Easy to Make Homemade Dog Toys
DIY Dog Toy Ideas
Pets make sure a huge difference in our lives, it makes it an easy task to think of something to create for them. As it happens this post is written to solve a small problem I had with my dog and my son’s family dog.  I am dog sitting my sons family terrier. He has to drive a couple of hours each way to bring their wonderful little Australian terrier to Edmonton, so I don’t get to have the little stay over very often. The “boys” as I call them refused to play at all, I tried socks, a stick and an old towel and no reaction. So I went ahead and made a couple of toys to entice them to play with each other.
Its been about three years since I last dog sat the little Australian terrier. The “boys” use to play for hours and it was so fun watching my big lug wrestle with the fearless little terrier. This time there was no squabbling but they weren’t really enjoying each others company either. They are both 8 years old now, so the visit was consisting of naps while keeping an eye on each other.
All the unused dog toys were recently Konmari’d out of here and I was hesitant to leave the two dogs unattended to go buy new toys. The “boys” use to love to play tug of war, so the first toy I made was a large dog rope.
How to Make a Dog Rope for Free
Supplies
This dog toy is made with leftover bits of dropcloth from other projects. Any kind of old fabric will work as long as your fabric is about two feet long and totalling about three feet wide. The pieces don’t have to match or do they have to be in one piece. Old towels, sheets, pillowcases, or blue jeans, or cut up old sweaters will all work.
Start by ripping or cutting your fabric into 9 strips, about three inches wide and at least two feet long. You will also need two narrow strips for ties.
Tie the two narrow strips together with a knot to make one large piece and set aside.
Fold all the other strips into long tubes so that the cut sides overlap.
Line up the 9 tubes of folded fabric together. Grab the long piece you set aside and place it in the middle of the tubes so that there is excess fabric on each end.
You will use the extra length from the long narrow piece to bind the 9 tubes together.
Start by gathering the tubes of fabric together. Loop the long strip around the 9 tubs, pull the fabric through and pull tight. Repeat and then tie into a knot.
Next divide the fabric tubes into three groups of three loops.
Braid each grouping of three tubes, but include the narrow strip in the one braid. I paired the narrow strang with one tube and just braided it in.
Once you have all three sets of tubes braided, repeat and braid the three small braids to make one large braid. You will have an extra-long tail hanging out from the narrow strip.
Using the long tail of the narrow strip tie wrap and tie the other end of the rope.
Trim the ends to the same length.
How to Make an Appealing Stuffed Toy
My Pyr and I play a game where I wrap bits of his dog treats into a package of multi-folded parchment paper, then he happily noses through unfolding the parchment and snacking. So for the second toy, I combined the parchment game idea with a tug of war idea for the two dogs. I figured a dog treat bait I may have some hope of enticing the dogs to play with it.
Supplies for the Stuffed Homemade Dog Toy
1/2 yard of unwanted fabric at least 36″ wide.
Stuffing, I used cotton balls leftover from a nail party with my granddaughters but any leftover stuffing you have will work.
Dried dog treats for enticement
Lay the fabric good side down, make a fold the long edge of the fabric over about an inch.
You can fill the toy with cotton balls as I did, or leftover pillow stuffing if you have any. Place the stuffing in the center portion of the long edge, you want to have at least ten inches of fabric on each end of the filling so that you can tie the knots.
Once you have the cotton filling, place in some dry dog treats that will appeal to your dog’s sense of smell. Roll the fabric into a tight tube.
When you get to the other side, fold the fabric over by four inches.
Now that you have a tube tie one end closed. You may find this a bit challenging if your fabric is shorter. When this happened to me I shoved the cotton to the other end using a large wooden spoon until I could tie one end.
I then pushed the cotton down to the tied end with a wooden spoon so I had fabric to tie a knot at the other end.
As it turned out the two dogs much preferred the rope toy to the stuffed toy. They ended up playing with it a few times and started to enjoy each other.
Each tug of war session lasted about 15 minutes, and it got the two dogs engaged with one another instead of competing for me. Well worth the few minutes it took me to throw them together.
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Chas at Chas’ Crazy Creations! Blog / Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube
I love how you shared your personal experience of dog sitting and the challenge you faced with getting the dogs to play. Your DIY dog toy ideas are brilliant and budget-friendly. The dog rope made from leftover fabric strips is a clever way to promote interactive play, and the stuffed toy with hidden treats is an excellent combination of engagement and reward.
As a dog parent myself, I absolutely love this idea for easy-to-make homemade dog toys! It’s always heartwarming to see our furry friends happy and entertained, but sometimes buying new toys can be expensive. That’s why I appreciate this DIY dog rope made with leftover fabric. It’s not only budget-friendly, but also eco-friendly since we’re reusing materials that might have been thrown away otherwise.
I can totally relate to the struggle of trying to entertain dogs that seem uninterested in playing. It’s especially tough when you’re dog sitting and don’t have their usual toys available. But, as this post shows, with a little bit of creativity and effort, we can make our own toys and bring some joy back into their playtime. I’m definitely going to try this DIY dog rope with my own pups and see how they like it. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea!
This is great! Making your own DIY pet toys is so much better than importing more junk from overseas. So many of those imports can contain nasty chemicals that can harm our pets. Some of these ideas would be great for horse toys, as well.
Love this project … my dog Joe seems to go through toys like he goes through water. Seriously, he destroyed the last squeaky in about two minutes flat. He really likes the tug toys so I’m going to make one from some old linens.
My family had a dairy farm for years. The best dog toys we have found are used rubber teat cup liners from the milking machines. The dogs love them and they last for a LONG time!
I wish I still had my dog, Eddie. I would be making him some of these toys. Unfortunately, he passed away several years ago but I will put the idea on my Pinterest so others can enjoy the time spent with their furbabies.
Looks like the two fur babies really enjoyed their toys Leanna. Too sweet. Our EeeeeeeeDeeeeee, also a terrier mix loves playing tug of war with Zia (German Shepard x Husky). Zia usually wins 😀 but that doesn’t stop EeeeeeeDeeeeeee from trying harder. They’ll love a few of these to play with.
Love this project Leanna! I’m excited to share this with all my friends and makes me want to get another dog. Thanks for sharing!