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.

Yum

My dogs love them ❣️

So far so good! The pups are loving these chews!

We started out with the Chips, Chunks, & Scraps to try, and the kiddos love! I'm impressed by how long even these smaller pieces take them to get through! <3

My crew of five loves them!

These are long lasting, extremely satisfying, healthy chews for all the crew, from small to large, they can't get enough! I now have a subscription so we don't run out! The box is packed with care plus a really nice little note of thanks! Awesome company! I would give them ten stars 🤩

Tasty Treat

My dog is a big chewer and destroys toys and chews easily but she has to work on these. I give them to her for 10-20 mins. She loves them. Have already recommended them to friends and will buy again

Puppy Paci

This is Gus, the 8 month old Anatolian Shepard and his paci. lol. Seriously the best! It has held up to all the giant puppy chewing and tossing and helps wear him down. He even falls asleep with it in his mouth then wakes up so happy it’s still there. 10/10 will purchase again!

My pup is OBSESSED

Our 25 pound French bulldog is utterly obsessed with her ugly. Choose! I purchased the medium size and she LOVES them!!! To the point when we ask her to go outside and take a walk, which is her favorite thing, she will go and grab her chew and run around the house excitedly and then sit down and munch on it instead of going to the door. She has to have one of them around at all times, in the middle of the night I kicked it off the bed and she woke up, jumped off the bed to get it, and bring it back to the bed, just to have it next to her 🤣 For the chewing part, five + stars! She is a super aggressive chewer and these babies are going to last! Usually at this point she would’ve completely destroyed or eaten the entire thing but she’s barely made a dent so definitely worth the money. I can’t say enough good things about these choose. absolutely love this company, a customer we will forever be!!

My dogs love these!

I have 5 border collies and I love these chews, because I can choose an appropriate size for each one. The older dogs prefer smaller/thinner and the young ones like the larger ones.

Has become her favourite chew

I'm always on the lookout for different chews for my 1 year old 60 lb pit and I've had my eye on these for a while. I got a pack of the large rolls and and they were an instant hit! I give her yak cheese, antlers, collagen chews, and bully sticks on rotation and other than the bully sticks she usually carries the chew around for a while before she settles to eat it but as soon as I handed it to her she started chewing right away so I think that's a resounding endorsement! I did read the instructions about only letting her chew for 20 minutes and letting it harden back up again which is what I do for her collagen rolls and they will last her a couple of sessions. Considering 20 minutes is how long a regular bully stick lasts with her and she'll eat it all, I don't mind doing a little extra work for something that will last me a few more times.

Great stimulation

My pup LOVES her bones! She is a huge fan of the fur on these. She's always hiding it for later 😅

Great chews

My dogs absolutely love these chews

Ugly but lovable

Ok so first-- yes they're ugly but after your dog chews on the ends, they won't look any different than any other rawhide. There's no smell whatsoever, even after they've been chewed. There are four dogs in the house and all of them loved them. The Yorkie claimed all the scraps and did her worst with what teeth she has left. Another has a sick tummy all the time and the roughage on the chews worked better than the fiber supplements I've been giving him. We'll definitely re-purchase soon.

High energy/AGGRESSIVE chewers!!

I have 2 GSPs(high energy, can’t stop won’t stop) and the only thing I’ve found that lasts them more than 20 minutes is a hard to find ostrich bone, then one day they decided to say “challenge accepted” and beat that record lol. First day I opened the box for the Hair on Hide rolls they sniffed and sniffed and then fought over them! I took them away after 30 mins since they have sensitive tummies and my youngest was halfway done. Took them out the next day and even if my youngest is the only one that LOVES them every time it’s worth it!! I appreciate Uglychews for the zero waste, natural content, and the time it takes for my INSANELY aggressive chewers to gnaw on these! Keep in mind I work and train with my babies multiple times a day (short increments) so a pup that doesn’t get a lot of exercise/attention/enrichment might go through them a bit faster. But my pups could be the poster children for our local natural petstore and they actually look to me for recommendations 🤣

My pibbles FAVORITE treats!!!

My pup loves the hide rolls for a longer-lasting enrichment chew so I wanted to give the chips a try. She absolutely goes crazy for the chips and they make a perfect snack sized treat for special occasions. I love supporting family-owned businesses and when a shipping problem occurred with my order they were so kind and helpful in getting my package to me. This is one of my favorite shops and I highly recommend giving them a try!

First time trying Ugly Chews

This was our first time ordering from Ugly Chews and my dogs loved it! They were so excited when I opened the box and let them smell it. We will definitely be repurchasing!

Loved them!

My 4 dogs just loved them! I also liked that these treats didn’t smell bad at all. I would definitely recommend them! I look forward to trying other products too!

Best chew ever

So far he’s gotten 3 30 minute sessions with this. The only caution I’d give is if your dog is very pry driven like mine you need to make sure you trade out when you need to take it away. He’s very possessive of these.

Hide rolls

My dog could not WAIT to get into these. She can be a little selective with fur-on treats but she took to these instantly. Definitely will be ordering more

He loved it!

Our little guy went to town on these chews. True to their name they are VERY ugly, but according to the dog it only makes them taste better.

My pups loved them

My pitty and little mutt loved the chews. My only complaint is the tufts of hair around the house and my pit hacked up a hairball like a cat. Hahaha. That’s the only reason I gave them 4 stars.

Dog loves them, but not “long lasting.”

My German Shepherd/Pitbull mix absolutely destroyed half a chew in about 10 minutes. The rolls also look much thinner than the advertised photos show, even though I ordered the largest size. He sure loved them but for the price I was very disappointed he was able to get through it so fast.

Older dog loves them

I have an older dog that's picky about treats. He sniffed his first Ugly Chew for a few seconds, then started chewing. He really enjoyed it, and had no stomach issues. I highly recommend these!

The Good, the bad, and the Ugly.

The Good:My dog enjoyed these! There was no smell and no upset tummy.
The Bad: They didn't last long. My dog finished one in about an hour.
The Ugly: They definitely live up to their name. Pretty shocking when I first opened the package.

these are gross and my dogs couldn't be happier

My dogs (5 of the 6!) LOVE ugly chews. They don't smell at all. All my friends ask if they smell, NOPE. Bully sticks smell so much but these smell like nothing. How nice is it to use the bits of the cow that would traditionally just be trash. I highly recommend these.

New favorite

My dogs absolutely loved these. They took them everywhere with them and really enjoyed them. I was surprised. Usually they end up just leaving half eaten treats all over. These, they guarded with their lives like they were their personal teddy bears. I'm impressed!

Max liked it!

Indeed he did! Max loves his ugly chews. Expensive but worth it. No stomach issues afterwards which is a much needed surprise. Lasted about 5ish hours under optimal conditions which is a compliment coming from a Black Mouth Cur.