My brain hurts.
But I deeply appreciate all of the input in this thread. I've sincerely learned so much and I think others have, too, which is always great when others can take in information as well.
As far as the chews, Cathy you said you give Nylabones and Cuz ball. The small Cuz balls, Jackson chews open in about 5 minutes, so they are a waste of money. I've gotten him the mediums but he doesn't like 'em much -- I guess they are TOO big. The only Nylabones he enjoys are the Flexi ones (chicken flavored) but he tends to chew off the ends pretty quickly. I'm not sure what the proper time is to throw them away. It's always made me nervous, even before this incident, that he was ingested too much of the plastic they are made out of... but if the vet thinks they are safe and okay, I will give him those because he does like them. He literally
needs something to chew at certain times... if I need to get work done, or just simply want to watch a movie, that's when the bully stick would be an awesome babysitter. Kind of like Rylee, he has been licking the carpet, and finding anything else around the house to chew. And I'm being realistic that living with a 3 1/2 year old, not everything is going to picked up ALL of the time so he WILL find alternatives (bad things) to chew if not provided with something he CAN.
On another note, most things that I have read over this past week, low fat cottage cheese seems to be okay for this, but don't worry -- I'm not going to go giving him a bunch of cottage cheese or anything. But it's hard to wrap my brain around understanding all the conflicting views from certified professionals.
I also really enjoy our lifestyle. He is an active dog and I try to be as active as possible. I am not going to keep him on a leash forever and I know there will be times when he eats something outside that he's not supposed to. It's guaranteed to happen. I will be as diligent as humanely possible but I know mistakes happen so I guess I will just have to deal with things as they come along. Pepcid and hyodrogen proxide are probably good things to keep around the house, I suppose...
but I am still going to fully allow him to... be a dog, and not keep him in the bubble forever.
I also will need some kind of a motivating treat for him because I am not stopping our training, either. I highly enjoy clicker training as does he but I want him to be super motivated, too. We were in the process of more complex tricks (like doing a handstand, and we had just learned backwards circles around my legs, etc) and he won't be that enthused to do these kinds of things for a piece of kibble, that's just the truth. I'm hoping this is where the chicken will come in.
But basically, I understand that this is going to be a lifestyle change in regards to his diet. And believe me when I say I am going to be super paranoid and strict about what goes in his little mouth but I also don't want to live in fear every single day and I have faith that we can find a happy balance in regards to his diet and what works for him.