First off, I want to say that I am tired out! I decided to start jogging with Mom once again. I haven’t done that in a few years now. She comes down in the morning in her running attire and asks me if I want to run and I curl up in my bed which means “no”, but this week I wanted to go. It is kind of fun having alone time with her and she makes sure we run where I can see some squirrels and wabbits. More calories burned means I can eat more snacks too! Once Bailie turns one she can go jogging too.
Now on to the DIY tug a war toy! This is a super easy toy that Mom learned how to make in Germany. The ladies in the agility class Katie got kicked out of, used these to motivate their dogs. Tug a War is more than a game, it is actually a good work out for dogs. If you have two dogs that play together it is great for them both. They will exert lots of energy, and this rope should withstand lots of tugging!
You can buy the cording at any hardware type store. For bigger dogs get thicker cord, for small dogs, thinner cord. We don’t use exact measurements. Mom just pulls out a bunch of rope and starts knotting and twisting. If it isn’t the right size we do it again. It is really easy.
Making one of these only takes about five minutes. If it starts getting worn out, just toss it and make a new one. Tug a war toys have to put up with lots of abuse, making these simple cheap ones a really good deal!
What are you doing to stay fit? Join in the FitDog Friday Blog Hop hosted by SlimDoggy, Peggy’s Pet Place and To Dog With Love! Share your story with others and find fun, new fitness ideas too!
Hi Y’all!
Come on by today, when you return from your run, and pick up the Sunshine Award waitin’ for y’all at my place.
Y’all come on by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
I was there, I think the same time you were on my post 🙂 Thank you. No run today, it is all ice out there, so it was just a short walk.
We’re not much into tugging here, just like to retrieve, but that looks like an awesome DIY project!
I personally don’t do either but my sisters love to pull!
That is cool but doubt my staff would be any good at making one of those. I love a good game of tug. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
They are super simple, but I don’t know your staff. If you have cats on your staff, forget it 😉
Very cool. Have to try that.
Easy and fun if you are into that game.
That’s a great idea, Emma! A couple of my dogs will play with each other, and they wear the store-bought ropes out quickly. I will try to make one. =)
The first one Mom made lasted about five years even being outside the last year or so. It was never really chewed, just tugged.
Have fun on your jogging adventures. Thanks for the cool diy toy.
Mom is in it for the work out, I’m in for the “furry” scenery 🙂
Hey Emma, good to hear you are jogging again. We love going for runs with mom, dad, anyone who will take us – it’s our favorite thing to do and great exercise. I do it for the treats too. Thanks for joining the Hop.
Jogging is hard work, but for the critters and time alone with Mom it is alright. It sure does wear me out, though.
PS. Your social media share buttons are missing – not sure where they were, but pretty sure you had some.
Thank you! I had a huge crash on the back end after I published the post. I though it was all fixed, but now I see all the plug ins were deactivated, so I’m putting it all back together!
That’s a great idea! I think Torrey would like that.
Any dog that plays tug a war should like it.
Emma….you are adorable in “your” running shoes. You go, girl! What a cool DIY toy. I love to tug and get Lyla and Panda involved. Thanks for the cool idea. XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
Yep, have to get that GBGV bikini figure ready for summer! Katie and Bailie love to “tug” around the house here. Have a fun day!
The mom bought some rope to try the toy! YIPPEE!!! More toys! XOXO Sparkle the PBGV ps…I had a bad day-I learned how to steal laundry out of the dryer and I ran all over the house and yard with the mom’s panties. Then I really got in trouble when I growled at her when she tried to take my stolen sock. Sigh. I am sitting here by he computer making moans and groans hoping she will love me again…
That is awesome! Laundry work if my specialty. I love to help by taking one sock before it is washed and hide it for Mom to find later. She really appreciates that game. You were just trying to have some fun. Now you have to learn to drop things when asked. If you don’t want to drop the sock and growl, have Mom offer you a treat in exchange for the sock. I had the same problem until I figured out Mom wasn’t trying to steal my treasures. Today is a new day.
wow! That is SO cool!!! I will have to attempt to make one of those!!! Thanks for the tips! And love you in those running shoes!!! hehehe!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I have to get my speed and endurance up to keep up with Bailie!
That looks like a fun tug toy, I’ll have to give it a try! My dogs would probably love to go jogging with me… I need to recover from my foot surgery still before we can run but they do enjoy biking!
Mom says running with dogs is the very best. We are ready to go whenever you are and we keep your mind busy so you don’t think about the run all the time.
This is a great idea , we will try it ,reading so many great and informative posts today ♥♥
It is easy and fun if you like playing tug a war.
Thanks for the tip, Eko loves tug of war and can burn through store bought toys pretty quickly – these seems like a good solution.
Very basic but works really well. Katie can pull Mom around the house in a chair with it, never breaks or tears.
Great DIY project! Love the pics too
Thank you. It is a nice and easy one.
Great idea for a toy. I bet lots of doggies would love it!
Tug a war dogs do. Buddy took one home with him last time he was here.
Great idea for a toy! Since it’s not a good idea with Vlad’s breed, we don’t play tug-of-war; but it still looks like something great to throw outdoors that would wash easily. It looks like it’s got good fling-ability properties.
