When dogs and pigs fly Maryland. The La Plata tornado in late April contributes to a rich lore about tornadoes. 17 dogs, nine cats, five birds and two rabbits were missing following the tornado. Most made their way back home including a plucky Beagle named Baby...

Should you give your dog that bone? When we first got our dog, we delighted in treating him to every type of dog treat we could buy for him. He feasted on hooves, dog bones, nylabones, rawhide chew flips and more. One by one, we ended up removing them from his diet, due to health concerns.

The first to go were the rawhide chews, which he delighted in devouring. He could spend hours chewing them to a nice gooey consistency and then swallowing them. But then, one fateful day, I heard him choking, gasping and turning blue. I had to reach down his throat and pull a very long chew, which had made it down his throat but was too long to be swallowed. That did it - no more rawhides. We suspect the rawhides were also giving him diarrhea (due to Samonella contamination, not uncommon in rawhide dog treats.)

We also had to stop giving him hooves. Some people recommend hooves for Chows; well hooves get soft but stay sticky and they can loosen or even pull a dog's teeth out. (not a pretty sight).

Nylabones were too hard for his teeth. It turns out that some dogs have fragile teeth. Ours does. A bone that is too hard can actually fracture a dog's teeth. Any toy for a dog that is too hard can fracture his teeth if he aggressively chews it.

Some people have reported their dogs died after being given a nylabone. There is a class action suit against the nylabone makers, who tout their bones as among the safest for dogs. Nylabone has recalled the "Plaque Attacker." Nylabones, if devoured and broken into pieces, sometimes cannot be revealed on x-ray and if there's blockage of the dog's intestinal track, a vet may have a difficult time finding the blockage. Blockage usually requires life saving surgery...

Okay, so we gave him roasted knucklebones. The knucklebones splintered. Not good. I had the lovely experience of watching my dog cry as he pooped out a bloody mess the next day. Any bone which splinters can do this to your dog. Some experts recommend raw bones (from a butcher); I wouldn't. Who wants to give their pet diseases from raw bones. (but some experts say it's natural).

With time, we learned he was allergic to beef. That nixed a lot of dog treats. His coat looks great now. He had hotspots until we figured that one out.

Finally, we eliminated just about every bone in existence, except for Nutro biscuits (in moderation), which provide a satisfying teeth cleaning chew and come in many varieties.

It turns out that some dog behavioral trainers don't even recommend bones or chews for a dog past his teething years; our dog doesn't crave bones and he's healthier without them. What he does crave is play time with people and other dogs. We play with him every day...