Our Process

How Our Natural Dog Chews Are Made

We want to be completely transparent about every step your ugly chew takes. This page is for the true researcher that wants to know everything we do, why we do it, and what it means for your pet.

It All Starts With Local Ranchers, Butchers and Cows

At the moment all of our products are beef, primarily because Wyoming, Utah and Idaho have a lot of cows.

At the moment all of our products are beef, primarily because Wyoming, Utah and Idaho have a lot of cows. Most of our cows are raised on small family farms in Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. No factory farms here. The meat from these cows goes to local restaurants and family freezers. We’ve partnered with multiple butchers to take the hides, ears, and trachea to make dog chews. We pick them up each day to make sure that they stay fresh, and transport them to our facility.

Cleaning Them Up

Some other dog chew manufacturers keep their hides fresh by soaking them in salt or lime or bleach.

We always knew that wasn’t what we wanted to be. We want to keep our chews as clean and natural as possible, which is why we take them immediately from the butcher to cleaning. There are two important parts of the cleaning process: washing and fleshing. Fleshing is the removal of excess fat and meat from the hide. One reason we flesh the hides is for caloric impact. If we left meat and fat on the hides, they could easily be several hundred calories each, which makes them incredibly unhealthy for a simple chew. The main reason is because both meat and fat will spoil and go rancid without some form of preservative, and we don’t want your dog to get sick. Washing, is of course used to clean the hides. These are cows that graze mountain pastures, so their hides often carry dirt, grass, leaves, manure, etc that needs thoroughly washed.

We don’t use any chemicals or soaps in our washing or fleshing. We just use water at various pressures and angles for a long time to make sure the hides are left fresh and clean, ready to be transformed into chews.

Cutting, Forming, and Drying

Once the hides are all clean, they are hand cut (using a knife!) into approximately 4, 8, and 12 inch strips. Technically we cut them a little longer than that to account for the size they lose when they dry.

Then they are rolled and put out onto racks in the direct sunlight to dry. This step is super important, because we want to keep our dog chews additive and chemical free. But we also don’t want your dog to get salmonella or E.coli or some other nasty bacteria. Luckily, studies have shown that direct exposure to the UV radiation in sunlight kills these bacteria. Each chew spends at least three days in direct sunlight, being rotated to make sure the entire chew is disinfected and dried. While this process is time-consuming, it allows us to create an all-natural chew without any chemicals, additives, or preservatives, while still providing a near infinite shelf-life to the final product.

To store they are kept in a cool/dry drying room.

Delivering Them To You!

This was a remarkably difficult challenge for us to overcome. We wanted to be able to ship chews to every state, but this whole thing started because we wanted to save good hides from the landfill.

It didn’t make much sense to save the hides from being wasted just end up wasting a bunch of plastic, styrofoam, and cardboard instead. We wanted to keep our commitment to being a zero-waste, natural option. Luckily, we were able to find a package supplier that provides biodegradable, compostable packaging. The packaging you receive will be pretty simple. It won’t be filled with a bunch of promotional flyers or packing material. Just a big pile of dog chews.

We’re pretty proud of this, because pet treat regulations make it surprisingly difficult to do. But regardless of how you feel about politics or climate change or environmentalism, I think we can all agree that dumping a little less plastic in the oceans is a win for everyone. We like dogs, but we like sea turtles too.

George loves them!

My 8 month old is happily chewing his ugly chew as I write this. I’ll be ordering more!

Love the chips

The chips and pieces are perfect for my little dogs.

Best chews!

My retriever loves the hair on rolls! The shipping was quick, they fit perfectly into his JW ball & chew-holders, they also last for days! Definitely some of my favorite chews to give!

Not a good purchase for my crew

I wanted to like these- I bought the largest rolls as well as a few other varieties for my pack of dogs who range from 10-50lbs. I over-estimated how tough these were after reading other reviews- my two middle-aged bigger dogs ate the entire rolls within 20 minutes. Thankfully they digested them ok, but not an experience I anticipated nor was happy about. My smaller dogs found the pieces too thick to chew on so they lost interest quickly. Now I have a bunch of pieces that are too dangerous for my big dogs and my small dogs won’t touch. I regret purchasing such a large order. Lesson learned for me.

