My dog loves bully sticks, but it appears they make him want to show his teeth to everyone around him! Do bully sticks make dogs aggressive? Should I stop giving them? Answers to such questions, coming right up!
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Most dogs love to chew objects around them. If your dog’s habit is causing a lot of trouble to your favorite sofa, shoes, or furniture, you can use chewable toys. These will be a treat your dogs can chew and enjoy. This will definitely prevent your dog from chewing all the valuable items in your house.
One of the products that several dog owners use worldwide is bully sticks. Though this product is used worldwide, some pet owners have also complained that after consuming bully sticks, the pet behaves aggressively. Our research, however, shows that these behaviors are linked to other things, and not caused by Bully Sticks themselves.
In this article, I will talk about Bully Sticks, both their good and bad aspects and answer the main question in more detail. Keep reading for all the answers!
Do Bully Sticks Make Dogs Aggressive?
No, there is nothing in their formulation that can cause aggression.
What are Bully Sticks?
Bully sticks are a chewable treat for dogs made by using beef. First, beef is twisted and stretched, and after that, the meat is dried and cut into several small pieces.
The snack for your pet is available in different sizes, and you can choose based on the breed and the age of the dog. Bully sticks of several brands are available in the market.
Some of them are dehydrated, whereas others are smoked or roasted. This chewable snack is made out of only natural ingredients, and no added color or flavor is added to it.
What Are They Used For?
Bully sticks are made as a treat that you can give your dog after doing something productive, and some dog owners also use them as a stressbuster for their dogs because of their chewy nature.
Can They Cause Aggression in Dogs?
As no harmful chemical substances are added to the Bully sticks, it is nearly impossible that your dog is getting hyper just by consuming it.
There are a few reasons behind it that are not directly related to the food itself. Most veterinary doctors recommend that one should not disturb a dog while eating.
If the pet dog in your house is a little hostile, it may behave aggressively if you come close to it while consuming bully sticks. This section will discuss all the possible reasons behind this strange behavior of the pet dogs that several dog owners find concerning.
What Do People Think Bully Sticks Cause Aggression?
Fear of the Food Getting Snatched
Food aggression is the most common issue that might be making your dog aggressive while eating bully sticks. As mentioned earlier, most dogs love to consume bully sticks as they are tasty and chewy.
When dogs love something just like humans, it tries to protect that. If your dog loves bully sticks, then whenever your pet friend is eating bully sticks, and something frightening happens close to it, or someone is trying to get close to the food, this may trigger your dog, and it will start behaving aggressively.
Your dog will show food aggression and may start to bark loudly due to the data generated in his mind that the food might get snatched away from them.
Habituated to Do That
Dogs have not always been the domestic animal that we know today. Still, nowadays, some species of dogs live in the woods. Most dogs guard their foods as they are habituated to do that. This behavior is not particular to bully sticks or any other foods specifically.
The pet dog in your house may behave aggressively when someone comes close to the food, which is, in this case, a bully sticks while it is eating the food.
You need not worry about your dog’s behavior as it is nothing but an instinct of your pet, and this possessiveness is shown by dogs in the case of food and the places it used to stay and even to the humans that it is living with.
Underlying Health Issues
As the risk of microbial infections increases nowadays, you need to keep your dog safe from these harmful bacteria and viruses. The infectious agents can get into your dog’s body and may cause serious health issues in the dog’s body, such as rabies.
Other than that, hormonal and chemical imbalances in your pet dog’s body can lead to health problems like Neoplasia, Hypothyroidism, Hyperkinesis, and several other genetic and metabolic disorders.
Suppose your dog is suffering from any of these. In that case, your dog will start displaying aggressive behavior as a symptom without any particular reason, and this might happen while consuming bully sticks and in any other scenarios.
Can bully sticks make dogs hyper?
No, bully sticks don’t make your dog hyper.
No bully sticks don’t make a dog hyper. Rather, it is a good treat for them. The aggression in your dog might be coming from the fear of his favorite food being snatched away when someone comes close to him or her while eating.
Some dogs are naturally aggressive, and if you have one of them in your house, you may not be able to control their aggressiveness by giving them a chewy treat such as bully sticks.
Instead of enjoying the bully sticks with your dog, your dog may not like bully sticks as it will be able to finish chewing them in a short period. This is another reason your dog might get hyper after eating bully sticks.
Why shouldn’t you give your dog bully sticks?
Smaller pups can get large chunks lodged in their breathing canal.
The dog’s breed and size play a big role in choosing the ideal snack for the pet in your house. Dogs grow in size with increasing age.
If you have a puppy in the house or have a species of dog which is small in size, then you should not give him or her bully sticks. Your puppy can swallow large chunks of bully sticks without even chewing them properly.
This might cause serious health problems, especially in respiration. That is why you should not give bully sticks to your pet dog if it is incapable of digesting it.
Do Bully Sticks Give Dogs Diarrhoea?
Yes, but only if they eat a lot of it.
Whether your dog will get diarrhea after consuming bully sticks depends on the condition of the digestive system in your pet’s body. Bully sticks are rich in protein.
If your dog consumes bully sticks in a large amount, then it may become difficult for your dog to digest such a high amount of protein. This will eventually lead to an upset stomach and even diarrhea.
Besides that, just like any other food, if bully sticks are not appropriately preserved, then bacterial contamination can spoil the food and cause an upset stomach in your dog’s body. This stomach issue can develop into serious health issues such as diarrhea.
Is it OK to give my dog a bully stick every day?
There is nothing harmful in them, so yes, you can.
As dogs love to consume bully sticks and eat them happily whenever you offer them, you as a dog owner might wonder how often you should be giving bully sticks to your pet friend.
Here we consider an average-sized dog, and an average-sized dog should consume no more than one bully stick per day. Several factors need to be considered before choosing the number of snacks you should be giving to your pet, such as the dog’s weight, the metabolism that your dog has, et cetera.
Finally, to answer your question, yes, you can give bully sticks to your dog every day without worrying about its health as there is nothing harmful about this food product.
How long should a dog have a bully stick?
A fully grown dog can eat one in 2-3 minutes, whereas a pup might chew on it for 5-10 minutes.
Puppies are very much different from adult dogs. Puppies usually take longer than adult dogs to chew and digest food. When the food is something like bully sticks, you should carefully monitor how much your dog is chewing the food.
Moreover, in adult dogs, the chewing time may vary based on the species. An adult dog needs to chew a bully stick for at least two and a half minutes before eating it.
A puppy needs to masticate a bully stick for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the type and size of the bully stick. Chewing less or consuming more bully sticks can negatively impact a dog’s body.
Why does my dog cry when I give him a bully stick?
It is nothing but tears of joy!
Like humans, dogs, too, are very emotional, and they can express their feelings in various ways. One such way is by crying. When dogs get overwhelmed, they either bark or cry.
If your dog cries when you give it a bully stick, then this can be a way of saying thank you and nothing more. Hence, if your dog cries after receiving the treat, don’t worry.
Final Words
If your dog is behaving aggressively while eating bully sticks or right after consuming bully sticks, that might be happening because of their temperament issues or any interaction that it has had in the recent past.
Try to observe the behavior of your dog closely. If you find out that your dog is behaving unusually aggressively after monitoring for a certain period, you should seek professional help. If that is not the case, you can give your dogs bully sticks without worrying as they are very safe for your furry friend.
Thank you for reading, we hope you got the answers that you were searching for. Do read about other chewy treats such as rawhide and gummy bears, which you should avoid giving your dog.