Ginger, my 85-pound Irish Setter, is the love of my life and will be seven in several months. When Ginger was much younger, she started devouring pig and deer ears in a matter of ten minutes. She wanted a replacement. Thus began her new gnawing away upon beef femur bones. It took Ginger several days to eliminate the knuckle.

While gnawing away on a bone was paradise for Ginger, she developed inflammatory bowel disease. The bones were removed, and she hadn’t seen a bone for several years. I had to explain to Ginger that we had to replace the bones with several of her toys that I filled with her dry dog food. I sealed the ends with her wet dog food. However, Ginger can empty the treats inside her toys in a matter of a couple of minutes.

Ginger adapted to our new routine reasonably well. We played Chuck-it outside and played games in the house. All was fine until a couple of months ago when Ginger got a bad limp while playing Chuck-it. Off we went to the vet. A few weeks later, she sneaked some chocolate-covered pretzels when I wasn’t looking from the countertop. Off to the vet again, we went. I feared the worst because chocolate is poison for dogs. Fortunately, she had eaten a small amount and didn’t have any ill effects. Ginger and I had a long talk about when we got back home late that night.

For the past several weeks, all has been well with Ginger. We have fun together outside and have games inside. However, returning from playing Chuck-it, Ginger asked, “Could you do me a favor? Call the vet that cared for my limp, and ask her for something that I can chew on?”

I did as Ginger requested, and the vet wrote a script for Purina Pro-Plan Veterinary Diets Dental Chewz. It will clean and remove tartar from her teeth while she chews away in delight.

While Ginger is happy with the new chews, she also asked me to find out from her vet if she could get bigger and thicker ones to munch upon. I promised that I would.