make your own dog toy.

for about a year, I've been making Reagan his fleece dog toys. This is because one dog toy cost fifteen dollars and was only available in un-masculine color combination of pink, purple, and lime green. So we made a trip to the fabric store and bought a yard and a half of fleece for about ten dollars, which has already made three dog toys. Because his last one had been finally killed:

(Reagan has a very strong predatory drive, especially for fleece)
I decided it was time to make his new toy.


Step 1: cut 3- 4 pieces of fleece, 4-5 inches wide by about 2 feet long, and roll them into little cigars.


Step 2: knot the fleece strips together very tightly at one end, place end under foot, and make a very tight 3 or 4 strand braid. I used 4 strands because it makes the toy more rope-like. The braid has to be very tight because it is going to be pulled and chewed on repeatedly. If it is loose it will get destroyed more quickly.


Step 3: knot the end of the braid.


Step 4: place a knot in the middle of the toy, and trim ends to even lengths.


Step 5: Play with dog.

So that's my genius dog toy making tutorial. I know it's not actually genius, but it is fast, and easy, so it has that going for it.

A note about fleece: we use fleece dog toys rather than the rope kind because we have read that the ropes can be eaten and wrap around the dog's stomach/ intestines. This is not possible with fleece, so it is safer for the animal.