Well, as you might know, there is a wide variety of pet toys you can find in today's market, however, I somehow consider it kind of a waste of money when it comes to purchasing them for my dog, I would preferably make the toys myself and give them to my dog so it would hurt less when he breaks them. For example: -Cloth ball or probably an old used rubber ball. -Wood pieces -Old kid toys such as stuffed dolls and whatnot. What would you recommend? You buy toys or make them yourself?
I both make and buy my pets toys. When I buy them for her, I get them from Ross. It can be a waiting game depending on their inventory, but if you catch the right one, you will have a top notch item by a brand like AKC that is going to last a long time. I also opt to not get the ones with any stuffing in them, as those tend to break much faster. When I do make toys for her, it usually involves and old pair of jeans. I cut both sides of the length of the leg into three long strips and braid them, tie both ends in a knot and hand sew the knot in to place. Definitely keep an eye on home made toys - I have a friend who had a dog that had a piece of wood stuck in its intestine from a home made toy.
When it comes to dog toys I do not really take a look at the brand of the toy itself, however, I will consider your advice and check the brand before purchasing it to make sure it is a good toy and not a trash one, thank you for the tip though.
Casiox, the only reason I mentioned the brand is because the less expensive ones often are made with bad materials or poorly constructed. My experience with the AKC brand is that they do not have part that tear off easily and are made in a way that my dog cannot get to the seams as easily. It challenges her playtime because she still continues to figure it out, but it does not break the bank, so to speak, in my dog care expenses. Combine that with a discount price, and everyone is happy!
I make and buy my pets toys, I mostly buy stuff animals at thrift stores, I remove the stuffing, and any hard plastic pieces (like eyes and noses) (for my dog won't eat them), I try to find stuffed animals with thread/fabric and no plastic parts but if I can't I just remove them (yes they look kind of creepy) and just throw them in a wash before giving them to me dogs. The pet store sells i think the brand is Skinz which is basically a stuff animal without stuffing and plastic parts for about 12-20 dollars!!! I can make the same thing out of a 25-75 cent stuff animal from a thrift store in 5 minutes! My cats are entertained by string, boxes and such so I don't really buy toys for them. Sometimes I will buy ropes from the dollar tree for the dogs and squeaky frisbee for a dollar. If i have jeans that have been torn I have made rag balls and ropes for them from them!
When I had pets, I noticed that my pets love the toys but love more that they are with me playing. I like to make toys, simple ones like tying a peanut shell to string and playing for hours with my cat who loved it. Or just giving a box to a cat and they will lie in it and play in it for a while happily! My pet dogs love to just lie on the grass on a blanket with an old stick to play fetch with. They love to be with us our pets I believe more than the brand name toys that are pricey, so I like making my toys more and spending time just relaxing with my pets back when. Now we can't have pets at our apt. ...all I got is memories.
I prefer to buy my own game boards and plastic toy figurines, but if you have the talents and the resources then I say go for it. I have always wanted to make my own dolls, puppets and wooden blocks. I just don't have the time so I find it easier to go to the Dollar Tree and get some of those toys.
Well, considering that, I would not really think about the brand at all because eventually, the dog is always going to destroy the toys no matter what, I have had the experience with a toy which I think was a branded product because it was quite expensive, the point is that my dog just broke it a week after I gave it to him so it's basically useless, however, it could depend on the dog as well.
For sure, they all end up in the garbage bin, but if one lasts half a year versus a month, I am definitely saving money.
stuffed toys are great, and there are a lot of things you can make from cloth, dry bones and even nylon. A rubber ball of the size a tennis one are very simple and cheap to purchase, but there are not other thing in the world a pretty active dog would love to chase and retrieve over.
Well this is certainly one area where I see the old DIY coming out in me, but I probably would need a little direction. I know that we spend a lot of money on toys for our son, and seriously sometimes I swear he never even touched them. I know I am not alone, though, and I bet if I made more of them I would feel a little better, and save the money of course. Thanks for sharing.
I don't have a dog, but I have a cat that is like a dog! We very rarely buy her toys. First of all, you never know if your pet will like a given toy. Second of all, she tends to like random objects around the house better. She took and ate all of my old dolls. They're her toys now. She loves to chew their arms and cuddle them. We also have a lot of catnip around our house, so we give her that too. I can crochet, so I can also make her little toys and stuff catnip inside, though oftentimes, the string suffices!
