Every time I’ve seen the ad for Pedigree Jumbone – the one with the Beagle – I’ve always been highly skeptical. Our two regularly make light work of toys and chews that are meant to stand up to hours of abuse from far bigger dogs, yet here’s an advert claiming that a Beagle’s chewing gear is not up to the task of a jumbone? No way could I believe that, but I never put my belief the test, until now.

May I present the Pedigree Jumbone “Maxi” – designed for proper big doggies rather than small-to-medium woofers like ours.

This particular jumbone was a gift to Beanie & Biggles from Zak, one of their pals. Since it is intended for larger dogs, I decided to share it between our two but cutting it in half was surprisingly difficult. I took a sharp carving knife to it but encountered stiff resistance immediately. I soon found however that once I’d scored it with the knife I could easily break it in two with my hands. This discovery didn’t bode well for the “it goes om & nom & nom” claim, but there was of course only one way to find out for sure.

A few seconds into the trial there were fragments of the jumbone’s inner core on the carpet. Obviously this thing was seriously tasty, but how long could it last against Beanie & Biggles’ battle-hardened chewing gear?

30 seconds into the trial. Amazingly it’s still there and not substantially reduced in size

Have Pedigree actually made something tough enough to occupy a Beagle for more than a couple of minutes? Will Beanie really fare no better than the Beagle in the advert?

Err, no. Not really.

At the 90 seconds mark all that remained of Biggles’ jumbone was a crumb or two, and trust me, one lick later they were gone.

Beanie finished a close second, and still well under two minutes. In my book that is not “om & nom & nom & nom & nom & nom” etc. That’s barely one and a half noms at best. So either Pedigree have found a Beagle with defective chewing equipment or they’re openly telling porkies. Still, the jumbone appears to be tasty, possibly even tastier than the bed from Biggles’ basket, though not nearly as long lasting.

The bed from Biggles’ basket, in Beanie’s gob.

Vetbed. It really does go om & nom & nom & nom & nom…