are bully sticks safe

Do you know what a “bully stick” is?

If there is one thing in this world that I have a lot of, it's bully sticks. At School For The Dogs, we have a fridge that contains nothing but these brown, leathery dog chews — they look like a cross between a ligament and a cigar. They can keep a dog busy for a long while. I usually recommend that people give them to their dogs as often as once a day. A dog who is chewing on a bully stick is a happy dog–and is also a dog who is less likely to chew on your couch.

People ask me what they are all the time, and usually, I lie. I say, “They're some kind of bull tendon.” Actually, this is not a complete lie. I've always known that they're made from bull penis, but I guessed that maybe a tendon is a kind of muscle? Which is what the penis is? Or maybe it's a tendon that attaches to the penis? I don't know about these things. And could a bull penis really have such little…girth?  I suppose I just chose not to dwell on it. I mean, whatever it is, it's gross. But lots of things we eat are gross if you think too much about them. Anyway, I'm not the one eating the bull penis. The dogs are. And they don't seem to be at all effected by the “yuck” factor. They also like eating poop.

But, today, I decided to try to educate myself about what bully sticks actually are. The ones that we buy are only about 6-inches long. I imagine a cow penis would be bigger than that. However, I think they've been chopped up from something longer. I've seen bully sticks that are as tall as I am… and that doesn't seem right either. Maybe they are stretched when they're dried? A penis that is longer than the female cow seems like it would be evolutionarily a bad idea! Then again, I guess most calfs are the product of artificial insemination now, so perhaps the size thing doesn't matter so much. Are we breeding cows to have long dongs for our dogs' chewing pleasure?

So many questions to answer! Thank goodness for the Internet. To get a bit more of a visual idea of what this thing looks like when it is still attached to its owner, here is a screenshot from the Louisiana State University Vet School.

Of course, according to the caption, the guy at left is not a good example. And I feel a little sad that the heifer has to be restrained… But let's try to stay on topic.

How long is the bull dong? I spent quite a while trying to find measurements.  I couldn't find a good figure anywhere, but the LSU Vet School site did provide some idea:

An adequate length for a bull's penis is that it should come almost between the front legs during a full erection and extension. A bull with a too short penis will not be able to breed.

Holy moly! Well, this is indeed about the size of some of the biggest bully sticks I've seen.

In fact, they're so long that on Etsy, some people even turn them into canes.

According to BestBullySticks.com, the bully sticks they sell are from South American cattle, and are hanged and cooked to dry them out.  While I've tasted other kinds of dog comestibles, I've never tried a bully stick. But there are other people who are braver than I. On Serious Eats, blogger Chichi Wang experimented with various ways of cooking bull penis, which, when consumed by humans, is usually called “pizzle.” She writes that, when stewed, she found pizzle to be “soft and sticky with a gummy texture…the chunks tasted curiously neutral—not even bland but simply lacking any flavor whatsoever.”

In a later post about cooking with lamb testicles (these proved to be yummier), she explains that the dried pizzle we give to dogs is likely yummier than the stewed version eaten by people (mostly Asian people looking for a non-synthetic ersatz Viagra) because “it is nearly impossible [for us] to digest unless it's stewed for a long time, in which case the vascular tissue breaks down into a gluey, flaccid mess of a dish with virtually no flavor.” Noted.

Lear more about bully sticks on our podcast! 

Annie Grossman
annie@schoolforthedogs.com