Benebone Wishbone Durable Dog Chew (Small, Bacon) Review

Chewing isn't a habit you can train out of a dog; it's a need you can only redirect. Dachshunds, bred to bite things for a living, are among the worst offenders — deny them a proper chew and they'll draft your table legs. The Benebone Wishbone is our favorite durable answer because of one deceptively simple design choice: the curved wishbone shape means the ends sit up off the floor. A short-legged, small-pawed dog can pin one end and gnaw the other at a natural angle, where a straight nylon bone just skitters away. Watch a small dog with each and the preference is obvious within a minute.

The bacon matters too. Benebone infuses real bacon through the entire nylon body rather than coating the outside, so the toy still smells interesting to your dog after weeks of gnawing. Dogs work at it the way they'd work at a real bone — scraping, repositioning, holding it between their paws — and the material gives up ground slowly, in fine shavings rather than dangerous chunks. The Small is right for anything under 30 lb; a mini dachshund handles it comfortably. Bigger dogs should size up honestly, because a too-small hard chew is both a swallowing risk and a jaw-depth mismatch.

Now the responsible fine print, because hard chews demand it. Nylon is harder than tooth enamel, and a truly ballistic chewer — the kind that cracks antlers — can fracture a carnassial tooth on any hard chew, this one included. If that describes your dog, talk to your vet before buying. For everyone else: supervise chew sessions, check the toy weekly, and retire it once the ends wear down or your dog can raise a nub bigger than a grain of rice. Benebone themselves are refreshingly blunt about this, which we count in their favor. Follow the rules and this is months of safe, satisfying chewing for the price of two lattes.