Are Antlers Good for Dogs? The Honest Pros and Cons

If you have been looking into antlers, you will have noticed something odd. Search for them and you get vets telling you never to give one, and shops telling you they are wonderful.

I sell antlers. I also think the vets have a point. So here is the version I give people on the stall, which is neither of those things.

Are antlers good for dogs?

For the right dog, yes. For the wrong dog, they are one of the worst things you could give.

The difference is not the antler. It is how your dog chews.

Let us deal with the teeth first

This is the real objection and it deserves a straight answer rather than a paragraph of reassurance.

Antler is harder than tooth enamel. A dog who bites down hard on one, the way they might crack a bone, can fracture a tooth. It is usually one of the big upper premolars, and it typically means a trip to the vet and quite possibly an extraction.

That is not a scare story and it is not rare enough to wave away. It is why plenty of vets say avoid antlers altogether, and I would rather you heard that from me than felt I had hidden it.

So why do I still sell them?

Because the risk is not evenly spread, and for a lot of dogs it is genuinely small.

There are two kinds of chewer. A gnawer works at the surface of a chew, steadily, with the side teeth. A cruncher tries to break the thing in half and get it over with.

That is what you want to see. Antler held down with the paws, worked at from the side, no great force going through it. A dog doing this with an antler is in very little danger.

Antlers are a good chew for gnawers and a bad one for crunchers. That is more or less the whole answer, and no product page is going to ask you which yours is.

If you have watched your dog destroy a bone or a hard toy by biting down on it, do not buy an antler. Buy a paddywack or a beef pizzle instead and we will both sleep better. Both are in our long lasting range, along with everything else that takes a while to get through.

What antlers are actually good at

For a dog who suits them, there is a lot to like.

• They last a very long time. Weeks or months rather than an evening, which makes them excellent value.
• Naturally shed. Deer drop their antlers every year and grow new ones. No animal is harmed for them, which is not something you can say about much in this trade.
• One ingredient. Nothing added, nothing coated.
• Very low fat, no smell. At 0.1% they are the leanest thing we sell, they do not go greasy and they do not stink out a room. If you have been put off by pig's ears, this is the opposite end of the scale.
• Naturally rich in calcium and phosphorus.
• Good for teeth, when gnawed rather than crunched. The scraping action works at plaque.

Whole or split?

A split antler has the marrow exposed along one side. You can see it in the pale centres above. It is softer, more interesting to a dog, and it gets them started without needing to work at the hard outer surface.

Split is the gentler option and the one I would suggest first, particularly if your dog has never had an antler. A whole antler lasts longer but demands more force to get anywhere, which is exactly the force you would rather they were not using.

What size should I get?

Too big rather than too small, always.

The antler wants to be large enough that your dog cannot fit it between their back teeth and bear down. That is the position where teeth break. Something they have to hold with a paw and work at from the end is far safer than something they can get a proper grip on.

That is exactly why the only one we stock is the Antler XL.

What age can a dog have an antler?

Size matters as much as age here, which is why our label says 12 weeks rather than a flat six months.

A large-breed puppy has the jaw and the mouth to hold an antler down and gnaw at the side of it, which is the safe way to use one. A small or toy breed cannot get purchase on it at that age, and a puppy who cannot work at something is far more likely to bite down on it instead. So: a large-breed puppy from around 12 weeks, supervised properly. A small or medium dog we would leave until six months, once the adult teeth are through. If you are unsure, wait.

Whatever the size, an antler is not a teething chew. A paddywack or a pig snout will do far more good at that age and carries none of the risk.

Giving one safely

• Watch the first session properly. Not from the other room. You are looking for gnawing rather than crunching, and if you see crunching, take it away and do not go back to it.
• Size up.
• Take it away when it wears down small. A short piece is a choking risk and a swallowing risk.
• Check for sharp edges as it wears, and sand or bin it if it splinters.
• Give it in sessions rather than leaving it down. An hour, then away in the cupboard. It keeps its novelty and limits the total wear on their teeth.

The honest summary

Antlers are long lasting, clean, sustainable and genuinely good value, for a dog who gnaws.

For a dog who crunches, the tooth risk is real and the vets who warn about it are not being alarmist. If that is your dog, I would honestly rather sell you something else, and I say that to people at markets most weekends.

Not sure which yours is? Email me and describe how they go at a chew. I answer every message myself, and this is one where it is worth asking first.