any visible signs of wear. At most, some of the fabric is matted down from a normal amount of dog slobber, but I threw it in the wash not too long ago, and it came out as good as new.

For aggressive chewers, I highly recommend GoDog Dragons — they're tough, adorable as all hell, and I think Stevie's "forever chew toy."

My dog isn't much of a swimmer. She actually really does not like water. Like, cowers in fear at raindrops. It's kind of sad to watch. 

Anyway, the Ruffwear HydroPlane(opens in a new tab) is designed to be a swimming dog's toy of choice. So, to test out if it floats, I threw it in my apartment complex's pool, and it definitely does! Cool!

But, as I mentioned, Stevie is hydrophobic, so I tested this as just a normal frisbee. I imagine the results would be the same on land or in water, seeing as the floating test was a success.

What I like a lot about the HydroPlane is that it's extremely malleable for a frisbee without sacrificing overall durability. The special fabric coating  lasted a little over two weeks before I saw some slight ripping, but not enough to render it unusable or expose the foam underneath. It's actually way safer than a typical frisbee, which tends to shed harmful plastic that animals probably shouldn't be ingesting.  

You can also get some pretty impressive distance if you throw it right, and the disc itself is big enough to make for some fun doggie tug-of-war matches. 

It also has a large hole in the center, which is perfect for putting around your dog like a little necklace. Maybe this won't matter to you, but it certainly did to me. 

It's probably one of the best dog frisbees I've used, and I foresee myself buying another one when this one reaches the end of its life cycle. 

Kong is, at least to me, the most recognizable dog toy brand — my family has been using them for years with their dog, as well as previous dogs. I figured I had to test out one of their toys for good measure, one that I hadn't come into contact with before. 

The Kong Extreme(opens in a new tab) stuck out to me not only for the name (EXTREME!), but also for its treat-holding design. The ultra-durable rubber chew toy features a hollow middle, enabling you to put your dog's usual go-to snacks in there, which is perfect for coaxing your dog into playtime when you need them to expel pent-up energy. Stevie's Kong snack of choice? Peanut butter. All day. 

I took the toy out of its packaging, washed it (which you should always do with new dog toys), and spooned a healthy serving of Jif into the center. Needless to say, my dog went absolutely nuts (no pun intended) over it, not leaving the toy's side until every drop of PB was lapped up. Only problem with that was, it made a mess everywhere. I'm talking peanut butter on my couch, my carpet, all over Stevie's face. Cute, but "peanuts" is not within my top five scents for my apartment to have. I didn't hold this against the toy since Kong didn't invent the messy nature of peanut butter. 

I moved on to a different type of treat after the peanut butter incident: Beggin' Strips. These worked way better — no mess, and I could control the difficulty of treat removal by adding and taking away strips. I even tried freezing the toy while packed with treats (which Kong recommends) and it increased the longevity of playtime by a noticeable margin for sure. 

The toy has a decent, unpredictable bounce to it, which makes it a great consideration for fetch, but only when it's empty — treats tend to fall out when you throw it if not packed tightly enough. You'd probably expect that, but it should be mentioned nonetheless, I think.   

And as you'd probably guess from the rubber construction, it has basically no signs of wear aside from a few scratches. 

"Made with real wood" is what caught my eye when I found the Petstages Dogwood Stick(opens in a new tab) while choosing toys to test for this story. My first thought: "OK, so it's just a stick?"

It turns out that the answer is "no," it's not just a stick. It's actually way better than a stick, and I've been told that a lot of dogs like sticks, so this stick may be the stick for your dog.

I'll get the one negative out of the way up front: This toy started falling apart and shedding real quick. I kind of expected that though, seeing that the toy is made from natural wood, and real sticks tend to break apart. I'm not sure if I can criticize the toy too much based on this, because the true value comes from the stick's safe, non-toxic design. That's a huge deal for when you want to let your dog play unsupervised — you can't necessarily do that if they're chewing on something that can potentially hurt them if ingested. 

