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Our one year old dog blows through dog toys. Yes, we’ve seen toys destroyed within minutes of giving them to him.
Some hold up better than others. After a year, I’ve kind of figured out which ones will hold up best, but most still bite the dust quicker than I would like.
We were spending tons of new dog toys, until we decided to repurpose what we already have and make DIY dog toys. They are super easy to make by tying off and braiding strips of old t-shits.
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These DIY dog toys are awesome and so easy to make! You likely already have everything you need, old tshirts and scissors, so they cost you nothing. As an added bonus, this is a project the kids can help you make.
Supplies
- Old cotton t-shirts
- Scissors
Things to Know
- Different colored t-shirts will give you a more colorful toy, but I’m sure your dog won’t notice the difference if you only have one color.
- The more strips you have the thicker your dog toy will be.
- Sharper scissors or fabric scissors work best for cutting the t-shirts.
Directions
1. Cut t-shirts into strips. You need at least three strips per dog toy. The wider your strips, the thicker your dog toy will be. This step took the longest, because we prepped a lot of fabric strips to make several DIY dog toys.
2. Gather groupings of three strips and tie them together at one end making a knot. You could use 3, 6, 9, or 12 strips of tshirt fabric to make your dog toy. The more strips you have per toy, the thicker your dog toy will be. Remember when choosing how many strips you will use in your dog toy, you need to be able to knot them at both ends. The dog toy pictured under the next step and the one used in tug of war was made with just 3 strips of t-shirt fabric. The blue, purple, and pink dog toy was made with 6 strips of t-shirt fabric (2 of each color).
3. Divide your strips into thirds and begin braiding making sure to stop before you reach the end. We left about 6 inches at at the end.
4. Tie a knot at the end and play tug of war with your dog.
Save On Purnia Dry Dog Food
We continued our savings with dog food. We were able to use Cartwheel and save on at Target on BENEFUL® Original dog food. It has meat as the #1 ingredient with whole grains and vegetables and our dog loves it. We bought BENEFUL® Original dog food, but there is an amazing variety of Purina dry dog food products available at Target in the pet aisle.
Cartwheel Savings
- 20% off Dog Chow (all sizes) – 3/5 – 3/11
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Love this simple toy! Such a great idea, mine go through toys super fast as well! [client]
Thank you!
I do the same but use scrap fleece. I used fleece in my guinea pig cages and have a lot of strips so made a couple for our dog and a fleece ball for the cat! Thinking about making some for dogs at our vets office and are shelters.
We made some extras once for our local shelter. I bet our cat would love a fleece ball Jennifer. Thanks for the idea.
This is perfect! My dogs go through toys like crazy!!! My dog Boomer looks just like yours. She is a rescue so we have no idea what she is but she’s the best puppy.
Love the name of your dog and we think rescue dogs are the best! Ours have all come from the the shelter. They said he was a Terrier/lab mix.
I save the squeekers out of their toys and add them back into recycled toys. Old wash rags folded over with strips from other fabrics inside with squeeker and whip stitched make great toy for my pekingnese. I also pick up old stuffed toys at yard sales, doesnt matter if they are ugly..just no beenies..wash them and they are brand new toys..save the stuffing for new wash rag or towel toys
Thanks for all the great ideas Donna! I love the idea of repurposing the squeekers!
My pup Sally is a shreader so I did this with strips from old jeans. They lasted a bit longer than t shirts but she’s happy and that’s what matters!
Thanks for the tip Karen!
I use old socks to make a chew/chase toy for my Boxer/Pit. Put one sock over your hand and pull up toward your elbow. Add 4 or 5 more socks the same way. Take the socks off your arm and tie a knot in the top sock. Instant soft chew toy they will love.
Also; when you cut jeans into shorts, save the legs.
Cut along one seam all the way down. Now make 2 equal size cuts up the leg, stopping just before the seam at the bottom. Braid the fabric and tie it off in a knot.
The great thing is both are washable if/when needed.
Thanks for the great ideas Steven! Great way to reuse all those socks that have lost the mate 🙂