Marrow bones, soup bones, femurs. Many of us use them with our dogs for a natural form of recreational chewing, but there are some important guidelines to bear in mind.

These bones should always be given raw. Cooked bones (including prepared bones sold in pet stores) have a greater chance of breaking or splintering, which increases the chance of obstruction or internal injury. Some dogs are able to break and shatter even raw marrow bones. See how your dog does, and use discretion in deciding whether or not they are right for your dog.

Bones given to larger dogs with powerful jaws (including Labrador Retrievers) should be of the long variety (i.e. 5-6" or longer) NOT the short, round variety often called "soup bones" (see pictures below to understand why!)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/ZenCat27/shortmarrowbone1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/ZenCat27/shortmarrowbone2.jpg
(Photos originally posted by Kallie in this thread:http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/proof-bones-bad-t7264600.html?t=7264600&highlight=bone+stuck+teeth)

As with any chewing activity, they should be given under supervision.

If your dog experiences diarrhea after being given a marrow bone, you can scoop out some of the marrow beforehand, as it can be a bit rich for some dogs.

Dogs can and have broken teeth on marrow bones.

I used to have the butchers cut the bones in thirds for my dogs. Now I have them cut in half, which is probably still too short after seeing that picture.....
From now on, I am just going to get the whole bone which is about 8 inches long.

And Harley has a tooth that has either been broken from chewing a marrow bone or worn down from his obsession with tennis balls.

Our lab when she was 3 months old, just pulverized those bones from the grocery, and had bloody diarrhea. We were sooo worried!
So I called our vet and he said that the little shards of bone were the problem and he advised not to ever give her those again. She is a strong chewer, so we went to bully sticks and dont have a problem at all now.
There are so many things that dogs can hurt themselves on if they chew heartily and chip off the shards or shred things.
Rawhide can be a problem too with a strong chewer.
Jane

Lordy, that picture is upsetting but SO important to see.

Not too long ago, I strayed from the typical RMB I get for Roscoe and Midnight, purchasing a type of bone I'd never seen before. I can't remember what it was now - something with a very small bone surrounded by lean meat.

I handed out the bones and sent them outside to enjoy while I got ready for work. I have NEVER left them unattended with bones before, but I was running super late and figured they polish off the meat in no time, leaving the actual bone in the yard. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I came down to find Midnight turning in frantic circles, his mouth hanging open, dripping with drool and blood. I thought he was choking to death and had no idea how long he'd been like that. Could have been 30 seconds, could have been the whole time - which was 10 minutes. (Sick to my stomach with guilt as I type this....)

I ran over to him, shoved my hand down his throat as far as I could: Nothing. Lots of spit, lots of blood, no bone. I shoved my hand in again and felt something hard and sharp on the back of my hand: The bone had completely lodged around one of his back teeth, cutting into the gum and rendering him unable to close his mouth all the way. It pried loose without much resistance, thank goodness. He was fine within a few minutes - the bleeding stopped shortly after. He did not leave my side for a day or so afterward, though.

I'm not new to the Lab rodeo, friends, but I did a stupid, stupid thing and got very, very lucky. Never again.

Hi Amy, Thank god you were able to get that bone out of his throat!
We had a similar experience when Lilly was about 4 months old, we had a big windstorm and some bamboo branches were stripped off and landed back of our driveway. As we were getting into our car Lilly grabbed one, and I didnt see that she had it as she dropped it on the floor, later on she got it and swallowed it.
That night we had an awful time getting some of it out of her throat. We thought we had gotten it all, and were on the phone with her vet when we got it out. Then she was restless all night, the next evening it came through! What a rats nest it was, we realized that if it had not come thru, we would be in for surgery. Bamboo does not get soft when its wet! So we now do not let her go near our bamboo grove though we have picked up and raked everything. And we never let her out of our sight, there is always a chance of her finding stuff in our big yard.
So scary, worse than a toddler.
Jane

Very scary stories, but so important to read. So glad both of yours ended happily :)

Thank you, ZenCat and Jane...I'm glad it ended in my favor too!

And ZenCat, I meant to add in my previous post: THANK YOU for taking the time to post a sticky about this issue. You care and it really shows.