Having been dog sitters for almost a year now, my husband and I have come to know a lot of dogs and all their wonderful personalities. Most of the pups who come and stay with us love toys, and they all have their different preferences. Like Napoleon the mini dachshund. He’ll only play with tiny tennis balls. But Nala the Westie puppy was a nibbler, and preferred all different kinds of plush toys. Jacky and Cookie the Jack Russell Terrier puppy siblings? They were all about sounds! Anything that made noise they ultimately destroyed. Spootie, our favorite Cockapoo, loves to get inside the toy—she’s definitely a curious one.
Since play sessions with toys are a big part of our home (even our very own super senior dog Piri likes to get in on the fun) I thought I’d share some quick DIY toys you can make with common household items. This is the first project in a series of three, and it’s really easy—you probably already have everything you need to get started.
The Braid: Homemade Dog Toy
My husband has loads of T-shirts from the Gap, so I took a few of the old ones to make a really cool braided toy. Perfect for chewing and tug-of-war!
What You Need
- A couple of old cotton shirts
- Scissors
- Cloth tape measure
Directions
- I cut nine stripes, each 20 inches long x 2 inches wide (you can go longer if you need to).
- Gather all your stripes and tie a knot at one end.
- Separate the stripes into 3’s and start to braid.
- Leave some room at the end to tie another knot.
I found that soft shirts work the best as they tie more easily, but if you have bigger dogs with stronger teeth, you may want to use tougher fabric.
That’s it! Happy play sessions everyone! Thanks again to Spootie for helping me out with this one.
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Photos and words by Jane Yoo. She also blogs at Winding Ridge Lane.
