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Bully Sticks

Practical, honest guides on natural chews — sizing, safety, and what actually keeps dogs busy.

A tricolour beagle sitting on a kitchen tile floor looking up at a partly open freezer drawer holding a clear container of plain dried chew sticks

Can You Freeze Bully Sticks?

Yes, and a sealed dry stick gains almost nothing by it. Freezing pauses bacteria rather than killing them, and it raises the hardness that fractures teeth.

Aug 27, 2026 7 min read

A red dachshund sitting on wooden porch steps looking up at a person's hand offering a small biscuit, with a short chew stub on the step beside it

The Stub Rule: Exactly When to Take a Bully Stick Away

Take the bully stick away once the piece could fit entirely inside your dog's mouth — near three inches for most dogs, and sooner for a big one.

Aug 27, 2026 6 min read

A person kneeling on a kitchen tile floor at night beside a blue-grey pit-bull-type dog, one hand on its back and a phone in the other hand

My Dog Swallowed a Bully Stick: What to Do in the First Hour

Call your vet if your dog drools, gags, struggles to swallow, brings food back up or keeps gulping after eating a bully stick. Then the two-day watch window.

Aug 27, 2026 6 min read

A springer spaniel standing on a wooden back deck next to a seated person holding a mug in evening light

Cow Ears vs Bully Sticks: Which One Suits Your Dog

A bully stick lasts longer than a cow ear for most dogs and keeps a handle outside the mouth. We sell bully sticks and we do not sell cow ears.

Aug 27, 2026 7 min read

A resealable Foodiepaws bag of 6-inch bully sticks with a tear-here resealable strip across the top and a single bare dried stick standing alongside it

How to Store Bully Sticks So They Stay Good

Store bully sticks in their original bag, folded shut, somewhere dry and under 80°F, the temperature the FDA publishes. Here is what changes once the bag is open.

Aug 27, 2026 7 min read

A dachshund curled on a folded blanket inside an open wire crate in the corner of an empty living room in morning light

Can You Leave a Dog Alone With a Chew?

No: a bully stick is too big to swallow for nearly all of its life, and swallowable for the last few minutes. Why leaving is the risk, and what to give instead.

Aug 27, 2026 6 min read

A brindle great dane lying on a wide plank wood floor in a house entryway with a person's hand resting on its shoulder

Can a Bully Stick Cause a Blockage? Choking and Obstruction Differ

Yes, and length is the variable you control: a piece only jams once it is small enough to swallow whole. How choking, an esophageal lodge and a blockage differ.

Aug 27, 2026 6 min read

A single straight dried beef chew stick and a three-strand braided dried chew lying side by side on a wooden board on a kitchen counter

Collagen Sticks vs Bully Sticks: Two Chews, Two Different Jobs

A bully stick is dried beef pizzle; a collagen stick is collagen dried into a chew. Ours is braided lamb, so the protein differs as well as the texture.

Aug 27, 2026 6 min read

A Pembroke Welsh corgi lying belly-down on a laundry-room floor chewing a plain dried stick held between its front paws

Are Bully Sticks Digestible? What That Word Actually Promises

Yes. Beef pizzle is animal protein, which is what a dog's gut breaks down. No brand has published a test, and the real risk was never digestion. It is size.

Aug 27, 2026 6 min read

A person sitting cross-legged on a living-room rug holding out a plain dried chew stick to a twelve-week-old apricot labradoodle puppy leaning in to sniff it

The First Chew: How to Introduce a Puppy to a Bully Stick

Sit on the floor, hold one end of a short stick, and stop at five minutes. The first-session sequence, plus what to do when your puppy won't touch it.

Aug 27, 2026 7 min read

A bernese mountain dog sitting on a tiled kitchen floor beside a farmhouse sink, head tilted, in warm morning light

How a Bully Stick Is Made, Step by Step

Bully sticks are made by cleaning one beef pizzle, stretching it straight and drying it until the water is gone. Every step, and how to read the drying.

Aug 27, 2026 7 min read

A small wire-haired terrier mix standing on a hallway runner holding a natural dried chew stick in its mouth and looking up

Why Does My Dog Cry When I Give Him a Bully Stick?

Crying with a bully stick is usually about storing it, not pain: a house gives a dog nowhere to bury a valuable chew. How to tell that from a mouth problem.

Aug 27, 2026 7 min read