Jump to content
BC Boards

Homemade dog toys


Recommended Posts

I was wondering if anyone makes their own dog toys? I am looking mostly for puzzle toy ideas. The ones in stores are expensive and not durable (I do love the IQ Ball and of course kongs). I sometimes take an empty water bottle and cut a couple holes in it, then fill with food. Levi loves this!

 

Anyone else have other ideas or links for homemade puzzle toys? I looked online and youtube and did not find much. The muffin tin with the tennis balls looks like a good idea, but I don't know if he would just want to play with the tennis balls or eat the food underneath?! :blink:

 

 

I also remember seeing a video of a knotted rope toy where you didn't do a regular braid but a strange knot that you repeated. It involved folding 4 pieces over each other in some way. If someone can find a link for that I would appreciate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Waffles,

 

Read Ejano's post asking about the Nina Ottoson toys and other ideas. Several of us posted some fun and inexpensive things that amuse our dogs.

 

I started doing the muffin tin with tennis balls and treats underneath. Shonie loved it, and of course the fun was over in a very short time, but I think that anything that makes the dog work a bit for their food is a good idea.

 

We keep Gibb's indoors toys in it, and he lets us know he's bored by pulling it out from under the coffee table and pawing at it.

 

Ruth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/255121/product.web?gdftrk=gdfV2226_a_7c268_a_7c6967_a_7c255121

 

I bought one of these "Contempo Tessa Food and Treat Dispensers" for my dogs and they LOVE it...we have had it for about 6+ months now and they have NOT destroyed it and become very excited when I give it to them. They carry it around, roll it, jump on it, etc. It has two pieces (it's a little difficult to separate, but is soooooooo worth it), the bottom portion you fill with treats/food and you can adjust the size of the opening to either let the treats come out easily or require more "jarring loose". I am considering buying another so both dogs will have their own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Waffles,

 

Read Ejano's post asking about the Nina Ottoson toys and other ideas. Several of us posted some fun and inexpensive things that amuse our dogs.

 

I started doing the muffin tin with tennis balls and treats underneath. Shonie loved it, and of course the fun was over in a very short time, but I think that anything that makes the dog work a bit for their food is a good idea.

 

We keep Gibb's indoors toys in it, and he lets us know he's bored by pulling it out from under the coffee table and pawing at it.

 

Ruth

You know, I'm wondering if I could take this to the next level....I thought perhaps I could teach the boys to play checkers with a giant set of checkers but Robin unfortunately likes to chew light plastic toys (one of my rummage sale left overs a little Fisher Price wagon that Ladybug was to pull around is suddenly missing a wheel!)....however, I see another possibility with the tennis balls and a muffin ten....tic tac toe! I think it could happen as they both know how to drop balls into baskets...Thanks!

 

 

ETA - Outside toys -- I string one of those jolly balls with either a handle (Thanks, Lynn! It held up through the summer!) or the one that comes with a knotted rope - rope lasts about five minutes but the ball lasts pretty well...through a dog run line and run the line between my corner fence posts so the ball goes zinging back and forth. What joy! Ladybug's special favorite. I did have a tether ball when I had just two dogs but it's too competitive with three. I've also attached a thick rope to the tie out line for tugging. They all like that a great deal as well.

 

Liz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shawnee: I have never seen the Tessa Toy before and may purchase that.

 

I was wondering if anyone has one of these Jolly Push-n-play balls? They are not the softer kind like the ones with the handle, these are super hard plastic. If you watch the video at the top of the reviews, this is what I saw a border collie do with one. He would push it around super fast with his mouth and shoulder, would whine/yelp, and go nuts running while pushing it. I wondered if anyone else had one for their BC? I am curious if my guy would do anything with it or just look at it confused?

http://www.amazon.com/Jolly-Pet-14-Inch-Push-n-Play-Purple/dp/B000P71BQU/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_ttl_in

 

Ejano: Any video of your jolly-ball contraptions? They sound like they would be funny to watch.

 

This is a bit elaborate but I may try making this (seems better than the store bought version):

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My girls love the huge Jolly Balls. They have ones that they make for horses, with different type of material... those are their favorite.

 

P.S. I've never known a BC that hasn't chewed the handle off. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Ejano: Any video of your jolly-ball contraptions? They sound like they would be funny to watch.