We just toss them when they get old or dirty since they are so inexpensive and easy to make.
Very cool idea making your own toy! Love Dolly
I try to be a cool with it kind of pup 😉
Me and Nellie just have to ask. Why did cousin Katie get kicked out of agility classes? Curious maremmas.
First, all the dogs were smaller than she was and the teachers did not think she could do agility because she was too big which isn’t true at all. Then Katie was young and wild and she refused to listen to Mom. Every time she went off leash she disrupted the entire class and tried to play with all the other dogs. It was a combination of they did not want her to come back and Mom felt real unwanted, so that was the end of it. Their loss 🙂
That’s a pretty cool idea Emma!
And simple.
Oh Emma, it is so fun that you jog where there are squirrels! I love that tug o war toy. My mom just got a bunch of tee shirts from my human brother so she can make tug toys for the local shelter. Maybe she can make some of these too! Thanks for the instructions! What kind of meanies would kick poor Katie out of a class? That’s just so wrong!
Germany, things are different there. It is a dog paradise, but if you don’t follow rules then you are out and she was just wild and disruptive plus the teacher didn’t like larger dogs in agility. It pissed Mom off but in the whole scheme of things it really was a good thing. Have fun making tug a war toys!
what a great idea! and we love diy! I think we will try it. and in case we fail, we can write a funny post! Have a great weekend!
What a great way to think of it! It is real easy…it took Mom a couple tries the first time, now she whips them out in a few minutes if we need one.
We think that’s a way cool idea too – but Allie got distracted by your PINK running shoes!! PINK! PINK! (we had to calm her down) Maybe if we bought pink paw shoes for her, she’d exercise more? Are you really coming to BlogPaws????? We’re so excited! And we just realized when we ported over to feedly we somehow had your linky in the wrong place. We’ve been AWOL waaaaay too long!! We’re baaack!
Yep, my sister Bailie and I are escorting Mom to BlogPaws this year. A girl can’t miss Vegas and I have lots of friends to meet and stuff to learn! I don’t understand the readers, I prefer to get posts emailed, I just go through my email and read blogs that way, but everyone has a system. Will you be at BlogPaws? We will have to meet up if you are!
I’m not really good at DIY but I’d like to give that a try. Ours all love to play tug of war. You have places to run that are clear of ice and snow? I’m looking forward to getting out there again too now that it’s finally warming up a bit. Does your Mom run all winter too?
Normally Mom runs year round but she has had so many foot injuries the past couple years she had to take a few months off. They always plow the walkways around here and it hasn’t been real icy except for today, so it works. She has YakTrax too if it is real icy and she wants to run. Not much stops that woman! have fun with tug a war!
It looks really easy to do this thing, but in real life, my Mom isn’t sure 🙂
It is easy, it might take a few tries, but it is easy.
What a cool tug toy! That’s brilliant! Chewy stole a piece of real sheepskin from the garage (the Hunny has all kinds of leather and skin lying around – wait. That sounds creepy. It’s not.) that we use for tug. But I like your version!
Something simple that is useful!
Tuggin’, runnin’ and treats, oh my! Have a fun weekend everyone!
You kitties too…don’t overdo the nippers!
That tug toy is a great idea. I’m going to have to see if Rocco will like that. Definitely good for agility!
Diane and Rocco
Since we have never really done agility, we don’t know, but most of the people in Katie’s classes used these homemade toys. Since Katie was asked to leave after the class we learned about these, Mom never got to try it for agility.
We love to play tug of war! What a great idea! Maybe we can talk mommy into making us one of those!
Super simple and inexpensive.
Küster loves toys like this, and Dad has a lot of that rope for different SAR things! We’ll have to give this a try!
Give it a try, he may just love it!
What a great DIY! 🙂 I have to admit, this toy idea always kinda intimated me (I’m not very good with knots) but seeing your simple explanation has tempted me to get at it.
None of those fancy knots involved in this one. It is mostly just winding the rope and threading through. We don’t do those fancy knots here either.
Roooo that tug toy looks mighty pawsome – I wonder if I can get my human to make me one *Waggy tail*
Oh, I bet you would love it!
Beautiful shot with the sneakers! Cool rope toy!
Gotta get those running paws on for my summer bikini figure 🙂
This looks like an excellent toy! We’ll have to try it!
Easy, inexpensive, and most importantly, fun.
Wow that looks a super cool toy. Love your Mommy’s trainers, pink is my Favorite color xxoxxx
Mollie and Alfie
Mom has all kinds of colored shoes. She gets them professionally fit at the running store and buys what fits right. Sometimes they are really butt ugly, sometimes fun like these. The main thing is that they fit correctly.
Katie got kicked out of a class? I can’t believe that for a moment??
My dear sister Katie was a serious wild child. She was Mom’s first puppy ever and was out of hand. She was so crazy, she had to go to puppy school at age three, talk about embarrassing! She made Mom cry a lot with her antics I have heard, but once she got to be about five, she mellowed out and turned out to be a wonderful lady dog. Kuvasz are known to be difficult.