The ball looks quite big next to BlindDog (It’s 12cm tall) but that doesn’t stop her at all, and I think it would be suitable for all but the very biggest and tiniest dogs.

The treat ball doesn’t come apart, but the adjustable opening makes it relatively easy to fill with kibble compared to treat balls with one small hole.  Filling with BlindDog’s ration of 1/3 cup of kibble is very quick and while it would easily hold a lot more food it would take a little longer.  I try and feed at least one of BlindDog’s meals from a puzzle toy every day so from that point of view the toy is perfect.

The best aspect of the training treat ball is it’s entertainment value.  BlindDog loves playing with it and will keep coming back to it after the treats are gone (hoping it’s refilled!?). In terms of physical exercise, she will chase after it all round the house, and I think it must be great for improving her dexterity and what I can only describe as paw-nose coordination!

I don’t think BlindDog understands how the toy works (i.e. the opening has to be at the bottom for the treats to fall out) but she has certainly learnt how to manipulate it so they ‘magically’ appear.  All in all, it takes her around 25 minutes to empty it but is easy enough that she constantly gets a few treats out and doesn’t get frustrated.

When we first gave it to BlindDog she started trying to chew and lick the opening to get the treats out, but as soon as we showed her how the biscuits fell out when the ball rolled, she was off!  BlindDog is quite lacking in the teeth department, so chewing toys up is not really an issue for us and while the toy can stand up to being batted and knocked around I don’t think it would cope with really determined chewing.  It’s also worth being aware that a really tiny dog could probably get their jaw stuck in the opening. I would definitely advise supervising your dog with this toy at first and taking the time to show them the easier way to get to the goods!

I would also point out that this is not a quiet toy, particularly on hard floors. We chose this deliberately so BlindDog would have a better chance of following it, but the combination of rattling treats and BlindDog batting it against the skirting board means you have to have thick walls or forgiving neighbours!

The treat ball doesn’t come apart for cleaning, but as we only every use it with dry food it’s not a problem, you can just give it a quick rinse and leave it to dry.

Overall, this toy provides great boredom-busting value for money but durability and noise could be an issue.

Price: About £5

Time for BlindDog to complete: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Easy – Medium

My mom got me some new toys for Christmas. I haven’t really wanted to play with them because I like ducky best, and she was my first toy here. But then mom took away ducky for awhile and I decided that bunny is good too!

So this afternoon, I made him a treat-dispensing toy out of an old take-out container. Holes in the top and sides mean that if Chico rolls it around the treats inside will fall out.

Looking…

pushing…

pawing.

It keeps a dog happy and busy for a few minutes, and induces a nap, when the wind chill makes the human think it is a better idea to stay in.

Figured that every once in a while I would share a video of my fur babies, we have 2 Boston Terriers. This is our boy Doc very happily playing with his ball and doing his best impersonation of a bucking bronco. Makes us laugh every time to see just how happy and silly he is. Oh, Doc is also playing with his favorite toy ever, his chuck-it.

I love wearing sweaters and scarves and getting all bundled up. I love the bite in the air and the lack of tourists coming through town. I love having the fire going and snuggling up with a book or a project. I love that my normally aloof cat is a bit cuddlier.

Things I don’t love:
Weather forecasts that do not deliver. I keep getting my hopes up for snow, but it has only snowed and stuck once. We had about a half inch, at night, that stuck. It was enough for me to play in and throw a snowball or two for the dog, but it was pretty much gone by morning.

Hello there!

My indoor plants (always a challenge for me to keep alive) are all looking sad. The only one that is not looking sad is the Sanseveria in the gecko tank. They haven’t managed to crush it (go, thick leaves, you can make it!), so it’s doing well. I like having plants in the house, but I don’t always make the best choices of types and locations, and I tend to subject them to benign neglect, especially in the winter.  None of them are dead yet, but winter is not yet done. The back yard, normally a haven of grass and garden, is dried up and brown-red. The red is from the soil here- with a rambunctious dog, the dead grass has no chance.

Speaking of the dog… “What have you got?!” has become the new question. Our mostly well-behaved puppy from the fall has become into a bored, curious puppy who is now tall enough and confident enough to explore tabletops and inside bags.

New stuffy, newish Nylabone, and part of an old toy.

