We are going to give you some ideas to make homemade toys for dogs. You can make them at home taking advantage of some old and used materials such as water bottles or old clothes. With these toys made with recycled materials you will enjoy playing with your dog and you will keep him active.
Playing with our dog is essential for his progress and a very good method to strengthen the bond that binds us to him. It is important to spend time with our dog so that he feels loved and cared for. If we spend part of the time we dedicate to playing much better for our friend and ourselves. Making the toys ourselves is rewarding and develops our creativity and ingenuity.
The importance of play in the dog
Play is essential for the proper development of the dog from puppyhood to adulthood, it is the way it uses to use up, in a fun way, the excess energy that it accumulates throughout the day. The more active our dog is, the better it will feel and the better it will behave with us and its environment.
Thanks to play, dogs develop the coordination of their movements, and learn to control their impulses in different situations of daily life.
It is important that our dog plays for a large part of the day with other dogs. You have to learn to interact with other animals and acquire good habits.
Dogs learn from each other through play, toys are a form of learning aid. These animals adopt behaviors that they teach each other through play with each other and in solitude.
Encouraging the game when they are alone we will make them able to enjoy when they stay home without company. For this reason it is recommended that they have toys at their fingertips, and if we do them better.
We are going to give you some ideas to make toys at home for your dog. Dogs need to release the stress that they accumulate each day and perform activities that make them stay focused and alert.
How to make the toys?
Now we are going to make some homemade toys for your dog to have a fun time.
If we prepare interactive homemade toys the dog will show more attention. We can make them relate toys to getting food, so we can make them want to play and sharpen their senses.
- We need a tennis ball and a rope: We make two holes in the ball, each one at one end and the same size so that the rope can pass through. Once the two holes are there, we insert the rope through both and leave the ball in the center. Finally when the ball is hanging from the rope we make a knot with the two ends of the mass to close it.
- We need an old t-shirt: We take a t-shirt and cut different strips of the same size with scissors. We knot all the strips at one end and begin to make a braid. When we finish it, we make another knot at the end with all the strips, and we have our “braid bite”. We can put pieces of feed between the braid to this toy to make it more attractive for our little friend.
- We need a plastic bottle: we just have to make small holes the size of our feed all over the bottle. Once we have all the holes we must fill the bottle with our usual feed and close it with the cap. When throwing the bottle to the dog, the feed will be distributed so that our friend can collect it.
- We need a large plastic bottle: we place the bottle inside a large sock so that it is completely covered. Then we tie the sock and we already have a homemade toy with a very attractive sound for our dog.
- We need an old sock: We are going to use a sock that we will fill with several socks or some paper that makes noise. When we have already filled it in half, we make a knot so that the filling does not come out. With the excess part of the sock we cut strips with scissors, so that our toy looks like an octopus.
Toys must be safe
We must bear in mind that we must make safe toys, we cannot make any toy that could harm our dog.
Pay attention when using plastic bottles and remember that only water bottles will be used . We cannot use bottles that contain substances dangerous for our dog such as soft drinks, air fresheners or cleaning products.
We recommend that when using plastic bottles you check them carefully so that they do not present anything sharp. If any area of the bottle is sharp, you can use a nail file to polish the area. Nor should they contain small pieces that can be swallowed, or toxic substances that can harm our dog.
It is important to remember that if we use our own or family clothes to make some toys, we must wash them very well so that they do not retain any odor. Dogs have a great sense of smell and if the clothes retain an odor they would associate the familiar clothes with their toys.
Making toys at home ensures the materials and their composition by recycling used objects. Sometimes the materials of the toys that are sold contain toxic substances, so we will avoid them.
And now let’s get to work! you are going to have a fun time with your dogs and it will be very rewarding for both of you.
