What Is a Pizzle Stick? Bully Sticks Explained

If you have ever picked one up and wondered what it actually is, you are not alone. It is the question I get asked most on the stall, usually in a slightly lowered voice, often while the person is already holding one.

So here is the straight answer, and everything else I get asked once people have recovered from it.

What is a pizzle stick?

A pizzle is a dried bull's penis. That is it. Nothing added, nothing coated, no filler. It is dried slowly until it goes hard and chewy, and that is the entire product.

The word itself is Middle English, and it has meant exactly that since long before anybody thought of drying one for a dog. Most people are faintly appalled for about ten seconds and then get over it, because as chews go it is genuinely one of the better things you can hand over. I would rather sell you something honest with one ingredient than something processed with twenty.

What is the difference between a pizzle and a bully stick?

There is none. They are the same thing.

"Bully stick" is the name that caught on in shops, mostly because it sounds nicer on a shelf. "Pizzle" is the older word and the one still used in the trade. Same chew, two names, and now you know why there are two.

You will also see them called beef sticks, steer sticks or bully bars. All the same thing.

That is what ours looks like. Our Beef Pizzle is a single air-dried stick, 20 to 25cm long and around 80g, which is the standard shape you will find everywhere. What varies between shops is not the shape, it is what else has been done to it.

Is a pizzle a tendon?

No, and I want to clear this one up because I keep seeing it repeated, including by people who sell them.

A pizzle is muscle. It is not a tendon and it is not a ligament. The chew you are thinking of is paddywack, which genuinely is a ligament, from the neck of the animal rather than anywhere else. They are two completely different products that happen to look a bit similar once dried.

If a shop cannot tell you which part of the animal they are selling you, that tells you something.

Are pizzle sticks good for dogs?

They are, and this is not just me talking my own book. We started Wag & Whistle because our Rory reacted to almost everything on the shelves, so single-ingredient chews are close to my heart, and pizzles are about as single-ingredient as it gets.

• One ingredient. 100% beef and nothing else, which makes them a sensible choice for dogs who react to things.
• Very high in protein. 79.2%, which is among the highest of anything in our range.
• Genuinely lean. 3.2% fat, which puts a pizzle inside our low fat range. That is unusual for a chew this satisfying, and it is why it is the one we suggest most often for a dog who needs to lose a bit without losing their treats.
• Fully digestible. This is the big one. Unlike rawhide, a pizzle breaks down properly. It is the main reason these are in our range and rawhide never will be.
• Good for teeth. A long chew scrapes away at plaque as they go.

How long does a pizzle stick last?

Here are our own numbers, from watching an awful lot of dogs go at one:

• Small dog: around an hour
• Medium dog: around 20 minutes
• Large dog: about 5 minutes

You will see plenty of places promise a pizzle will occupy your dog for a few hours. I have never once seen that happen, and I have watched a lot of dogs.

A big, powerful dog will go through almost anything quickly. That is not a fault in the chew, it is simply what a large set of jaws does to a piece of dried beef. What you are buying is five minutes of proper, focused, jaw-working chewing, which does more good than an hour of half-hearted gnawing at something they are bored of. For a small dog, it genuinely is a long-lasting chew.

If your dog is a serious chewer and you want something that lasts longer still, a jumbo paddywack is the next step up, and a buffalo horn is the one that runs to months.

Do pizzle sticks smell?

A bit. Less than you are imagining, and nothing like a stuffed hoof, but they are a dried animal product and they smell like one. I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Most people find it perfectly tolerable. If you are sensitive to it, give them outside or on a mat rather than on the sofa.

What age can a puppy have a pizzle stick?

I would say 12 weeks and over, with you watching.

A pizzle is firm, so a very young puppy will not get far and their teeth are not ready for it anyway. From around 12 weeks it becomes a decent teething chew, but keep an eye on them.

Giving one safely

• Supervise, every time, whatever their age.
• Fresh water nearby.
• Take it away once it gets short enough to swallow whole. This is the rule that actually matters, and with a pizzle it is the last few centimetres you are watching for.
• Count it as part of their food for the day. Treats should be no more than around a tenth of what a dog eats.

Who they suit

Medium to large dogs, confident chewers, and dogs on limited-ingredient diets who cannot have the usual shop-bought things. They are grain free, chicken free and single protein, which covers most of the common sensitivities.

They also suit a dog on a diet better than almost anything else that feels like a proper chew, because of that 3.2%.

They are not right for a dog who bolts things whole rather than chewing, or for a very small dog who would struggle with the thickness. A rabbit ear is the better call there.

Keep exploring: our dental chews for dogs and high protein dog treats.

If you are not sure what suits your dog, email me before you order. I would far rather spend two minutes answering a question than have you buy the wrong thing, and I answer every message myself.