So yes, it fell apart, but I didn't have to panic when it did — I could even leave the room to do other stuff while she gnawed away on it, which felt great. It also had a nice, natural wood smell that I could pick up on out of the box, and I could tell Stevie noticed it too from how quickly she took a liking to it (with lots of sniffing). This one floats, too. 

All good stuff, really. I think I definitely might buy another one. 

If I had to compare the GoughNuts(opens in a new tab) ring to any other toy on this list, I'd say it's very similar to the Kong Extreme, minus the hollow design. 

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's made from rubber (like the Kong), but is way thicker, making it way more compatible with super aggressive chewers — I actually think it would make a great teething toy for younger pups. 

Though the "GoughNuts.com" plastered on the top of the toy doesn't do much for the aesthetics, I forgot about that pretty quickly once I saw how much of a beating the thing could take. My dog went to town on it for hours, then days, then weeks, and it's still pretty much in the same shape as it was out of the box (only a few noticeable scratches and teeth marks). The ring is very heavy duty — you could probably knock someone out if you threw it hard enough — so I assumed that the toy's floatation claim was a sham, but lo and behold, it actually floats. 

Something that gave me pause, though, was the number of negative reviews of the product on Amazon. It looks like more than a few buyers complained that their dogs ate right through the ring after mere days. I didn't have this problem, but if your pup is a power chewer, your mileage may vary.

I still recommend the more durable, treat-storing Kong Extreme over the GoughNuts rubber ring, but it's definitely a close second place (at least in my case). It may be worth having both at the ready, just to give your dog some variety. 

I used to just use a tennis ball to play fetch with Stevie. That's the classic, right?

The Chuckit Ultra Ball(opens in a new tab) improves on the run-of-the-mill tennis ball in every way. Most notably, the lack of exterior fuzz is better for your dog's digestive system, and better for you, in terms of keeping it clean. (Have you tried cleaning a tennis ball? It sucks.) 

It's perfect for fetching purposes — it's super bouncy, it floats, has a textured surface that my dog loved to chew on (but maintains a softness that didn't hurt her mouth), and a squeaker that made it all the more enticing to Stevie's canine instincts. Another bonus was the bright orange color, which I didn't think would be helpful until I had to find it in a tall patch of grass. 

Stevie ran herself out of gas many times with a smile on her face, chasing after each consecutive toss with the same excitement as the first. Her favorite thing was when I would bounce it really high, and she would jump up to try and get it before it hit the ground. I think it's her new go-to ball, hands down. 

And for those who have large backyards, Chuckit offers a compatible ball launcher tool that can assist you in getting some major distance (which isn't really feasible for where I live, so I didn't test it out). It's disappointing that it's sold separately, but if you don't have a natural pitcher's arm, I would say go for it anyway. 

Not all good things can last forever. Unfortunately for this chew toy, it only lasted about two hours. Which is a shame, because my dog really loved it during the short time she got to spend with it. 

The Nylabone DuraChew(opens in a new tab) comes in three different dinosaur shapes, one of them being chosen at random when they ship it to you. I ended up getting the T-Rex. This isn't important, I just enjoy surprises. 

Reading the box, the things that stuck out for me (aside from its claim of durability with its nylon construction that comes recommended by veterinarians) were mentions of the embedded chicken flavor, and the cleaning nubs that are said to "clean teeth, reduce tartar, control plaque, and massage gums." 

That all sounded pretty great. 

When I popped open the package, I thought it might smell because of the chicken flavor, but it surprisingly didn't at all.

I tossed the nylon T-Rex to my dog and she pounced on it, starting to chew away without thinking twice. For a while, it looked like she was having a great time, but about two hours into playtime, I spotted some pieces shedding off. I didn't want my dog ingesting nylon bits, so I accepted defeat pretty quickly and took the toy away from Stevie. That's when I noticed that the original white toy now had red streaks on it, which turns out was blood from my dog's gums. Now, I'm not sure what happened here, but I'm assuming that the nubs and shedding pieces somehow scratched her while she was chewing causing her to bleed — either that or my dog has gingivitis, which I think is unlikely considering how often I brush her teeth. 

