Choosing Safe Dog Toys: What to Look For When You Buy

In brief

There are four things you should know. First: there is a simple rule of thumb that prevents many bad buys – if you can’t make a dent in the material with your thumbnail, or it doesn’t give at all, be especially careful. Second: that puts nylon bones, antlers, hooves and bones in the critical category – even when they’re sold as chew toys. Third, from veterinary dental practice: classic tennis balls are considered to damage teeth not by breaking them but by wearing them down – the rough felt acts like sandpaper. And fourth: tooth fractures are common in dogs, and the AAHA dental care guidelines see no strong rationale for offering hard chews such as antlers or bones.

Toys do a lot for a dog’s activity and well-being – but the choice of toy helps decide whether it helps or harms. This guide goes through what matters about materials, which widely sold products are problematic, and how to use toys so that they also pay off in terms of behavior.

👉 The basics of preventive care and health checks for your dog

1. The most important test of all

In veterinary dental practice, there is a simple rule of thumb for chews and chew toys:

As a rule of thumb: if you can’t leave a mark with your thumbnail, or the material doesn’t give at all, be especially careful.

Hardness isn’t the only factor – shape, edges, elasticity and the way your dog chews all play a part. But it’s the one you can check in the store.

The reason is physical: tooth enamel is very hard, but that also makes it brittle. When it meets a material that doesn’t give, with the full force of a bite, the tooth can break – not the toy.

A laboratory study shows the order of magnitude: extracted upper fourth premolars from dogs broke at an average load of about 1,281 newtons. The authors conclude that dogs regularly given hard treats and toys that do not yield well below this load might be at increased risk of fracture. What the study can show is limited: 24 teeth from deceased dogs, each loaded once until it broke – it shows a plausible mechanism, not how often fractures happen in everyday life.

In practice, a typical injury is the so-called slab fracture: a piece of the tooth crown breaks off on the side. Among the cheek teeth, the upper fourth premolar, the large carnassial tooth below the eye, is reported to fracture most often. If a fracture exposes the pulp, oral bacteria get into the tooth, which leads to infection and death of the pulp – such a tooth needs a root canal or extraction.

And they often go unnoticed. Many dogs keep eating, keep playing and show no obvious pain. These fractures are often discovered only at a dental checkup – sometimes months later. Even fractures without visible pulp exposure are not automatically harmless: in a retrospective study of 111 such fractures of the upper fourth premolar, about a quarter showed X-ray signs of inflammation at the root tip; the authors therefore recommend X-raying every such fracture.

2. What that rules out

These products are widely sold as chew toys and fail the test:

• Antlers – the AAHA dental care guidelines see no strong rationale for offering hard treats such as antlers or synthetic or natural bones, because they can damage the tooth. “Natural” doesn’t mean “safe” here.
• Bones, raw or cooked. Cooked bones also splinter. Ring-shaped bones can get stuck behind the lower canine teeth and then have to be removed under anesthesia.
• Hooves
• Hard nylon bones – they fall under the synthetic bones that the AAHA guidelines name in the same breath as antlers.
• Hard, thick rawhide chews
• Ice cubes in larger quantities

What works instead: chew toys made of natural rubber or other rubber that gives. They can still be very durable – durable and hard are two different things.

For additional guidance, there is the VOHC seal, which marks products whose effectiveness against plaque or tartar has been tested in studies. The seal says nothing about the safety of a chew – its hardness, for example.

3. The tennis ball – a different kind of damage

With the tennis ball, the issue isn’t breakage but abrasion.

We found no systematic studies on this; the following description is based on veterinary dental practice. Classic tennis balls with rough felt are the main problem – balls made specifically for dogs often have a different surface. The felt is much rougher than it looks, and it picks up sand and dirt during play. When your dog chews and carries it, it then acts like sandpaper on the tooth enamel. Over months and years, the tips of the teeth can wear down – in practice this is described as “blunting,” meaning a flattening of the teeth.

Once the enamel is thin enough, the dentin underneath is exposed. Dentin is sensitive to pain and more prone to inflammation.

The insidious part is how inconspicuous it is. There’s no event, no crack, no emergency – just gradual wear that only becomes noticeable once it’s far advanced. Dogs that fetch a lot and for long stretches are the most affected.

What follows from this: a tennis ball for the occasional throw is something different from a tennis ball a dog chews on every day or carries around in their mouth for hours. If your dog is a ball fan, there are ball-shaped alternatives made of smooth rubber that do the same job without the sanding effect.

The same applies to frisbees with a rough surface.

And about size: a ball has to be big enough that it can’t slip behind the base of the tongue. In practice, balls that are too small are a known choking risk – especially in large dogs playing with small balls.

On ball play itself – benefits, limits and the question of overarousal: Ball games with dogs.

