KONG or Nylabone chew toys?

Which to buy

Pick KONG for a teething puppy. The KONG Puppy listing says its natural rubber is the gentlest in the KONG line, made for a growing puppy's 28 baby teeth, and all three toys here can be filled with kibble, treats or paste. Size it by the pack, and by PDSA's rule: bigger than the dog's throat.

Pick Nylabone for a puppy that likes to gnaw rather than lick food out. Its puppy bones carry a flavour all the way through, and Nylabone UK says they are slightly softer and more flexible than its Extreme bones. The packs here hold two or three bones, so try the fingernail test on each one and hold back any you cannot dent.

For an adult dog, the KONG Classic listing calls its red rubber ultra-durable, and the KONG listings point power chewers to the Extreme line. Nylabone's Extreme bones are made from its toughest nylon: that is the hard nylon our teething puppy page leaves out.

Hard nylon and PDSA's fingernail test

PDSA says a chew should be soft enough to indent with your fingernail, and that anything harder can cause fractured teeth or bleeding gums, especially in a strong chewer. It should also be bigger than the dog's throat, so the whole toy cannot fit in its mouth.

Nylabone makes its Extreme bones from its toughest nylon, for dogs with extreme chewing styles, and its puppy bones from a soft thermoplastic polymer for puppies with their very first set of teeth. That split is why our teething puppy page picks a KONG Puppy and skips hard nylon bones.

The KONG listings say no toy is indestructible and to remove one once it is damaged. Nylabone says to supervise all chews and to replace a bone once its knuckle ends are worn down or it becomes too small to chew safely. PDSA says to check toys regularly and throw away any with parts that could be bitten off or swallowed.