I’m a puppy and love to play. My owner loves to sew, and collect fabric. She made me a dog tug toy, when I need a little something new to play with! Sometimes I just like to sit and chew on them, too.
This is a super easy DIY project – no sewing involved! New toys are always so much fun to play with! Just a few fabric strips, and your pup will have a fun new toy!
How to Make a Dog Tug Toy
A great way to use up some fabric scraps by making this dog toy. This is a great stash-buster project to use up some of those scraps of fabric!
Materials
- Four (4) pieces of fabric 4-inches wide and 40-inches long (or as long as the fabric width)
Tools
- Scissors or rotary cutter to cut the fabric
Instructions
- Start with your four (4) 4-inch strips of material. They can be the same color, or different. It is easier to keep track of your knot tying with different colors.
- Here are the four fabrics I used to make the dog tug toy for Lucy.
- Take one end of all four (4) strips of fabric and tie a big knot. This is the easy part!
- To make a sturdy dog toy, that will last a while, we'll be making a series of square knots with the four (4) fabrics. Start by laying them out with two of the fabrics to the sides and two down.
- Take the strip on the far left (pink) and fold it over the two strips (yellow and orange) that are laying down straight.
- Take the strip that is on the right laying down (orange) and fold it up over both horizontal strips (red and pink).
- Take the strip that was lying to the right (red) and fold over the strip that was folded up (orange), and pull it under the 2nd strip that was laying straight (yellow). Now all four strips are interlaced for a square knot, ready to pull it taut!
- Here is another view of the four (4) strips interwoven for the square knot.
- Voila! Our first square knot.
- Do this progress again (and again and again), making square knots until you run out of fabric. Here are the steps again. Fold the piece of fabric that is to the left (here it is yellow), over the two center strips (orange and red).
- Bring one of the center strips (red) up and over the two strips (yellow and pink) that were on the outside.
- Bring the right side strip (Pink) over the strip we just folded up (red). Pull all four taut for a knot.
- Keep tying the square knots until you don't have enough fabric to make another one. Tie off the end of the strips with a big knot. Here is the finished dog tug toy!
Alternative: Although this is a great stash-buster project to use us scraps of fabric, you can also make this same dog tug toy from nylon rope, which is very durable. Pick up some rope at your local hardware or home improvement store and start making square knots and dog tug toys!
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Check with your local Humane society or dog shelter and see if they’d like some of these toys to entertain their dogs. A great project for a rainy afternoon. They don’t take long to make and can be so much fun for playtime!
Tips and ideas for making a knotted diy dog tug toy
This size is perfect for large dogs. If you have a very small dog, this toy will be bigger than them! For a small dog, cut 2-1/2 inch wide strips, and use strips that are only about 20-inches long.
How do you braid a dog tug toy? Braid the fabric or rope using the square knot, that we show you the step-by-step directions above. You can also use an overhand knot, if you prefer.
Lucy loves her new toy! It’s great to play catch or a good game of tug with my owner.
Now it’s time to play!
I like my new tug toy — made from scraps of fabric. You can make it longer by making your strips longer.
Oh, yeah. The knot is nice to chew on!
Bringing back my new dog tug toy for another toss in the yard!
Come on, let’s play with my new toy!
Browse through all of the other pet projects and inspiration on Create Whimsy. (No pun intended! ‘pet projects’ Ha!)
