Chow Chow refuses every chew toy? Try this

A year of rejected chew toys with a Chow Chow — that's a frustrating pattern, and it's more common with this breed than people realise. The right chew toy for a serious chewer has to be durable enough to last without being so hard it risks cracking teeth, and the right choice really does hinge on the dog's chewing style and jaw strength. Chows can be particularly selective — they often reject toys that smell synthetic, have the wrong texture, or don't give them any real sensory reward. Before I point you in a direction, can you tell me: is your dog an aggressive chewer or more of a gnawer, and what's been the main pattern when she rejects toys — does she sniff them and walk away, or does she try them briefly and lose interest?

That sniff-and-walk pattern tells me something important — she's not rejecting chewing itself, she's rejecting the reward signal. Chair legs offer something most commercial chew toys don't: real resistance, a slightly rough texture, and probably a scent that interests her. Rubber toys often smell too processed, antlers are too hard and odourless once dry, and bully sticks vary wildly in quality. The fact that she's going after furniture rather than toys also suggests boredom is the bigger driver than anxiety — does she tend to do it when you're out, or even when you're home?

That makes sense — Chows are low-activity but mentally stubborn dogs, and oral fixation without an outlet lands squarely on your furniture. Here's what I'd recommend: the Kong Extreme in size Large. I know you may have tried a basic Kong and dismissed it, but the Extreme version is a different product — it's made from their toughest black rubber compound, has a more satisfying resistance for a moderate chewer, and crucially it's designed to be stuffed. An empty Kong is nearly always ignored by picky dogs. Packed with something genuinely high-value — cream cheese, peanut butter, a bit of wet food — and frozen overnight, it becomes a slow-release food puzzle. The scent and taste change the entire equation for a dog who rejects purely tactile toys. For a 7-year-old Chow, the Large size gives her enough to grip and work at without being overwhelming. It's the closest commercially available thing to the resistance and sensory reward she's getting from your chair legs.

Yes, meaningfully so — and the stuffing is the whole game-changer. An unstuffed Kong is just a bouncy rubber object to a dog like her. The Extreme's rubber is noticeably denser and darker, which also tends to hold scent better than the red Classic version. Freeze it with something she already loves — even just her regular wet food mixed with a spoonful of peanut butter — and you've turned it into a 20-to-30-minute occupation rather than a three-second curiosity. Given she's 7 and a moderate chewer rather than a destroyer, the Extreme will also last her years without degrading. It's worth one more genuine trial, done properly with stuffing from the start.

Good — give it three or four sessions before drawing any conclusions, and vary the filling so it stays interesting. If she's still cold after that, come back and we'll look at whether a different texture entirely — something more like natural wood or a compressed chew — might suit her better. But stuffed and frozen is almost always the missing step with picky dogs. Good luck with her.