Dogs love chewing footwear. Pups do it to release pain as their teeth grow, while adult dogs do it out of boredom or as a stress reliever. While most of the time we see the humor in pooches ruining their owners’ shoes, the reality is that it puts them at risk of some very serious gastrointestinal problems. Data shows that in a third of gastrointestinal surgeries, foreign objects ingested by dogs are to blame, with flip-flops topping the list of shoes ingested. Brazilian company Brizza has stepped in to do something about that problem by creating the world’s first “unchewable” flip-flops. The shoes are coated in the most bitter chemical in the world: denatonium benzoate. A single drop is enough to make an Olympic-size pool of water taste horribly bitter, yet it’s safe for consumption. It’s actually widely used in the pet industry to discourage animals from biting and licking things they shouldn’t. The non-toxic flip-flops are expected to hit Brazilian stores in the near future, which means it could be a while before they migrate to the U.S.
