February is Pet Dental Month

This month, to celebrate Pet Dental Month, Chewy.com sent us Zukes Z-Bones to try out. They are a dental chew meant to help keep dogs' teeth free of tartar. As usual, while I did get this product for free to try out, all opinions shared are entirely our own, and we were not compensated in any other way.

She's a little drooly and foamy from playing frisbee before our shoot

I've actually been using the Z-Bones as a treat when Koira gets in the car. I hand them to her shortly before we reach the "scary" part of the drive (roads over 35 mph) to try to help her stay calm while traveling. The Z-Bone doesn't last too long, maybe 2-3 minutes, but it is longer than handing her a small training treat. I do really think it has helped distract her during the scary transition part of the drive, and is hopefully helping her associate driving faster roads with good things rather than scary things (though she has such long lasting, ingrained fears I don't expect a magical cure, just a slightly better than it was before change).

Perfect barbell balance

I'm not totally sure how well the Z-Bones work for cleaning teeth. I've always sort of felt that if food items could be used to effectively clean teeth, we would have teeth cleaning chews for humans too. That said, I don't think it hurts at all, and for all I know, it does help. Koira's teeth are in really good condition for being 8 years old, and she only had a teeth cleaning once, last year, which we did because she was under anyway to get her canine out, so the extra $60 or so seemed like, why not.

If you look close, you can see the Z-Bone on her nose

The Z-Bones do smell delicious, and Koira seems to like them. I think I will plan on continuing to use them in the car, at least for a while, and if they help her teeth as well as making her less freaked in the car, that would be great.

Om Nom Nom