KONG Classic Dog Toy, Large

I’ve had three dogs over the years that have enjoyed kongs, and we’ve gone through about maybe 15 of them. In April, I recently purchased two medium size red ones from chewy for my senior dogs who are 13 and 11. when they arrived they were covered with a white powder and were dull with a chemical smell instead of the glossy red that they always have been. I washedthem and try to get the powder off And there’s still a permanent donuts and white powder aspect. You can see in the photos I put peanut butter in them and gave them to my dogs and they started licking, but then would walk away and lick their lips like it tasted bad. I then licked the Kong myself and it burned with an acid chemical taste, no matter how many times I washed them that taste was still there, and I was not going to risk letting my dogs play with something that could be poisonous or toxic. It seems Kong has changed whatever material they used to use to something cheaper and full of chemicals and lower quality I’m very disappointed.

I have been buying a less expensive brand for years, but it has been out of stock for a while so I ordered 2 original Kongs for Christmas to get me by. Both of them tore up with just one use and are pretty much unuseable now, as I don’t want to risk pieces breaking off and being swallowed. My dog is not a particularly tough chewer, either. I will be going back to the less expensive and much more durable brand from now on.

I find Kongs to be pretty reliable for moderate to aggressive chewers, but I will say it's important to inspect them after each use. I just bought 3 medium Kongs in April and rotate them in between hand washings. Needless to say I was surprised that the one in the photo was already destroyed and had to be tossed in the garbage. I rotate, inspect, and hand wash them after each use, so I don't feel there's a lot of wear and tear to warrant this Kong already breaking down. Plus my dog is pretty smart so she knows how to get the snacks out relatively easy so she doesn't chew on them very long. You can see in the photo after three months that the chew marks are pretty minimal. They do make a black Kong for aggressive chewers and I might have to switch to it. Despite not getting the longevity I would like, I would still buy Kongs and recommend to others.

First of all, we LOVE Chewy! Jack knows when it's a delivery for him. He goes nuts over an unopened Chewy box, and doesn't even know what's inside yet! So Jack is an Australian Cattle Dog, who was bred and trained to work cattle. He got hurt and was not able to continue to be employed, so we got him and found that he needed something to "hog around" with in his mouth while he showed the World how tough he was. The Kong Classic Toy does a good job of making Jack appear quite tough, and it holds up very well to his bite force. He travels around the backyard with his Kong in his mouth, and it seems to be a necessity to find if he happens to have left it somewhere. So Kong is a great toy for dogs, especially working breeds that currently aren't working at their regular jobs, and are instead patrolling the backyard. We buy the red Classic Kong in the Winter, and the black Kong in the warmer months. We found that the black one gets hard as a rock in the cold temps, and Jack just didn't feel as cool with it. Thank you again Chewy for delivering all Jack's stuff to my door. I appreciate you!