It's a bummer that we didn't get to try out the Nylabone DuraChew longer than that, because I initially had faith in the dental-care qualities that were described on the box. It simply didn't last long enough for us to really find out if it can deliver on that claim. For now, we have to say that this is a no.

This one was a little harder to review, mostly because my dog just had no idea how to play with this thing. It's not the toy's fault, and ultimately it'll come down to your dog's preference if they respond to the Virtually Indestructible Ball(opens in a new tab). 

One thing I can say with total certainty, though, is that this toy is never going to break. 

It's less of a chew toy and more of a "push it around and hit it against stuff" toy. It's not something that Stevie is used to by any means, so she spent most of her time just staring at it, looking back at me, then looking back at the toy, then back at me with pure confusion. She knocked it around a few times, but she just wasn't interested. 

I was determined to find out if it was really "indestructible" like the name claims, so I opted to become my dog for a moment and play with it myself — meaning I literally kicked the hell out of it a few times. And reader, it didn't make so much as a scuff. It definitely gets points for being an actual tank of a toy. Also, it comes in a random assortment of colors (I received a blue one), and it's really easy to wash.

But again, my dog just really wanted nothing to do with the ball. In my opinion, this one may be a little too niche, so I can't really recommend it unless you know for sure that it's the type of toy your pet will gravitate to. Otherwise, they'll probably move on from it relatively quickly, like mine did, and you'll find yourself kicking around a dog toy, wondering what the passersby are thinking of you. 

The Oneisall bone(opens in a new tab) has a very similar description to the Nylabone Dino toy earlier in this roundup, and I also encountered similar results, but the Oneisall edged out the win between the two for a few reasons.  

Like the Nylabone, the Oneisall took damage pretty quickly — noticeable shedding and deep tooth perforations appeared just a few days into my dog playing with it. The key difference here is that Stevie's gums didn't end up bleeding. So that's good. (I'm thinking that this is most likely due to the omission of the cleaning nubs that ended up cutting her.)

The Oneisall is bacon-flavored (I did not taste this, and I hope you weren't expecting me to), and is said to help clean your dog's teeth, but I ultimately couldn't judge that considering how long it lasted. What I can say is, it stayed intact longer than the Nylabone, it was a better shape for playing fetch, it didn't hurt my dog's mouth, and she seemed to have a lot of fun with it — so, it's slightly the better choice. 

I'm not sure how sold I am on Nylon-based dog toys, but if you're going to pick one from this list, I think this is your best option. 

The Monster K9 frisbee(opens in a new tab) succeeds in the durability department, but I honestly don't think it makes a good frisbee. It's just too heavy, and it gets weighed down mid-flight, sending it flopping to the ground. It felt like I was tossing pizza dough most of the time.

I took that defeat in stride and opted to just use it as a basic chew toy for Stevie — and hey, it worked pretty well. 

This non-toxic rubber disc is exceedingly tough, really malleable, and stretchy. As you could probably guess, it passed the tug-of-war test with flying colors. It was even tough enough to withstand my dog trapping it in between her paws, getting in some really good chew-and pulls. Stevie also seemed to enjoy folding the toy in her mouth and making some sort of chewy rubber taco. Cool! 

Around two weeks of regular use, the Monster K9 frisbee did start to get some surface-level scratching, but nothing to send it into retirement. I was actually surprised that it's generally thin body didn't suffer any punctures, but I'm happy to report that the disc is alive, well, and still getting chewed on. 

If you just want a straight frisbee, get the aforementioned Ruffwear HydroPlane. But, if you just want a disc-shaped toy that your dog could beat up, go with the Monster K9.