DIY Dog Toy – perfect for puppies

When our new puppy came dangerously close to eating something he shouldn’t, I knew I had to take action immediately.  Today, I’m sharing how I made a DIY dog toy that you can make in 10 minutes and it just may save your puppy’s life!

This is our sweet Ollie, another addition to our house of boys and can I tell you how much joy he has given to us?! You may have seen him on my Instagram feed, where he has become somewhat of a superstar, but this is the first time he’s making an appearance on our blogging stage. He’s a sweet and mellow pup most of the time, but can also get a bit feisty in this puppy stage!

We showered him with love and gifts and treats when he first arrived a few months ago, one gift being a plush duck toy that honked. Ollie loved his duck, but as he started growing – and he’s growing so fast – his teething stage made us rethink our choice in toys. Just this last week, Ollie has lost 3 teeth!

A few days ago, he ripped a hole into his honking duck and proceeded to pull out all of the stuffing. Luckily, I caught him in the act and just like stubborn puppies do, he ran away from me with a huge wad of cotton in his mouth.  I realized that I hadn’t taught him the ‘drop it’ command yet, so he just thought it was a game of chase.

I barely got there in time before he ingested the stuffing, which would have had dangerous results!

If sweet Ollie would have swallowed all that cotton from his disemboweled toy – it could have resulted in a digestive obstruction which could only be fixed with surgery!

Not a good thing!

I knew I had to get right on teaching him the ‘drop it’ command, but since he has lost so many teeth, I wanted to make sure to find a soft treat. I also needed something easily portable that I could take with us on walks. It seems Ollie has a liking for rocks as well, so I need something quick and easy that I can use to entice and encourage him to ‘drop’ whatever he has picked up.

When I was at Walmart getting Ollie’s PEDIGREE® Dog Food, I saw these PEDIGREE® Pouches and thought they just may be the answer to helping me get this puppy trained. Since he already loves his PEDIGREE® Puppy food, I knew he’d enjoy this as well.  Plus, it would be soft on his puppy gums.

Treating and eating on the go just got a whole lot easier with PEDIGREE® Pouches and this puppy momma is so happy and ready to train him!

I looked at the selection of dog toys, but was weary of most of them, since he’s tearing them up.  I needed something strong, but not plush.  Then I remembered I had a pair of jeans in a pile of clothes at home that were going to Goodwill.

Inspiration struck, and I started a DIY dog toy from a pair of old jeans.

First, I cut off the legs of the pants.

The strongest part of the jeans are the seams.  I need this toy to be durable and not easy to chew through. I cut out the seams in long strips.

Now you will have 4 long strips of jean seams.  If you give them a tug, you can see how strong they are.

I took 3 of the strips of jean seams and simply knotted one end and braided the strips together.

You just knot off the other end and you’re done! SOOOOO easy!

I love how flexible the fabric is in the braid.  Tough enough for a mean game of tug-of-war and flexible enough to move around the new teeth coming in.

I had one more strip of blue jeans left over. I hate wasting anything, so I knotted it over and over again to make a small ball for Ollie.

Or if you have a bigger dog, you can take the fabric from the leg scraps and knot it together to make a DIY dog toy for bigger dogs.

I love that they have the blue jean tassel-like edges for them to chew on.

Want to hear a bonus to this DIY dog toy? They are 100% machine washable which means when the toy gets smelly, you can wash it to make it fresh again.

So did Ollie like his new toy?

He’s already been thrashing it around, whipping his head back and forth.  He’s even tossing it up in the air with a flip of his head and chasing after it!

Soooo cute!

We are still working on the “drop it” command and tug-of-war is a great game to teach this new command.  I start with saying “Tug” and we play.  Then I give the “drop it” command and lightly open his mouth and immediately give him the treat.

In just 15 minutes of play, he was already catching on with his special new treats from his PEDIGREE® Pouches. I’ve learned food is gold when it comes to puppy training!

We followed up his training session with his meal time, and I love how easily I can mix the remainder of the pouch with his dry food for a perfect soft blend for puppies.  Ollie thought it was a special day and reciprocated with lots of kisses.

And now that the beautiful weather is here, these pouches will be perfect for our walks and park outings and any on-the-go training I need to do.

You can shop for PEDIGREE® at Walmart for the PEDIGREE® Pouch Beef, Bacon and Cheese Flavors or Ollie’s favorite – Meaty Ground Dinner with Hearty Chicken! We’ve also started transitioning him from his puppy food to PEDIGREE® Dry Complete Nutrition Chicken which is also available at Walmart!

Learn more about Pedigree® by connecting with the brand on Twitter and Facebook. You can find more pet project ideas from Pedigree® on YouTube and Google+.

I’d love to hear from you! Scroll down to the bottom of this post to leave me a comment.

Or find me on your favorite social media and tell me there!

{Instagram} {Facebook} {Twitter} {Pinterest} {Google +}

I share with these wonderful people.