Dogs needs constant attention, if we are not giving Hazel attention she either cries or jumps on the settee (both her ways of getting our attention!)

The odd time I leave her during the day, be it only for 15 minutes while I hang the washing out (if she comes with me she jumps at it and it ends up very hairy, that's the only reason I keep her inside!) she whines and scratches at the door.
She's a rescue dog and I'm sure whoever had her before us didn't come back for long periods of time, you can tell she isn't sure we'll come back whenever we leave her for any amount of time poor thing.

So this is where the quest for long lasting treats to keep her attention for more than 3 seconds comes in, she needs a distraction from the fact we've left...rawhide ticks all the boxes but I'm sure she'd like some variety.

I found these Bakers Meaty Twists at a shop called The Range in Halifex, all the Bakers treats were around £1.50 each but were on a 3 for the price of 2 offer, I grabbed 2 of these and a packet of Dental sticks.
I've had a look in Supermarkets since and the Meaty Twists RRP seems to be somewhere around £1.70 each which is quite expensive for a single treat.

The Bakers products certainly look the part, the packaging of this one in particular is clear and blue with an image of the product though through the clear end you can see the product itself so you know what you are buying.
There are 2 sizes of Meaty twists; Regular (come in packs of 2) and the one I bought, Jumbo.

The benefits of this chew are claimed as: Longer lasting chew, does not splinter, contains essential vitamins and minerals for a healthy dog and calcium for your doggies bones and teeth.

These are to be fed as a treat, no more than one a week according to the packaging.

I am also told it is a low fat treat.

Meaty twists should not be fed to dogs under 3kg or 9 months in age.


So onto the chew....

"Extra chewy with a meaty middle"

The chew is a traditional bone shape but twisted around so there are more interesting surfaces for your dog to gets its teeth into (literally!) It's cream in colour just like a normal dog bone and in the middle (in place of marrow I guess) is a meaty filling, this is a browny red colour and also in the shape of a bone.

It weighs 200g, its fairly solid and does weigh a fair bit for the size of it! The twist is about 6 inches long and 2 inch across so a decent size. You can feel from the end that the cream bit is rock hard and the red/browny middle is a lot softer, I think the two textures will make it more interesting for a dog.
The outside is meant to be the chewy bit which is long lasting; the softer middle is the reward for all your dogs chewing!

This may sound a bit odd but I had a sniff (don't worry I wouldn't taste it!) and it didn't smell of much at all, her gravy coated biscuits and other treats always smell quite meaty but this seemed plain in comparison.


According to the ingredients list the outside is made up of mostly cereals, pleasingly the inside does actually contain meat; a minimum of 15% it claims.

The first time I gave this twist to Hazel I stayed with her to see how long it lasted¸ she made light work of it to be honest! The outside seemed to my touch to be pretty solid but to her strong jaws it seemed like the equivalent of jelly, it crumbled and went soggy quite fast.
The outside was chewed and swallowed within about 3 minutes, she did slow down when she got to the meaty bit, either because she wasn't so keen or maybe she was savouring the flavour, who knows!

From giving her the chew until she was licking up the last morsels from her rug I would say about 5 minutes passed.
I don't call that long lasting, a rawhide chew of the same size lasts her about 2 hours and costs half of what this did.

She did enjoy it though so it wasn't a complete waste of a pound. She licked up every last crumb from her rug and was licking her lips for hours afterwards so it must have tasted good!
I won't be buying any more of these once she's eaten the other though.