All Natural Dog Chews and Treats

With wedding season getting into full swing, many dog owners are agonizing over whether or not to include their beloved pets in their special day. While it can certainly be fun, entertaining, and adorable to have your four-legged friend included and all dressed up, there are a couple of things to take into consideration before sending them down the aisle.

Make Sure Everybody is OK with it

Check with everybody involved with the wedding before committing to having your dog a part of it. Some of your attendants may have allergies, the officiant may not approve, and the location may have rules against pets (many churches only allow dogs that are with a blind person to enter). Make sure to get the go ahead before you plan your entire ceremony around your dog being there to save yourself the headache later.

Ensure Your Dog is up to the Task

If your dog has problems accepting simple commands like "sit" and "stay", then including them in the wedding may be a mistake. If your dog is easily distracted, they could wander away during the ceremony, something especially problematic if your wedding is being held outdoors. Having your dog in the roll of flower dog or ring bearer is a great idea right up until they go chasing birds with your rings in tow. Make sure they'll actually make it down the aisle before you commit to having them come down the aisle.

Can Your Reception Accommodate Your Dog?

Just because your location is willing to have your dog there doesn't mean that they're capable of taking care of your dog. Make sure that they can provide food for your dog or that you provide them with the appropriate food if they can't.

Make Sure Your Pet Will Be Entertained

You will have many responsibilities during the ceremony and reception, make sure that your dog can either entertain itself, or will be entertained by friends and family that are willing to play with them. Having a supply of dog treats and other chews like bully sticks and anterlz is a good way to keep them occupied and happy without having to worry about somebody devoting time to them.

Have a Great Time

The key to your wedding is that you have a great time, and if you can incorporate your dog while doing so, even better. Be sure to keep these things in mind and you're sure to have a great wedding day with or without your dog.

This is the start of a weekly question and answer section where we hope to expand on typical questions that we get on a daily and weekly basis.  We hope that this information will be found informative and urge you to still contact us if you have any additional questions!

Are all bully sticks created equal?  What are the differences?

The first thing that one should consider when purchasing bully sticks or any other all natural dog treats is the country of origin.  Most of the bully sticks found in major pet stores are from India or other parts of the world outside of South America.  The living conditions of people and livestock in these countries is less than appealing and as such we only sell product from free-ranging South American cattle.  This cattle is considered "green cattle" as it is not given hormones or fed feed.  This cattle typically grazes freely on open grass fields and grows naturally.  Many people ask why not make bully sticks from North American cattle?  The reason for this is that it is expensive, and also most of the cattle in the US is kept in feedlots and encouraged to grow at a much faster rate (growth hormones) than free-ranging cattle.

Another difference between bully sticks on the marketplace is whether or not they are vertically drained and then baked.  It is much cheaper to sun dry bully sticks and other natural treats, but it is much riskier as potential diseases and bugs can enter the product much more easily.  All of our treats and chews are all-natural and oven finished, which is more expensive but keeps the quality of the product high.

We are also routinely asked about "odor-free" bully sticks.  Quite simply put there is no such thing.  Bully Sticks are an all-natural beef product and as such should have some odor to them.  If you ate a banana or even a steak your expectation is that it would smell like a banana or a steak..and if it did not you would be concerned.  Many manufacturers currently selling bully sticks wash their products in peroxide (bleach) and other chemicals which are not healthy but cause the product to have no smell at all.  Again, we prefer to offer products which are truly all-natural and as such they may have a slight odor.

Lastly, we recommend asking the store where you purchase treats and chews like bully sticks from if their products are irradiated.  A lot (most) of the bully sticks on the market today are irradiated (treated by radiation to reduce the chance of infectious diseases) ours are not.  All of our products are lab tested in country and in the US by both the FDA and USDA and are approved without problem or disease.  We don't know about you but we would not want our dogs treats or food undergoing radiation therapy to make sure that it is safe to eat.  As long as the correct manufacturing processes are in place a bully stick or any other dog treat should never be irradiated.  It is common for manufacturers to hide whether or not their products are irradiated so make sure to ask!

We hope that this clears up any confusion and answers some of the common questions regarding bully sticks that we get on a regular basis.

About the Author

Best Bully Sticks is a leading provider of dog treats, bully sticks, antlerz, Sam's Yams, and other dog chews and treats. They can be found online at: http://www.bestbullysticks.com .

Sam's Yams and Antlerz join already impressive list of dog treats

Richmond, VA – (PRWeb) – February 14, 2008 – Best Bully Sticks, a leading provider of dog treats and chews, is proud to announce the addition of two new products, Sam's Yams and Antlerz, to their already extensive product line.

Created from dried, human food quality fresh sweet potatoes, Sam's Yams are a great alternative to bully sticks.  Rich in anti-oxidants, the sweet potatoes used to make Sam's Yams are, like all of Best Bully Sticks dog treats, great for the gums and teeth of your dog.  Essentially a vegetable rawhide chew, dogs everywhere are already falling in love with these chews.

