Bully Sticks

A bully stick is dried bull pizzle and nothing else — no binders, no basting, no added flavour. That single ingredient is the whole appeal: high in protein, low in fat, and it breaks down in the gut far more readily than rawhide does, which is why it has largely replaced rawhide on Australian shelves. PeekAPaw carries them from BlackDog, WAG, Bugsy's, The Pet Project, Bark & Beyond and Freezy Paws.

Match the format to the chewer, not the dog's age. A standard 12–15cm stick is gone in minutes for a determined labrador and lasts a small terrier half an hour. Jumbo and braided sticks are noticeably denser and are the ones worth buying for a power chewer — braiding three strands together roughly triples the chewing time over a single stick of the same length. Bite sized pieces are the training option: same ingredient, portioned so you can hand over several without unbalancing the day's food.

Two practical notes. Bully sticks are calorie dense, so count them into the daily ration rather than adding them on top — a full stick is a meaningful part of a small dog's day. And supervise the end of the chew: once the last few centimetres are small enough to swallow whole, take it away or clip it into a holder.

Smell is the usual complaint. Sticks dried longer are much lower odour; the cheaper, faster dried ones are the pungent ones. If odour matters in your house, buy the low odour lines and store the pack sealed.

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