 

This is a bit elaborate but I may try making this (seems better than the store bought version):

 

One operator warnings about those super hard Push n 'play balls -- They are wonderful fun for the dogs but they work so hard with them that they get a sore shoulder...we have quite a large yard fenced in and they take it all over, Robin barking all the way! Makes us real popular with neighbors. So, you'll have to monitor their time with it if they are really "into" it. They stare longingly through the sunroom window at it. Plus, Mr. Exuberance (that would be the red dog) gets it airborne and there's the possibility of it going through the sunroom window... but it's funny, really funny to watch them...my son gave Ladybug my Pilotes ball -- it only lasted a half hour but she had a heck of a time with it.

 

Edit...figured it out!

This is a clip I made of Robin for a contest when he was a year old...as the spring went on, he seemed to develop a particular fondness for knocking the ball against the posts with the birdhouses on it to watch the birds fly out.

 

Edit again -- I have no idea of what those videos are on the bottom of the screen....

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a clip I made of Robin for a contest when he was a year old

 

Thanks for sharing, that was super cute!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To make it more durable, I've done the same thing Waffles does with plastic bottles, but used large PVC pipe instead and capped the ends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My girls love the huge Jolly Balls. They have ones that they make for horses, with different type of material... those are their favorite.

 

P.S. I've never known a BC that hasn't chewed the handle off. :lol:

 

My BC loves the jolly balls too, but you are right, she has chewed all the handles off. I wonder if an actual horse made one would be more durable....I also have an AIKIOU that I will sometimes put food or treats in......that is a little busy work to get them out of there. they are kind of pricey so I bought mine on amazon.com. google the AIKIOU and see what you think. I am pretty limited myself on "entertaining" toys for the dogs....they do like tennis balls tied up inside old socks too.....oh, and they LOVE LOVE LOVE antlers....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Edit...figured it out!

This is a clip I made of Robin for a contest when he was a year old...as the spring went on, he seemed to develop a particular fondness for knocking the ball against the posts with the birdhouses on it to watch the birds fly out.

 

:D Amazing! This is exactly what I saw another dog do. Where did you get the red one? The only place I have seen them is on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Jolly-Pet-14-Inch-Push-n-Play-Blue/dp/B000P6VA2G/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1321103983&sr=1-1). I assume yours is the 14" size?

 

The Aikiou toys look great and are a more reasonable price. Maybe for Christmas we will get one!

 

I have been looking at the Antlers for a while but wasn't sure if they were worth the price. Do they actually last long?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:D Amazing! This is exactly what I saw another dog do. Where did you get the red one? The only place I have seen them is on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Jolly-Pet-14-Inch-Push-n-Play-Blue/dp/B000P6VA2G/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1321103983&sr=1-1). I assume yours is the 14" size?

 

The Aikiou toys look great and are a more reasonable price. Maybe for Christmas we will get one!

 

I have been looking at the Antlers for a while but wasn't sure if they were worth the price. Do they actually last long?

 

 

Yes, I ordered it from Amazon. I wish I could find something softer that was durable so they could play with it more often. I give it to them just for a few minutes at a time once a week or so. You can actually play games with them with it - someone on the boards posted a link to video of some people working with these huge bouncy balls - it was kind of strange because the people were dressed a bit oddly, but I thought hmmm...a new opportunity to make the boys think and interact with them, so I occasionally get out traffic cones and ask them to direct the ball through the cones, that kind of thing and they bring the ball to me when I ask them to -though be prepared to get out of the way - it hurts when it smacks your shins! I think they've made up their own games because they keep repeating certain patterns-- hit the bird house, 10 points; 15 if you bang the side of the grill; they'll take it behind the swimming pool to a U-shaped area where there are three fences (pool, garden, and the actual yard fence) for it to bounce off and it's quite a task to get it there as they have to roll it along a side hill for quite a distance, which is tricky. It's interesting to watch dogs, isn't it?

 

The smaller red ball he put in through the basketball hoop is also a jolly ball - it comes with a rope (which lasts about two hours in our house) but the ball itself is quite durable. I string it through the lead line, or they play with it loose.

 

They have fun with a basketball too. They can push it around and it's pretty tough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...