If I’m distracted (say, cooking dinner), Sugar ignores her toys, Kong, and Nylabone and looks for something new to chew. Yesterday, it was my phone. Fortunately, I caught her at it before any major damage was done. The day before that, it was pens. A little Sriracha on a pen, and she stopped. The day before that, it was my crochet. In the span of 10 minutes, while I was cooking dinner, she pulled out two different projects from two different bags and unraveled most of four skeins of yarn, wrapping them around the couch and coffee table and covering half the floor. Oh, Sugar. Hopefully, this little incident will keep me from being lazy and tucking my projects under the side table instead of putting them away.

Sugar wants to go outside and run, but the past few days have been unusually cold (for here) and she hasn’t wanted to play for long. Fetch down the hallway is just not the same. She has started turning parts of the toys inside out after unstuffing them.

These used to be an Egg Babies Turtle and a blue lion.

Toys are lasting for fewer and fewer minutes, while the amount of time I spend crawling around the floor picking up stuffing is getting longer. As a side note: our vacuum, which normally handles dirt, ash, leaves, and pet hair with ease, doesn’t like toy stuffing. It took 30 minutes to clean out the 12 inches of stuffing/pet hair blend that was clogging the hose.

For me, this winter has been an unusual one. Winters in my part of California were full of green, growing things and rain mixed with stunning clear days. Before that, winters were snowmen and sledding and eating icicles off the house. This winter, my first in Arizona, is cold and dry.  The sun hits different parts of the canyon walls and brings out new colors. Flickers have moved into the tree behind our house, and the keel-tailed grackle that was gone for most of the summer and fall is back, making noises that confuse the dog every time. So far, winter here has meant organizing and planning the garden and waiting for spring, watching the colors change and the clouds full of snow go around our little town to the west and north, and hoping for slightly warmer weather to take the dog for a hike somewhere new. Or snow. I’d hike in the snow.

“Do you have to keep typing? I want to sleep. Or play.”

We gave this stuffed Rhino to the Pearl for Christmas.  As usual, she found it under the tree without any help from us. / Peter and I were eating breakfast this morning and I looked over and saw this.  She seems to have a wistful look on her face.  Maybe she was suffering from a bit of Weltschmerz as we all do from time to time.

When your pup is bored with everything in his toy bin, and starts resorting back to chewing your shoes, maybe its time to give the Kurgo OriGummi a try.  A wacky new take on your average chew toy; this will really get Fido going. Made from a rugged nontoxic plastic it has a central compartment for endless hours of hidden treat entertainment, making it way more irresistible than those shoes of yours. The unique edges are modeled after real origami design, and are gentle on the gums and teeth helping to brush away plaque even during play time.

Available for purchase directly from Kurgo or via Amazon

To make this great toy for your dog I used, 12 strings t-shirt yarn from about 1,2 yard long.

You devide the string in four parts from 3 strings and start the scoubidou technic, one I did with the round technic

and one with the straight technic

When you want to see the full explenation of the technic you can find it here.

In my Etsyshop and my own webshop www.lvly.nl I sell bundles t-shirt yarn from  Hoooked Zpagetti, but if you only want 12 strings for your dogtoy, you can click here I made a special listing for the dogtoy strings:)

Our dog loves this toy. We also sell them and give our profits to the seeing eye dogs

As a responsible business Urban Brat thinks that it is there moral duty to provide homes for puppies and dogs. Maybe this is the reason why they encourage adopt first policy rather than buying of the innocent pets. This leads to finding of a home full of love and care for the pet.

Being one of the largest and most popular Online Pet shop in the region all the puppy care products are available under a single roof. The dog grooming products available at Urban Brat have the widest range of choice between different brands and products. The grooming products consist of the body splashes, dog shampoos, deodorants, brushes, hygiene care, bathing accessories, oil and dental care for the dogs and puppies. The veggie and meaty Dog Treats available at Urban Brat are just the best and most sought after dog treats available in the market.

The variety of choice is not only limited to the dog grooming products but there is lot of options available in the toys and accessories as well. The entire Dog Toy is made from highly hygienic materials which are safe for your pets. The dog toys include products like hard toys, rope toys, squeaker toys, latex toys and plush toys also. The pet accessories like charms, collars, harnesses and leashes are available at matchless prices. The deals available at this online pet shop are really amazing with all the quality and value for money you get.

Online pet supplies are also one of the characteristic features of this pet shop in Mumbai. Urban Brat delivers all the products for no additional shipping cost at all. The deliveries are limited however to the Indian customers only. Do pay a visit at www.urbanbrat.com to experience the difference.