4. Size, material, workmanship

Size. A toy must not fit entirely into your dog’s mouth. Don’t judge this by feel – check it on your dog. And remember that dogs in a state of excitement swallow things they wouldn’t swallow when calm.

Material. Look for statements such as free of plasticizers and BPA, transparent manufacturer information and traceable origin. Avoid: strong-smelling cheap products without any information, and painted wood with an unknown coating.

Workmanship. No loose parts or glued-on details. Sturdy seams on fabric toys. Squeakers must be firmly built in.

A note on squeakers: for some dogs, the squeaker is a strong stimulus that practically fuels taking the toy apart. If your dog systematically rips open plush toys until they get to the squeaker, that isn’t a material problem but a question of supervision.

Rope toys deserve a note of their own: frayed fibers can be swallowed and bunch up in the intestine. That is one of the nastier foreign-body situations. Ropes are for playing together, not for a dog left unsupervised.

5. Which toy for which dog

Plush suits dogs that carry and cuddle rather than take things apart. Washable and without small parts that can be swallowed. For shredders, it isn’t a lasting toy but a consumable under supervision.

Chew toys are important for young dogs that are teething and for dogs with a strong need to chew. In many dogs, chewing can contribute to relaxation – that is a real effect, not a side issue. What matters is the material: yielding, not hard.

Puzzle toys promote concentration and tire your dog out without physical strain – ideal for rainy days, for dogs on restricted activity and for seniors. Make sure no parts can come loose.

One thing that often goes wrong: the difficulty level has to fit. A game your dog fails at creates frustration instead of satisfying activity. Start easy and only increase the difficulty once it works reliably.

Interactive toys – fetch, throw and tug toys – are used together and put away afterward.

More ideas for keeping your dog busy: Brain games and scent work.

6. About tug games – setting the record straight

Tug games have a bad reputation that persists stubbornly: supposedly they make dogs dominant or aggressive. There is no solid evidence for that. On the contrary, tug is one of the best cooperative games there is – it happens between the two of you, not side by side.

What really matters is how you play:

• Don’t lift your dog up. All four paws should stay on the ground.
• Don’t jerk sideways. Pull along the length of the body, evenly.
• Let your dog help set the intensity.
• Build in breaks and be able to end the game on cue.
• With young dogs that are teething, hold back considerably.

Played this way, tug keeps the strain on the joints low, strengthens your relationship and is an excellent reinforcer in training.

7. Everyday handling

Observe, especially at first. How does your dog handle the new toy? Do they carry it, or take it apart? That determines whether it can be left with them unsupervised.

Check regularly for tears, loose parts and split seams. Damaged toys get replaced, not repaired.

Nothing that can be taken apart while your dog is home alone. Chews, ropes and plush are for a supervised dog. For time alone, sturdy rubber toys that can be filled are a good choice.

Rotate instead of piling up. If twenty toys are lying around all the time, at some point none of them is interesting anymore. Four or five in rotation work much better – and a toy that only comes out when you play together keeps its value as a reward.

If your dog guards toys, taking them away is the worst response. It can make the guarding worse. What makes sense instead is a carefully built-up trade – and, if the guarding is pronounced, professional support.

On hygiene: wash fabric toys regularly and rinse off rubber toys. And with food puzzles, make sure no leftovers spoil inside.

8. Check, clean, sort out

Choosing in the store is one half. The other half is that a toy that was safe today doesn’t have to be safe three months from now – and that part almost never gets done.

8.1 The monthly check

Once a month, go through the whole basket and sort out anything that shows the following:

Cracks and protruding bits on rubber toys – that’s where the next piece to be bitten off starts.

Frayed ropes. The point from section 4 gets more serious over time: the more the rope has come apart, the more loose fibers there are.

Open seams and exposed stuffing on fabric toys. A plush toy whose squeaker has become reachable is no longer a toy.

Worn and thinned spots – especially on balls that get carried a lot.

And anything that has gotten smaller. A chew that has been gnawed down to half its size will at some point reach a size at which it can be swallowed. That is a typical route to a foreign body.

8.2 Cleaning

Toys get damp, lie around outside and pass through many mouths. Rubber and hard plastic toys can be rinsed with hot water, and many can also go in the dishwasher. Fabric toys should be washed at 60 °C if the material allows it.

That isn’t being obsessive about hygiene: with several dogs in a household or in a group, shared toys are a route of transmission – the same consideration as with the water bowl.

8.3 Rotation instead of constant availability

A point that has nothing to do with safety and still makes a big difference: toys that lie around all the time lose their appeal. If you put some of them away and swap them every few weeks, you get much more out of the same items.

And the special items – the tug rope, the training ball – should be put away anyway. Whatever is always available is no use as a reward.

9. When to see your veterinarian

Immediately if your dog has swallowed a piece or you suspect they have – especially rope fibers, plush stuffing, plastic parts or pieces of a ball.

Signs of an intestinal blockage: repeated vomiting, no bowel movements, abdominal pain, a tense posture, loss of appetite, apathy. This can develop over days.

