{"id":179,"date":"2015-10-26T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/?p=179"},"modified":"2018-08-15T09:34:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T16:34:08","slug":"frugal-and-easy-diy-tug-of-war-toys-for-your-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/dog-care\/frugal-and-easy-diy-tug-of-war-toys-for-your-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Frugal and Easy DIY Dog Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dog toys can get expensive, so one dog owners can do is DIY toys for their pup! It is incredibly affordable\u00a0and easy to do.<\/p>\n<p>I recently came across a tutorial from Eileen Chow on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sheknows.com\/pets-and-animals\/articles\/1040515\/diy-dog-toys\">SheKnows<\/a> that showed how to make a DIY toy with just a tennis ball and old t-shirt. It looked like the perfect toy for my two pups so I decided to give it a try while making it more appealing to my dogs. There are different variations of this toy with plastic bottles, tennis ball, and more, so I decided to try a couple different variations to see which one my dogs like best!<\/p>\n<p>The first variation of the t-shirt toy I found was for a tug-of-war toy with an extra toy attached for added fun. Here\u2019s a tutorial!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Supplies:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Old T-shirts<\/li>\n<li>ExtraToy<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 0.95em; line-height: 1.6em;\">Scissors<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Directions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Start by finding an old t-shirt and cutting it into four pieces horizontally.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture7.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-181 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture7-300x225.png\" alt=\"Picture7\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture7-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture7.png 588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Next, cut your pieces\u00a0in half along one of the side seams so you get four strands of fabric and knot\u00a0two strands just as if you were about to tie your shoe. Repeat this until they are totally tied together. Do the same with the other two strands.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture8.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-180 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture8-225x300.png\" alt=\"Picture8\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture8-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture8.png 392w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Then, tie\u00a0both combined strands together. Make sure the strands are secure and extend out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>For added fun, you can tie\u00a0an extra toy to the end of the strands. It&#8217;s easier if you use something the material can wrap around such as a bone or oddly shaped squeaky toy.<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-182 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture6-300x134.png\" alt=\"Picture6\" width=\"300\" height=\"134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture6-300x134.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture6.png 745w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Finally, let playtime begin!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The second variation of the tug-of-war toy involves a tennis ball, similar to the first toy just a different version. This is one of my favorite toys to make because it reminds me of an octopus with all the long strands. Here\u2019s how to make it:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Supplies:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Old T-shirt<\/li>\n<li>Tennis ball or old sock<\/li>\n<li>Scissors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Start by cutting the top (including the sleeves) off of an old t-shirt so you have one big section. Make sure you save the extra fabric to tie your pieces together later on.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture5.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-183 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture5-300x225.png\" alt=\"Picture5\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture5-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture5.png 489w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Then cut one along one of the side seams of the shirt so you have a long piece and put a tennis ball (or in my case a balled up sock) in the middle. This way you will have long strands when you complete your dog toy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-185 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture3.png\" alt=\"Picture3\" width=\"222\" height=\"297\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Tie\u00a0your extra piece of fabric around \u00a0the longer piece of fabric and the ball (or sock) so that the ball and sock are attached. It should like the image below.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-184 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture4.png\" alt=\"Picture4\" width=\"220\" height=\"293\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Then, cut into the fabric below the tie so you can make strands. Make sure you cut as close as to the tie off section as possible so you have longer strands but don&#8217;t cut into the tie otherwise the toy will fall apart. The number of strands doesn\u2019t matter. In my case, I cut into the fabric twice and had three big sections, then continued cutting the three big strands into smaller strands so I could braid them together. Make sure you secure the braided ends by tying them together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-186 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture2-300x225.png\" alt=\"Picture2\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture2-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture2.png 323w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Then, you\u2019re all set to start playing with your dogs!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-187 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture1-225x300.png\" alt=\"Picture1\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture1-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture1.png 305w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>These are just the two versions of a tug toy that I made. There are so many other tutorials out there, but these two versions were simplest and cheapest to make since I already had the supplies on hand. My big dog, Kiba, loved the tug of war toy with the extra toy while my little dog, Shadow, loved the octopus toy. Hopefully you\u2019ll have a chance to make some of your own dog toys without spending\u00a0a dime.<\/p>\n<p><em>Have you ever made toys for your dogs? How did they like them? Leave a comment and let us know!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dog toys can get expensive, so one dog owners can do is DIY toys for their pup! It is incredibly affordable\u00a0and easy to do. I recently came across a tutorial from Eileen Chow on SheKnows that showed how to make a DIY toy with just a tennis ball and old t-shirt. It looked like the perfect toy for my two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[726],"tags":[53,14,55,52,54,56],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4708,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/4708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}