SUMMARY

Urban Brat is a Mumbai based online pet shop where all the dog and puppy care products are available at the best possible rates. There solutions for fleas and ticks on dog are unmatched in the whole pet market. This online pet store is the ultimate destination of every pet lover. Visit Urban Brat for A – Z puppy and dog care solutions.

For more details visit- www.urbanbrat.com

A Dog Toy should never have any splinters, attached strings, buttons or eyes or any kind of stuffing that can be easily ingested or chewed off or even swallowed. Any sharp edges can also prove to be very harmful. Mostly, the dog toys are given to the intended dog and are left alone with it. This is one reason why the toys should be safe to play with. Toys should be inspected from time to time as they are mostly handled very roughly. This subjects the toys to regular wear and tear. The toys because of this reason start developing cracks, starts shredding and many a times break into pieces. Toys like dog bones when reach such conditions should be thrown immediately. They can later become a reason for diseases that penetrate into the dog’s body because of germs.

The person buying a dog toy should be aware of the dog’s personality. For instance, if the dog is a little puppy then chewing toys are the best. People if buying a dog from some other person, and then he should also investigate about the dog’s personality. Even if the dog is acquired from some rescue operation, the dog should be observed very carefully and from his behavior one can analyze its personality. Aggressive chewer, possessor, energetic, snuggler and chewer are a few dog personalities. However, different breeds of dogs have their specific breed traits.

So, after knowing some of the basics about buying a dog toy, one is free to choose from the variety of toys available in urban brat the best Online Pet Store. Some of the requirements along with toys options are:

1. Size: The dog toy being purchased should be in relation to the dog’s size. Neither should it be extremely big nor very tiny to play with.
2. Squeakers: Dogs love squeaking toys. But, when handing some cute sounding squeaky toy to the dog one should be cautious as the dog might actually chew the toy till the squeaker comes out and eventually might end swallowing it up.
3. Durability: Durable toys generally come for a greater price. But they last longer than the cheap ones. Aggressive chewers should be left happy with their chewing toys.
4. Cleanable: The toys that are being purchased should be as little complicated as possible. This is because as complicated the toy will be tougher will be its cleaning process.
5. Dog bones: Composed of natural elements and ingredients, vegetable matters dog bones are also popular choice for a dog toy.

Get connected with www.urbanbrat.com and surprise your pet with best products.

Today we can see that there is a very big market for pet food, pet accessories, Dog Toy, Dog Treats, Dog Shampoo and even for pet dresses.  The pet business owners are nowadays also considering the option of going online and launching online pet stores, where a customer can easily select a pet of his choice and that pet will be delivered to him at his home and the customer gets the convenience of getting a pet of his choice without even leaving his home. Online pet shop is also a good option for those pet lovers who have a particular or special choice relating to pets and the pets of their choice are not available easily. They are saved from the trouble of running from one pet shop to another which may take a lot of time and also squeeze the energy of a person.

The customer of today is already short of time and he doesn’t want to spend his time running in market, buying products and this is where an online pet shop will be of great help to him. If he can find the pet and pet accessories of his choice online with home delivery available then he will be more than happy to make repeated transactions.

 The owner of online pet shop needs to keep in mind that the pet products shown in the website should be available with him and the information regarding each and every product’s prices, quantity, any free gift etc should be published on the website and should be absolutely correct. In the same way, the online pet store should have a wide variety of pet accessories, to give the customer a lot of options to choose from and the prices should also be reasonable. Urbanbrat is the best example of it.  The pet accessories should also be of good quality and there should be replacement facility if by-chance the product is not of good quality. To retain a customer for a long term, it is necessary that a customer should be delighted not just satisfied.

All the marketing experts are stating the online marketing as the future of marketing and the Pet Supplies Online sector is one of the fastest growing sectors. A pet lover doesn’t mind spending good amount on his pet if he can get the worth of his money.  Do shop online for pets and make them stylish and healthy. To get best pet accessories, visit- www.urbanbrat.com, and shop happily.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make you so happy… Our niece bought Charlie some dog toys for Christmas. He. Loved. Them. We don’t buy him toys because he destroys them in ten minutes. We make one exception… Christmas. We buy him a toy and he loves it more than anything for a full ten minutes and then it is destroyed beyond belief. Lindsey bought tough-destroy-resistant toys. Nearly indestructible ones, for a normal dog. Ten minutes and *BAM* missing leg… ten minutes on the other and *BAM* missing ear… then the not-tough toy, the braided blue/green/white toy. Now THIS is the not tough dog toy that stood the test of time… kinda… I guess the term “time” is relative. For some it may be years, others months, some weeks, and a few… a day. He pulled the fuzz.. he tossed it around, he chased after it… whoa, this is the one that’s going to last! I re-wrapped it for Christmas day and he had a blast ALL DAY… the stuffing was gone, but he was good about not swallowing it. He would finish by UNBRAIDING the three pieces… and there they were… three individual pieces… which I would braid again, tie in a knot and give back… that lasted until Christmas night when there wasn’t much left to braid. So I traded him for a cookie. He was good with it. I think he was pooped! This will become a Christmas tradition! Hope you all had a nice holiday!

