Review & Giveaway: Chewing Wisely with Buffalo Range Chews

The classic dog chew: the rawhide. There's a lot of controversy around them, and it all comes down to pet parents making smart choices. We want to provide some information to help you choose the best for your dog and introduce you to some chews that my girls really enjoy: Buffalo Range!

Buffalo Range is a brand of rawhide chews which uses all natural water buffalo rawhide and meat. No artificial anything, highly digestible, locally sourced in Cambodia, and even made in a food safety certified facility.

We sampled three types of their chews: Jerky Bones, Jerky Braids, and Jerky Twists. Once I opened the bags, the hickory-smoked flavor was really nice and strong. In each of their jerky varieties, there is a creative combination of buffalo jerky which Jada likes to pull out and munch first. 

Let's go over each of these three types to help you find which one would be best for your dog:

Buffalo Range Jerky Twists

These Buffalo Jerky Twists are a thin chew that is a perfect snack for chewers and non-chewers alike. We have four dogs in our household that all have different approaches when it comes to treats. I'm very cautious about what I give my dogs and a huge part of that is knowing their eating style. With any treat or chew, supervision is important. 

So just by looking at the size of this chew, I would give this to small or medium dogs. Every dog is different, our large dog Fezzik had no trouble with the Jerky Twists but they were gone very quickly. Bailey and Dottie, two small dogs, took their time and these lasted quite a while. Jada, on the other hand, is a big chewer and can demolish these in 10 minutes. 

I really enjoy the ease of handing out these twists to the dogs. This bag contains 36 chews and all of our dogs enjoy having a small snack to chew on. Light or hard chewer, Buffalo Range Jerky Twists worked very well in our household. 

Buffalo Range Jerky Braids

Next, we look at the Buffalo Range Jerky Braids - my favorite! These work really well for medium or large dogs, or those who are determined chewers. Because these are braided, they are longer-lasting and thus more enjoyable for your dog. 

Jada and Fezzik really like the Jerky Braids. Even though they are a bit big for Jada, I knew she could handle it because of her chewing style. I would recommend Jerky Braids to medium and large dogs and especially those who are the biggest of chewers.

Buffalo Range Jerky Bones

Our last chew is the Buffalo Range Jerky Bones. These are mainly targeted at large dogs, but you really need to know your dog for this shape of chew. The knots on the end of the bone can be a big choking risk. Once they come off, I would take them away and let your dog continue chewing with the middle part.

Usually, a dog will try to swallow a knot. If it doesn't go all the way down, then they yak it back up and try again. The shape just doesn't work well for a lot of dogs. I would actually give these to a very small dog who isn't an aggressive chewer like Bailey where I know that the knot was a lot bigger than her throat. 

Have you ever given your dog a rawhide chew and there were smaller bits of rawhide wrapped inside? These little surprises are called rawhide fragments and can pose a choking risk or blockage on their own. Thankfully, Buffalo Range chews do not contain them. That makes me very happy because I'm not one for surprises when it comes to what my dogs put in their mouth.

So we went over three different Buffalo Range Rawhide Chews with the pros and cons of each. Again, every dog is different so chews wisely. I did want to do a little digging about how Buffalo Range chews are specifically made so I asked them if they could provide me some information to share with y'all. 

"We first want you to know that we researched the rawhide production process at great length prior to developing the Buffalo Range product.

We work with a locally-sourced partner in Cambodia. Because our Buffalo rawhide and real Buffalo meat are locally sourced, there is no need for chemical preservation of the raw materials prior to making our chews. 

Second, at Buffalo Range, we use the safest method available for preparing our rawhide material for use in our treats, which are made in a food safety certified facility. We verify the safety of our product with ongoing testing to ensure no heavy metals or other harmful agents are present. This ensures our customers do not have to worry about any chemical ingredients.

Also, rawhide chews do not go through any tanning / leather-making process, which means they are not leather – in fact, they are mostly protein. 

A mild hydrogen peroxide solution is used for cleaning and whitening the Buffalo rawhide, which does not remain on the rawhide when it is time to make the chews. We do not use bleach, chemical colors or titanium oxides to whiten the rawhide. In fact, we do not add colors of any kind to our chews. We let the real color of the buffalo meat speak for itself. 

Once the rawhide has dried, it stays together naturally without any glue or other substances used to hold it together. 

At Buffalo Range, we also don’t use rawhide bits or fragments – only full strips of rawhide and whole cuts of real meat. 

Our product is then packaged and shipped to the U.S."

After doing a lot of research and reading articles (this is a great one from Whole Dog Journal), I'm pretty pleased with the reply from Buffalo Range. Besides knowing how your dog chews, when picking out rawhide chews you have to look at many things like origin, color, thickness, and smell.

Buffalo Range Chews come from local water buffalo in Cambodia. The chews aren't bleached white. They are off-white, so there is some cleaning that is done, but you can tell that it was mild enough to keep some color. You can tell from the pictures that the rawhide is thick which means it is better quality. Thin hide can indicate it came from poorly nourished animals. The smell is wonderful and isn't bad. Rawhide chews with no smell can mean that it was bleached or other chemicals were used.

In a Nutshell...

• Buffalo Range Chews are a rawhide and jerky combination dog treat that comes in a variety of shapes
• Depending on your dog's size and chewing style, you can figure out which chew is best for your dog
• These chews are locally made in a food safety certified facility in Cambodia with no bleaches, glue, or other chemicals. They use whole sheets of grass-fed water buffalo rawhide with buffalo jerky to form these high-quality chews 
• You can find them on Amazon or on their website.

Learn more about Buffalo Range!
What's your dog's chewing style?
Let us know in the comments below!

We are also having a giveaway!

One reader will win 6 bags of Buffalo Range Chews (Two bags of each: Jerky Twists, Jerky Braids, and Jerky Bones ARV $71.94)
PLUS a shelter or rescue of your choice will receive 500 Buffalo Range sample packs! (ARV $995)
(18+, U.S. Only. Ends 11/29/18 at 11:59 PM EST)
(By entering the giveaway below, you agree to the Official Rules)

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