Rawhide | Review Bunker

My dog’s breath smells. It seems to be a pretty common problem, with a few solutions. Luckily, he’s young and his isn’t the most offensive dog breath I’ve encountered, so I am hoping it will be an easy problem to erase. My veterinarian advocates brushing his teeth - but I am not quite at the point where I will willingly wrestle him to the ground to clean his teeth. For now, I have decided to try a few of the many breath freshening treats designed for dogs, and hope that his breath clears up before it gets worse. My first purchase in this quest was a package of Dingo Dental Stix found at Walmart for about $1.50. The packaging boasts, “with the power of baking soda!” - and promises to clean my dog’s teeth as he chews on the rawhide/chicken sticks.

One built-in benefit of these treats is the fact that they are treats - every time I give one to Phoenix he excitedly carries it to a safe place (usually under the bed, as seen here), and gives his full attention to devouring it. Unfortunately, he eats these treats so quickly that it seems the chewing process might not be helping to clean his teeth. I have been feeding him one stick every day or two for the past week, and he loves them as treats, but the question is, have they helped his breath?

Honestly, it’s not easy to get your dog to breath in your face when you want him to, and I don’t have a scientific method for measuring the smell, but as far as I can tell - his breath is actually a bit better than it used to be. It certainly isn’t minty fresh, but that really isn’t a requirement for a dog, and I am pretty happy with how well Dingo Dental Stix have seemed to work. If nothing else, Phoenix definitely enjoys eating them. For a cheap solution that seems to work pretty well I am happy with the results, and I hope to find that his breath continues to improve if I continue to buy these treats.

One of the downsides with the Dingo Dental Stix is, if your dog is a bit sloppy like mine, a few bits of the treat might be left on the carpet after he is done eating. Also, the unnaturally bright green color of the treat is a little off-putting, I certainly wouldn’t eat one, but my dog doesn’t seem to mind - let’s just hope he isn’t allergic to green dye.