I would say “Let the Games begin!” but around here, the games never end! Check out our DIY medal dog tug toys for playtime of champions. These medal tug toys are so cute and fun, but they’re also deceptively simple to make. Two tugs (one for the medal, one for the ribbon) are knotted together to form each tug toy. Here are the DIY details on how to make gold, silver, and bronze medal woven fleece dog tug toys.
Going for Gold!
I made three DIY medal dog tug toys, because I’m crazy like that and we love making this to share on the blog and play with ourselves. If you’re only making one toy, I’d say go for gold! Because we all want to be the top dog, don’t we? Not only is your dog the very best and no doubt the gold medallist of your heart, but yellow is also one of the colours that dogs see well. Win win! Check out our post about the differences between how dogs see things vs. how humans see things for details and examples. And on the subject of going for gold, we also have an upcoming post with DIY details for making gold medal dog treats. Woofs!
Making a DIY Medal Dog Tug Toy
Weaving Method
If this is your first tug toy attempt, you might like to try making a basic straight toy or two (square or spiral) first before you start joining and pairing ends for loops. The loop toys pictured here use a simple square knot weaving pattern. The repeating pattern makes it an easy technique for weaving projects. Check out our simple spiral DIY dog tug toys for an easy alternative weaving pattern. Remember, your dog won’t be judging on looks. Just fun! I’m sure they’ll still think you’re the gold medal human no matter what the tugs look like. Pawfect.
Preparing the Materials
To make a similar DIY medal dog tug toy, you will need:
- Polar fleece or alternate fabric
- Scissors
To weave a basic tug toy, clean fabric is cut into long narrow strips. In this DIY we’re joining two tugs, one for the ribbon and one for the medal. The tug toy ribbons were each made with four long strands, using two blue and one strand of each red and white for a classic ribbon. To reduce bulk where the medal joins the ribbon, I opted to use two long strands for each medal, woven from the midpoint (creates four working ends). You can scale the toy to suit your dog and your materials by altering the width and/or length of the fleece strips. Fortunately, when making a tug with fleece there is also no need to be too fussy about straight lines when cutting either. Yay!
Weaving and Assembling the Medal Tug Toy
To create the medal tug toys, we’re going to weave two tugs (one long tug for the ribbon, one shorter for the medal) with different colours. Then we’re going to join the medal piece to the ribbon to create the finished tug toy.
Weaving the ribbon portion of the tug toy:
- Align your ribbon fleece strips into a single long bundle.
- Tie a starting knot near one end of your strands.
- Weave using your chosen method. See our square knot tug toy or spiral tug toys for instructions, weaving pattern diagrams, and step-by-step images for weaving.
- Repeat the steps until you start to approach the end of your strips. Don’t leave yourself short on the tie-off – you’ll need more fabric than you might think. We’ll tie off after connecting the medal for easier handling. Set aside while you prepare the medal.
Weaving a small loop for the medal:
As noted above, I started the medal at the midpoint of two strands (like a stick tug toy end) so that there was less bulk where the medal loop joins the ribbon. Starting this way means I only have one set of loose ends to connect and conceal where the medal meets the ribbon.
- Tie your two medal fleece strips together in the middle.
- Weave using your chosen method. See our square knot tug toy or spiral tug toys for instructions, weaving pattern diagrams, and step-by-step images for weaving. Keep the first few woven layers of the tug a touch loose so that you can easily join the medal loop.
- As you near the end of your medal strands (or have reached the desired size for your medal loop), slide two of your working ends through the tug just below the starting knot. Re-arrange the strands back into a cross and then weave another layer to secure the loop, swallowing the starting knot into the circlet.
Connecting the medal to the ribbon:
You can use whatever method you’d like to join your ribbon and medal together, just make sure that it’s a secure connection for safe play. I opted to connect the medal ends through the ribbon as follows:
- Pass the working ends up through the midpoint of your ribbon at slightly different points. Weave again to secure.
- For added security, pass the working ends back down through the ribbon to the medal side. Tie individually to the medal below the ribbon, then trim and tuck the loose ends back into the toy loose ends if/as you wish.
Closing the ribbon loop:
Close the ribbon loop near your starting knot. You can knot around the strand or (as shown) you can pull the loose ends of your ribbon through the ribbon strand at slightly different points just below the starting knot, and tie a loop knot to finish the end and secure the loop. Trim the ends if/as you wish. Hop over to our post on how to weave a basic loop dog tug toy if you need more photos and/or instructions.
Playtime of Champions!
Battle for the Podium
Let the fun begin! Whether you have a single gold medal tug for battle or a whole set of medals on the line, it’s time for fun! Of course, at our place, the battle for the podium was fierce between medal contenders. Check out my wild beasts enjoying their new tugs.
The Sweet Taste of Success
After play and photos, this sweet little rascal curled up and fell asleep in an armchair still savouring the sweet taste of silver. How cute is this? Humphrey often takes his treasures with him to a safe space after he tires of play, and falls asleep touching them, just in case Oli (or perhaps Tiger in his dreams) might make a sneaky move while he rests for the next round.
Additional Information and Tug Toy Tips
In addition to the detailed square and spiral instruction posts linked above, helpful information is also available in our tug toy FAQs, tips, and troubleshooting mini-series:
Safety first, furfriends! Remember, no matter what a toy is made of or how it’s made, toys are meant for supervised interactive play. Know your dog before giving him or her any new toy. Some dogs try to eat toys or parts (whether bought or handmade) and that’s doggone dangerous. Toys are for playing, and playtime is always safer (and more fun!) with you involved. You can read more in our dog toy safety post, including tips and helpful links for safer playtime. Have fun and play safe!
