Best chew toy for anxious Basset Hound

The right chew toy for a serious chewer has to hit a specific sweet spot — durable enough to survive a determined dog, but not so hard it risks cracking teeth, which is a real concern with natural bone or very dense nylon. The right choice depends a lot on chewing style and jaw strength. To point you in the right direction: what breed and size is your dog, would you call them a moderate or aggressive chewer, and what's driving the search — boredom, destructive chewing, or something like anxiety?

That's a really important distinction — she's not an aggressive chewer by nature, she's an anxious chewer. The compulsive chewing during storms is a stress response, so what she actually needs is something that gives her mouth and brain something to work on that also helps settle her down. A chair leg offers no resistance variation and no reward, which is part of why it becomes compulsive. Does she have any existing toys she gravitates toward, and has she ever used a Kong or food-stuffed toy before?

That stress-eating detail is actually very useful — it means during a storm she'll almost certainly engage with a stuffed Kong in a way she might not on a calm day. That flips the Kong from a chew toy into a calming tool, which is exactly what you need here. I'd go with the Kong Classic in the red Large size — it's the right durability level for a medium dog who isn't a chronic power chewer but needs something that won't fall apart under anxious, sustained chewing. The hollow centre means you can stuff it with something like peanut butter or wet food and freeze it the night before a storm is forecast. The combination of the chewing action and the licking to get the food out has a genuinely calming effect — it activates the parasympathetic nervous system in a way that pure destructive chewing doesn't. It redirects the anxiety into something productive rather than just letting it spiral.

Keep two or three stuffed and frozen at all times — that's the move. Bassets can be sensitive to pressure changes before storms even arrive, so she may start showing signs before you've checked the forecast. Having them ready means you can intervene early, which matters a lot with anxiety-driven chewing. Early redirection is far more effective than trying to calm her down once she's already mid-spiral. The Kong Classic Large is easy to find on Amazon UK, usually around £12-14, and it'll outlast almost anything else you could give her.

Good plan. One tip: introduce her to the Kong on a calm day first so it already has positive associations before a storm hits — you don't want the first encounter to be when she's already anxious. Start with something smelly she loves, like a bit of cheese or peanut butter, and let her figure it out at her own pace. By the time the next storm rolls around, it'll be a familiar comfort object rather than something new and uncertain.