What, you may ask, does the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have to do with rescue dogs?
Quite a bit, actually.
The answer revolves around the National Days of Service in which many of us participated to honor the memory of Dr. King #MLKDAY. The Bark Master (that's me!) and her family joined a group organized by Volunteer New York! (follow them online for more great projects @volunteerNYnow) and made dog toys for volunteers at local no-kill shelters to use in socializing their dogs.
And we had a ball! We discovered how much fun it is doing for dogs, not just with dogs.
So, we had the joy of giving. With the kind permission of Jenn, our volunteer coordinator, I'm going to give you directions to turn your smelly old t-shirts into a marvelous tug toy. You can do it with just t-shirts but if you use large rubber bands and/or a hot glue gun, your tug toy is likely to last much longer.
TUG TOY:
Start with one or more old t-shirts, the larger the better.
Cut 2-3" slits along the hemline.
Rip slits to the top of the shirt, making strips as long as possible.
Cut the strips off at the top. Neatly trim the collars & sleeves.
Make a bundle of three sets of three strips, aiming for relatively equal length.
Tightly wrap the top of the bundle with a rubber band, sleeve or collar. Optionally, hot glue the ends together and cover with the sleeve or collar.
Braid to the end and wrap the bottom end of the bundle to match the top. Trim ends to even.
May you and your pup have a great time playing tug-of-war with your new toy. And may this toy represent the dream of a better world that MLK shared with us all.
We expect that you and your pup will have a ball playing with your new toy. But if you feel pup needs more exercise, contact us to set up scheduled walks.