Over the past few years, our dogs have been stealing strips of wool felt from our fabrication areas. Inspired by their love for felt, we began making simple knots in scrap and turning them over to our dogs. Although we’ve been making wool felt toys for our own pups for some time, we recently had the idea to make toys for dogs and cats adopted at Animal Humane New Mexico.
Since our felt is 100% wool (sheep hair pressed with moisture and heat) it is harmless if ingested in minimal amounts, and easy to make from our remnant material. Learn how felt is made in our previous blog post “The Life of Wool Felt.”
An active toy is any regular toy that your dog might want to play with, especially one that can involve tug-of-war or fetch. A distraction toy involves interaction with the object, like a toy full of treats they have to work to retrieve. Finally, a comfort toy is typically soft and can be appropriated as a companion. Imagine this toy like a child’s teddy bear; they like to keep it close and often sleep next to it (though some dogs also like to tear apart their comfort toys).
It seems many toys can overlap categories and distinctions are far from rigid. Wool felt toys fall into two of these three categories; active and comfort. Felt toys aren’t for every dog, as the toy should not be consumed, but all twenty of our studio pups do great with them!
OUR TEAM
We recently had a morning session of toy-making with our team and have a variety of toy styles and sizes to choose from. Some of the simplest toys have proven most popular with our studio dogs, like a simple handful of felt strips tied into a few large knots. A majority of our team actively participates in the community and volunteers at local events outside of regular work hours. Our next volunteer session is scheduled for early May, where we will be in Santa Fe helping build homes at Habitat for Humanity.
ANIMAL HUMANE NM
Since fall of last year, we’ve had the opportunity to work with Animal Humane New Mexico on a few other occasions – volunteering at the Doggie Dash & Dawdle last November and designing a dog calendar where all sales were donated to Animal Humane. We enjoy getting involved in the community and know it is important for our own team-building as well.
This collection of toys is being utilized at Animal Humane’s adoption facility, where each pet adopted gets to take home a felt toy. If you’re interested in checking it out, they will be having an Open House on April 27th, 2018 from 1 pm – 5 pm. We highly recommend stopping by to see the facility and meet some of the adoptable dogs. For more information and to RSVP to this event, call (505) 938 – 7919.
Above are a few of the toys we dropped off at Animal Humane.
Contact us for information on receiving scrap material in Albuquerque (or nearby).
Please read this detailed guide on pet toy safety with a checklist that helps parents make responsible decisions.
