Dog Toy Shoe: Durable Options for Hours of Fun

Alright, so I made a dog toy out of an old shoe the other day, and figured I'd share how it went down. It's pretty simple, and my dog's been going nuts for it, so I think it was a win.

First off, I grabbed an old sneaker. It was one of those I was gonna toss anyway – you know, kinda beat up, sole starting to peel. Perfect for this project. The first thing I did was rip off the laces. Gotta get rid of those choking hazards right away. Safety first, always.

Next, I took a pair of scissors and started cutting away any loose bits of rubber or fabric that were hanging off. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any small pieces my dog could swallow. I spent a good ten minutes just trimming and cleaning up the shoe. I also tried to pull off the tongue of the shoe, but it was stitched on there pretty good, so I left it. Didn't want to make too big of a mess.

Now, here’s where I got a little creative. I rummaged through my sewing kit and found some sturdy thread and a big needle. I decided to stitch up some of the bigger holes in the shoe to reinforce it a bit. It wasn't pretty work, just some basic stitches to hold things together better. Nothing fancy, just practical.

To make it more interesting for my dog, I grabbed an old plastic water bottle from the recycling bin. I crushed it up a bit to make it noisy, and then stuffed it inside the shoe. The crinkling sound is like crack for dogs, man. They go wild for that stuff. I made sure it was packed in there tight so it wouldn't come out too easily.

Then, I grabbed some old fleece scraps I had lying around. I know fleece can be polyester, but it's soft and doesn't fray too much, and I had a bunch on hand. I cut them into strips and tied them around the shoe, making little fleece tassels. This gave my dog something extra to grab onto and tug at.

Finally, I gave the whole thing a good once-over to make sure there weren’t any sharp edges or small pieces that could come loose. I wanted to be as safe as possible. Once I was satisfied, I tossed it to my dog.

He went absolutely nuts! He was shaking it, chewing on it, tossing it around. He loves the crinkling sound of the bottle and the feel of the fleece tassels. It’s been a huge hit, and it didn’t cost me a penny. Plus, I got to recycle some stuff that was just sitting around. Double win!

Lessons learned? Make sure to remove any small parts that could be swallowed. Reinforce the shoe as much as possible. And don't underestimate the power of a crinkly water bottle. Seriously, dogs love that noise.

I’ll probably make a few more of these. Got a whole pile of old sneakers just waiting to be turned into dog toys!