Recycled Dog Toys
There is a continuous battle in my household regarding dog toys. We have a 60 pound Labrador Pitt mix who is just a little over a year old. As you can imagine he loves to chew and he is actually pretty good about not chewing things he isn’t supposed to which is really remarkable. However, the things that he is given to chew on he absolutely demolishes. The very “strongest” of the strongest toys are gone in less than an hour.
My husband views this as an absolute waste of money to keep buying something that cannot stand the test of time and as a result this poor pup (Arlo is his name) walks around with tiny scraps of his toys making them last as long as possible.
This created a need in my mind that could be met. If you have seen my post about making your own wardrobe, you are aware of the catastrophe that comes of my sewing projects. So in an effort to make use of these unfortunate mistakes, I am going to make a few dog toys.
The first design I took an old tennis ball and created a sort of shredded ghost out of it. This one has held up fairly well, however I do find little pieces around the yard from time to time. What is nice is that he doesn’t try to eat the parts he tears off, which is always a risk as he dismembers his toys. You never want to let a furry friend ingest any part of their toy. One draw back was that it list any ability to bounce, sort of removing the attraction of the tennis ball.
Mr.Ghosty
A bit of a mess, but fairly popular
The next design I tore three strips from one of my “dresses” and created a braided pull toy. This one has actually ended up being a favorite and has had surprising longevity given that it is made from plain cotton fabric. The big difference between this and the rope pulls is really that he has no interest in chewing on it. This is only a tug of war toy for him,
The favorite
For this I found a pickle ball (ball?) and threaded the fabric threw the holes creating a little octopus. And while I thought this one was very clever and kind of cute, we still haven’t found a way to play with it. Not great for tugging, chewing or chasing, but hope springs eternal that one day he will figure out what to do with it.
Our flawed friend
This was a fun project and has saved a couple of bucks on toys he would just decimate anyway. We will see how long they last him and hopefully come up with come new designs. If you give this a try, be sure to be aware of the materials you are using for the safety of your pet and what they end up being, make sure nothing actually gets ingested.