• Labrador with bonelabrador image by asb from Fotolia.com
  
  

Cooked Bones Splinter

• Cooked bones can be very dangerous to give to a dog. A dog's digestive system is not set up to handle cooked bones, and cooking a bone makes it brittle and likely to break into chunks. These chunks could embed themselves in your dog's mouth or digestive system. Cooking bones also robs them of all nutritional value.
  
  

Raw Bones Have Nutritional Value

• Raw bones, according to veterinarian Ian Billinghurst, "have been the only single food item that guarantees a dog will have excellent health. This is hardly surprising. It's a dog's heritage." He goes on to call raw bones "nature's toothbrush" and states that they're full of vital nutrients that can't be found anywhere else.
  
  

Bottom Line

• Hands down, the consensus from top trainers, vets and behavioralists is that dogs should only be fed raw bones. The nutritional benefits, exercise and cleaning provided by the bones make them a necessity in every dog's diet.