The 'Dummy'


We love Luca, our Italian Spinone but he is a little troublesome in the toy department! He loves nothing better than a good chomp on a tug toy, working those knots with his gloriously whiter than white teeth or just having a good old chew, going straight through the rope section of the tug toy.

So we decided we needed a stronger version of our ever increasingly popular tug toys and since then we have developed The 'Dummy'. It looks a bit like a child's dummy so we thought that name would be quite apt, although the inspiration behind it came from the method to make boat fenders. Boat fenders are used to absorb the kinetic energy of the boat when it is berthing in a jetty. They have to be very strong and stand up to a lot of punishment in all weathers. Traditionally they were made from rope and the knots that were used, seem so very tough and strong, which is what gave us the idea.

We don't like using rope in our toys because as it gets chewed by the dog, it will end up being a very large stringy mess. The string won't disintegrate and if the dog digests it, it could be harmful as it travels through their system. We feel using fleece is a much kinder option but by weaving and knotting it, the fleece can be just as strong as rope.

The 'Dummy' starts off with an inner core, which we then weave and knot around, pulling the fleece as tight as possible. With having the inner core, it makes it a lot tighter, firmer and tougher.  We have retained our woven handle, so it gives you more grip for that all important game of tug.

Luca loves it, it's a bit of challenge for him and although it is not indestructible, it appears to be lasting a lot longer than than an average toy. So it's a paws up from Luca for The 'Dummy'.