Best Dog Toys for Oodles: KONG vs Nylabone vs Benebone vs West Paw vs Goughnuts

“I purchased a Kong toy for my 5 month old Groodle, only lasted 1 month, very disappointed. I brought a $10 toys from Bunnings and not a stitch out of place. Not happy.”

— Beth C, ACT, ProductReview.com.au

The dog doesn't always love the rubber itself. For some dogs, the food is doing the engagement — once it's gone, so is the interest in the object. Size is also relative: a technically "correct" size on the label can still feel bulky or heavy for a smaller, more precise chewer. And a strong rubber smell shows up often enough in review sets across this category — including KONG's — that it's worth knowing about before you buy, even when durability itself is praised.

“Chewed numerous chips from it in only 10 to 15 minutes… no reply at all after about 3 weeks [from the company].”

— Ralf Kiefer, Trustpilot, 1 star

Nylabone's Trustpilot page currently sits around 2.6 out of 5, with complaints clustering around a toy sold as tough that doesn't survive first contact with a genuinely determined chewer.

Hardness is part of the appeal, and part of the trade-off. Nylabone's own guidance for its non-edible chews is that they aren't meant to be eaten, and asks owners to inspect them as they wear and remove them if damaged or if larger pieces come off — because hard nylon lasts specifically by being very resistant to wear. That doesn't make a Nylabone the wrong choice; it means harder isn't automatically better for every mouth, and a surface that's roughened over time is worth checking for, not just the moment you unbox it.

“The only drawback that I can see are the fuzzies that get stuck on the end where she chews, of course I pick it off, but I wish there was a way to eliminate the rough ends that it attaches to.”

— SusanG, verified purchase, Walmart.com, 11 Dec 2025 (5 stars)

Benebone's own reply to a different reviewer's rough-edge complaint: “try grabbing some sandpaper and smoothing out those worn areas.”

The same enthusiasm that makes Benebone popular is also what wears it down — a dog that really wants to chew a hard nylon toy will roughen the ends faster than a casual chewer would. Benebone's own product guidance says its nylon chews aren't edible, that worn ends can become bristly, and that the product should be replaced as it wears, which is the same general caution that applies to hard nylon chews as a category.

Worth knowing: some of West Paw's firmer shapes (like the Qwizl) run tougher than expected for lighter or more casual chewers, and a genuine power chewer can still get through one in around ten minutes — which West Paw itself doesn't claim to prevent.

Treat fit matters as much as toughness here — if the opening doesn't suit the food you're using, the same feature that's meant to create a challenge can just become frustrating. And it's priced at the premium end of the category, which is a real consideration on its own.

Reviewers across multiple retailers describe a strong rubber smell straight out of the box, strong enough that the most repeated advice, owner to owner, is to open it and let it sit outside or in a garage for a few days first. A second pattern shows up almost as often: the toy is heavy enough that more than one reviewer says a smaller or lighter-boned dog wouldn't go near it. (We couldn't independently verify a single verbatim quote for this — Goughnuts isn't reviewed on the platforms we can access directly, so this is a described pattern, not a direct quote.)

Sometimes the toughest toy is simply too much toy: a toy can survive extremely well precisely because the dog isn't all that motivated to carry or chew it. That's not a failure if maximum durability was the job — but it can feel like one if play and engagement were what you actually wanted.