Is a dog toy with lots of squeakers right for your pet? Find tips for choosing wisely.

Alright, so let's talk about this dog toy project I tackled. My dog, Buster, is obsessed with squeakers. Like, seriously obsessed. But the toys you buy? They usually have one, maybe two squeakers tops. Buster finds it, kills it (the squeaker, not the toy... usually), and then he's bored. Gets expensive, you know? So I thought, why not make one myself? And not just any toy, one absolutely PACKED with squeakers. Like, an annoying amount of squeakers.

Getting Stuff Together

First step, materials. I wasn't going fancy. Found some old fleece blankets we weren't using anymore. Good tough material, but soft enough. Wash them first, obviously. Then the main event: the squeakers. I just went online and bought a big bag of 'em. You can get like 50 or 100 pretty cheap. Different sizes too, which I thought might be fun.

• Old fleece fabric (washed!)
• A ton of replacement squeakers (various sizes)
• Strong thread (important, Buster's a chewer)
• Needle or sewing machine (I used my old machine, hand sewing this would take forever)
• Some stuffing (optional, I used a little from an old pillow I was throwing out)

Putting it All Together

Okay, the making part. I didn't use a pattern or anything. Just decided on a simple shape, kinda like a long bone or a fat snake. Easier to stuff with squeakers that way. I cut out two identical pieces from the fleece.

Then, the fun part. Laying out the squeakers. I put them everywhere on one piece of the fabric. Big ones, small ones, just scattered them around. Maybe like, 15 or 20 squeakers? Seriously, it looked ridiculous. I tacked a few down with a couple of stitches just to hold them roughly in place while I worked.

Next, I put the other piece of fleece on top, right sides facing each other. Pinned it like crazy. Started sewing around the edges on the machine, leaving a gap open for turning it right side out. This is where you gotta be careful not to sew right over a squeaker, learned that the hard way on a previous attempt, haha. Broke a needle.

Once mostly sewn, I carefully turned the whole thing right side out. It looked kinda lumpy already. Pushed out the corners and edges. Then, I started stuffing. Added just a little bit of fluff, mostly around the squeakers to give it some body, but I wanted the main experience to be SQUEAK. Filled in the gaps.

Finally, the trickiest bit: sewing the opening closed. You gotta fold the raw edges in and stitch it shut as neatly as possible. Hand stitching usually looks best here, but I just ran it through the machine carefully. It's for a dog, not a fashion show, right?

The Result... and The Test

So, what I ended up with was this lumpy, fleece log. When you picked it up, it just crunched and squeaked no matter where you grabbed it. It was glorious. Looked totally homemade, kinda wonky, but solid.

Then, the moment of truth. Called Buster over. Showed him the toy. His eyes went wide. He grabbed it, and... chaos. Squeak, squeak, squeak! Non-stop. He couldn't decide where to bite because everywhere made noise. He was tossing it around, shaking it like crazy. It was the best reaction. He absolutely loved it. It's held up surprisingly well too, maybe because he can't focus his destructive energy on just one squeaker.

Honestly, pretty successful project. Took an afternoon, used up some old stuff, and made the dog ridiculously happy. Totally worth it.