My dogs jaws were powerful enough to bite/crush the cow bones and they would choke on the shards. So instead of bone like a femur I gave them the hip bone. It has like 3 big round options and they couldn't get a good enough bite on the rounded edges to break it up. They gnawed on them like slobbering zombies but never choked on pieces so I felt safe giving them that type bone. Bones from a butcher I would be concerned about bacteria if the bones had any meat tissue left and had not been kept refrigerated.