These are probably most suitable for gentle big dog chewers or strong smaller dogs.

My senior dog loves these!

I have an 11 year old American pitbull terrier. We used to get him cow hide when he was younger and he loved it, but the person we got it from stopped selling it. I recently saw an ad on Instagram for these and decided to try it. My dog literally expects his chew after dinner every evening. We give it to him for about 30 min - 1hr.
We got the large and one crew last him about 1 month (he has 4 missing molars on one side). Once the hide gets soft, its very easy for him to chew. We recently got the thin chews and those ones will not last as long, but he loves them all the same. Make sure to let them dry between chewing so they last longer.

Aussie-tastic!

My working bred Aussies enjoy down time in the evenings and Ugly Chews are a huge hit!

I found it in the mailbox

My dog loves it ,!

Hair on hide

Our lab LOVES the hair-on-hide rolls. He is a big chewer and the rolls provide comfort and eliminate his need to chew.

My four dogs love the scraps!

I tried these scraps because the dogs already love the full size chews - and these were a hit! They were a variety of sizes and each one was finished with zest!

6 months still going strong!

That’s right SIX MONTHS!!! And our super chewer hasn’t even put a dent in these bad boys! This is her all time favorite chew as well as her fav toy. She has to have it with her at all times. Love these! No odor, love that they don’t waste the animal and afordable! Honestly feel like we will still have the original ones in a year, it’s wild how long they are lasting!!

My older dog’s new favorite!

My dog loves these! In her frosted face years she has slowed down and doesn’t find the rolls as appetizing. Dave helped me figure out what was right for my dog and she is happily chewing away once again. Thank you so much will certainly be ordering more when she has finished these.

The dogs love these!

My four Aussies love Ugly Chews - and so do I! They digest well and last much longer than other chews. We moved into a subscription because they love them that much.

Dogs love them!

I think they’re great! But they do kind of stink…. It’s ok. It’s better than the bully sticks!

Rocko approves 🐾🐾🐾

We received our package today! Missing a chew in the bag, customer service was absolutely excellent! Emailed me back within mins! You have gained a customer for life! Here’s the baby Rocko with his! The other ones were busy napping, he had this 2x today and loves it, now he’s hording it in his crate lol!

Absolutely love!

My boy absolutely loves these, he forgets to breathe when chewing on them :D

They’re a hit!!

Colt loves these chews. I think he could smell them and knew whatever was in the package was for him. It lasted about 15 minutes. I will for sure be buying them again!

15 week old Malinios

Puppy enjoying it so far.

Great, but smaller then imagined

My dog looooves the large 12 inch hide chews. It's cheaper then the natural raw hides I got from Raw feeding miami, I just wish they were as thick as the ones I get from RDM, just cause my big boy has a very strong jaw and can go through one pretty fast. But still just bought more because my dog loves them!

Great healthy treats

My pups can't get enough of the chews. As soon as they pick up it's scent they are beyond excited. I love that they love them and they're good for them as well.

Yum yum yum

The chew was absolutely delicious and lasted our corgi multiple chewing sessions. Definitely will be repurchasing!!

Great

Dogs love your chews- always fast delivery, products I can trust!

The highlight of my dog’s day

There’s nothing more exciting for these guys than some new ugly chews! I have two big lab mixes who are super chewers, these last quite a few chew sessions, and I feel good about the benefits to their teeth and digestive systems! We are forever customers.

Ugly chews🥹

I think these are the best chews and my pups love them

A clear favorite

My dog, a 10 months Kishu Ken, is a monster chewer that can't sit still long. But when an ugly chew comes out, even the thins, he is focused and chews for hours! We can probably get 4-6 hours of chew time from a single roll. And adding the hair to his diet seems to also be helping on the back end as well. Ugly chew are a favorite in this house for sure!