Thanks Lindsey!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

“Can I fit all three in my mouth?”

Welcome to my continuing adventures to seek out new ways of making toys for our beast. Sugar is now 10 months and 57 pounds, and still quirky. She loves going outside in 20 degree weather, then coming inside and putting one of her sandy paws in her water fountain while drinking from the spout. Her toy destruction has gotten a bit more focused. The only stuffed toy that is still unwounded is the “Invincible Snake”. A more appropriate name would be the Obnoxious Snake, since she prefers to race around the house obsessively squeaking it.

I wanted to find out if there was a better alternative to t shirt yarn. The last toy I made her out of t shirt yarn lasted for a month, in smaller and smaller pieces, but it did not take her long to open a hole in it. I was looking for a yarn that would work up into a toy that would stay whole for a longer time. I also wanted to see if Sugar had a preference in yarns, especially since it is easier to grab a partial skein from my stash than it is to cut up an old t shirt.

Clockwise from top- acrylic yarn, cotton yarn, and t shirt yarn

The materials:
So for my very scientific experiment I crocheted three balls, one of t shirt yarn, one in acrylic yarn, and one in cotton yarn. The acrylic and cotton yarns were both worsted weight, and the t shirt yarn was in the bulky range. Mostly. I used the same basic pattern to make the balls, with fewer stitches and rows for the t shirt yarn. The balls ended up about the same size and were stuffed to about the same fullness. Each one had a squeaker (Thanks, Aunt Nancy), which was probably a mistake.

The test:
Sugar was very excited, stealing one as I was taking pictures of the completed balls. I think if her mouth were bigger, she would have taken all three of them. It took her a while to stop trying to play with all three at once.

The cotton ball went first. Sugar took about 10 minutes to rip a fairly large hole in it, unstuff it, and pull out the squeaker.

The acrylic ball was next. It also was opened in about 10 minutes, but the hole was initially smaller. It grew as Sugar unstuffed it.

The t shirt yarn ball was the one she went for last. That one lasted 15 minutes before she put a small hole in it.

The results:
All three balls were ripped open pretty quickly. Sugar seemed to be going for the squeaker in each, moving on to the next ball once she got the squeaker out. No squeakers were harmed in the evisceration of the toys, however, since I took them away from her once they were out of the balls. As far as the yarn preference goes, Sugar is still playing with the now empty t shirt yarn ball. Once the other balls were emptied, she left them alone.

I will stitch up the cotton and acrylic balls, without the squeaker, and use them for playing fetch down the hallway. The t shirt yarn ball is hers to destroy, since she seems to like it so much. For now, Sugar’s enjoyment of the t shirt toys is worth the extra time it takes to make the yarn. My next trick will be to crochet a toy out of cotton rope and see how long that lasts. Today, though, will be a mending day. The pile of unstuffed toys is getting alarmingly large.

The results of the experiment.

Milo used to have a “Wubba” made by Kong:

All he has left now is the ball that was inside the body. I will say that the ball (a squeaky ball) is still in perfect condition, considering that the outside of the thing was totally destroyed.

So, I decided to take Jillee’s idea and see if I could incorporate his ball into it.

Supplies:

• Dog ball, or toy.
• 3 Old T-shirts (one of them long-sleeved)
• Scissors

Step one:

Step 2:

Step 3:

I cut the hem off first and tossed those pieces aside.

Step 4:

You don’t have to use three colors, you can make it all one color. I’m sure your dog won’t really care. Also, this one came out a little thin, so if you want to use more strips you probably can. Just remember, the more fabric you use, the more difficult it is to tie the knots.

Step 5:

Step 6:

Step 7:

Step 8:

Step 9:

Step 10:

Done!! It’s not store-bought pretty, but he’s just gonna chew it to pieces anyway. I can make another whenever this one has given up.