And if you suspect dental damage: chewing on one side, dropping food, pulling away when the muzzle is touched, rubbing the face. In dogs, tooth pain rarely shows itself loudly.

How to recognize pain: Recognizing pain in dogs.

And because it belongs here: sticks are not toys. The injuries they cause are among the nastiest there are.

Why: Stick injuries in dogs.

10. Conclusion on dog toys

Toys are one of the few things in everyday life with a dog where a single purchase decision has effects for years.

The three things that matter:

Apply the thumbnail rule of thumb. What you can’t dent won’t give way to your dog’s teeth either.

With balls, pay attention to the surface. Smooth rubber instead of felt, and big enough that it can’t slip back.

Choose for your dog, not for the shelf. A shredder needs something different from a carrier, and a teething young dog something different from an adult.

And the best toy is the one you do something with together anyway.

Key takeaways on dog toys

One rule of thumb prevents many bad buys: if you can’t leave a mark with your thumbnail, or the material doesn’t give, be careful.

The reason is physical. Tooth enamel is very hard and therefore brittle – when it meets something that doesn’t give, with the full force of a bite, the tooth can break, not the toy.

That rules out antlers, hooves, bones and hard nylon bones, even when they’re sold as chew toys. “Natural” doesn’t mean “safe” here.

A typical injury in practice is a slab fracture of the upper fourth premolar – and it often goes unnoticed because many dogs keep eating normally. It is often discovered only months later at a dental checkup.

With the tennis ball, the issue isn’t breakage but abrasion. According to veterinary dental practice, the rough felt picks up sand and acts like sandpaper – the damage develops gradually and without any noticeable event.

Durable and hard are two different things. Chew toys made of natural rubber give and can still be very durable.

A toy must not fit entirely into your dog’s mouth – and when excited, dogs swallow things they wouldn’t swallow when calm.

Frayed rope fibers can bunch up in the intestine. That’s one of the reasons toys need to be sorted out regularly – what was safe today won’t necessarily be safe in three months.

About the sources

The statements on tooth fractures and hard chews rest on the 2019 AAHA Dental Care Guidelines, a laboratory study on the fracture load of the upper fourth premolar and a retrospective study of fractures of this tooth. The thumbnail rule of thumb, the slab fracture as a typical pattern, the abrasive effect of tennis ball felt and the statements on choking and foreign bodies (balls, ropes, ring-shaped bones) are based on veterinary practice; we found no systematic studies on these points.

For the German-speaking countries, where this guide was originally written, there are no robust figures on how often specific types of toy-related injury occur.

The claim that tug games promote dominance or aggression is considered unsupported in behavioral research; the play rules listed follow common practical training recommendations.

Note: This guide does not replace a veterinary examination. If you suspect your dog has swallowed a piece of something or has damaged a tooth, contact your veterinary practice.

References

• Bellows, J., Berg, M. L., Dennis, S., Harvey, R., Lobprise, H. B., Snyder, C. J., Stone, A. E. S. & Van de Wetering, A. G. (2019): 2019 AAHA Dental Care Guidelines for Dogs and Cats. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 55(2): 49–69. https://doi.org/10.5326/JAAHA-MS-6933 (no strong rationale for offering hard treats such as antlers or synthetic or natural bones, which can damage the tooth; fractured teeth can often be prevented by appropriate selection of chews and toys; a fracture with pulp exposure leads to infection and necrosis of the pulp; VOHC acceptance as evidence of effectiveness against plaque and tartar)
• Soltero-Rivera, M., Elliott, M. I., Hast, M. W., Shetye, S. S., Castejon-Gonzalez, A. C., Villamizar-Martinez, L. A., Stefanovski, D. & Reiter, A. M. (2019): Fracture Limits of Maxillary Fourth Premolar Teeth in Domestic Dogs Under Applied Forces. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 5: 339. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2018.00339 (24 maxillary fourth premolars from cadavers; mean fracture load 1,281 N; hard treats and toys that do not yield well below this load might increase fracture risk; ex vivo study with a single load to failure)
• Goodman, A. E., Niemiec, B. A., Carmichael, D. T., Thilenius, S., Lamb, K. E. & Tozer, E. (2020): The Incidence of Radiographic Lesions of Endodontic Origin Associated with Uncomplicated Crown Fractures of the Maxillary Fourth Premolar in Canine Patients. Journal of Veterinary Dentistry 37(2): 71–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898756420946500 (retrospective study; radiographic lesions of endodontic origin in 27 of 111 uncomplicated crown fractures, 24.3%, versus 0 of 500 control teeth; recommendation to radiograph every such fracture)
• Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC): VOHC Seal of Acceptance. https://vohc.org/ (the seal is awarded for plaque control, tartar control or both, to products that meet the VOHC standards for effectiveness)

Frequently asked questions about dog toys