Our Dog Toy Creation Process
Every dog toy made at Pupcycled follows a specific technique. Each of our three types of dog toys—roped, sewn, and braided—undergo a meticulous process with love entangled throughout each step.
This blog will focus on how braided loop toys come to life! These are by far our most popular among volunteers, and only simple everyday skills like braiding and tying knots similar to balloons are required to make them!
Our process from clothing drives to creating the toys at volunteer events!
To get a hold of clothes, we contact different libraries we have partnered with to run donation drives. We’ve held over 7 donation drives, as of 9/3/24, but there are many more to come. People who come to the library regularly see the signs and drop off old clothes they no longer want, and through Pupcycled they are repurposed. After the intake of clothes, Pupcycled takes them to volunteer events at libraries and begins to cut them into 3” strips.
At every volunteer event, we are greeted with new eager faces wanting to help and give back to dogs at shelters. The Pupcycled lead at the event teaches how to make the toys. As shown through a demonstration for braided loop toys you begin at the middle of the three strips to create a braid, and braid enough of the segment to connect them at their opposite ends to form a loop. With the excess fabric at each end, volunteers braid them to make one segment and then end it with a balloon knot. If there’s too little fabric, all they need to do is tie a bow knot around the segment with a scrap piece of fabric. The braided toy is one of the fastest toys to produce, taking only three minutes for experienced braiders to make each one!
Olivia's dog Cosmo posing with Pupcycled toys
After the events end, the lead will collect all the toys and take them home. Each toy goes through a thorough process of inspection of durability tests to make sure they are snug as a bug and not loose, to avoid the fabric’s unraveling, and to avoid choking entirely. Afterward, with previous coordination with shelters that we have formed partnerships with, the Pupcycled chapter team will drop them off at the shelter. The shelter will also confirm the safety of the toys a second time to make sure that all their dogs will stay safe! Pupcycled takes dog wellbeing very seriously and has precautions set in place. The best part is knowing how much love was shared throughout the journey of old clothes being donated with the intention that they will have better use to volunteers delicately making toys that the dogs will love playing with, and knowing that these toys will go to shelters that can now provide free dog toys that won’t cause any financial burden. And of course, the shelter dogs who get to play tug-of-war with the toys and form connection bonds with these toys.
Written by Anusha Shringi
Edited by Alayna Atkinson