Also joining Sam's Yams on the Best Bully Sticks product line are Antlerz.  A 100% natural, mineral rich dog chew, these treats are made from deer antlers.  Wild deer shed their antlers once a year, and these shed antlers are gathered by ranch workers and turned into Antlerz chews.  A renewable chew that won't splinter and chip like rawhide, Antlerz show high concentrations of calcium and phosphorus, with trace amounts of iron, zinc, and sodium – all great for a dog's health.

"We're so happy to be adding Sam's Yams and Antlerz to our product line," Avrum Elmakis, president of Best Bully Sticks said.  "They're great products that we know our clients' dogs will love as much as ours do.  They're the next best thing to a bully stick."

About Best Bully Sticks

Best Bully Sticks is a Richmond, Virginia based company that specializes in the sale of all natural dog treats, bully sticks, and other chews.  All of their bully sticks come from 100% Brazilian cattle and are free of any hormones or other additives.  Best Bully Sticks can be found online at:  http://www.bestbullysticks.com .

Contact

Avrum Elmakis

http://www.bestbullysticks.com

804-477-6033

We are frequently asked by our customers what items sell the best and what dogs seem to prefer; so we put together a Top Ten List highlighting our Suggestions:

10. Bully Bites- A fun treat or snack

9. Pig Ears-They have been around forever and all dogs like them 8. Open Gullets-These are like beef jerky for dogs

7. Shin Bones-A must for entertaining larger dogs

6. Chicken Fillets-Great treats that last a while and come in value sizes

5. Beef Tendons or Curly Bully Sticks- the friction of the curly ones is great for the teeth and gums

4. Sam’s Yam’s-Sweet Potato Treats, and Other Sweet Potato dog treats like Duck and Sweet Potato

3. Stuffed gullets are always a fun treat/chew that your dog is sure to enjoy (Bronze)

2. A proven healthy winner –Trachea and Stuffed Trachea (Silver)

1. A dog’s all time favorite is of course a bully stick!!! (GOLD)

As more and more pet owners search for treats and chews that their pets will enjoy and are good for them at the same time, the debate between two popular types of dog treats is raised once again.  Which is better – bully sticks or rawhide?  While each dog treat has supporters and detractors, a more in depth look at both may help to make the decision easier when you're looking at both in the aisles of your local pet supply store.

Rawhide

Rawhide treats and chews have been around seemingly forever.  Lining the aisles of pet supply stores, rawhide chews are available in a huge variety of sizes for both puppies and larger dogs, shapes that range from bones to twists and ties, and flavors including chicken, beef, lamb and duck.

The biggest appeal of rawhide is how affordable it is.  Available both individually and in bulk, rawhide dog treats can cost less than a dollar a piece, while lasting for weeks and sometimes even months at a time.  Considered suitable for dogs both small and large, compressed rawhide is generally reserved for smaller breeds as it can become a choking hazard for larger dogs when they attempt to swallow pieces of it whole.

Rawhide dog treats are often criticized for a number of different reasons, not the least of which is the choking hazard they can present if broken into smaller pieces through use and the inability of most dogs to actually digest the rawhide they do ingest, instead having pass through their digestive tract where it can cause damage if there are sharp ridges on the ingested piece.  Because of this, more and more dog owners are turning to dog treats that don't present a choking hazard and that can be digested by their pets as they would their food.

Bully Sticks

With the panic caused by contaminated pet food in 2007, there grew a huge demand for all natural dog chews and treats.  Because of that, bully sticks have grown in popularity with pet owners all over the country in search of dog treats that they feel comfortable with and that their dogs will enjoy.

Unlike rawhide treats, bully sticks are made from the beef of the cow, not the hide, allowing for it to be digested and processed by the dog as it would their food instead of passing it through their system like rawhide.  Much like rawhide, bully sticks are available in numerous sizes, from just a few inches for smaller breeds to nearly a yard long for larger dogs, styles including braided bully sticks as a way to work the teeth and jaw muscles, and flavors that include chicken treats for dogs and lamb treats for dogs among others.

Much like rawhide treats, bully sticks can last from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the size of the treat given to the dog, and while with larger breeds and rawhide you have to be wary of the choking hazard from broken pieces, bully sticks are easily digested by breeds both large and small and won't chip and break to present a choking hazard like rawhide.

Which One to Choose

While technically neither choice is incorrect, when it really comes down to it, the trend of dog treats and chews seems to be moving more towards bully sticks simply because of their status as an all natural treat that can be digested just like food without any worry of contamination.  With plenty of flavors, sizes, and styles to suit every size and type of dog, bully sticks are quickly taking the place of rawhide on the aisles of pet supply stores around the country.

About the Author

Avrum Elmakis is the president of Best Bully Sticks, a leading provider of dog treats, bully sticks, beef trachea, and other all natural dog chews and treats.  They can be found online at:  http://www.bestbullysticks.com .