What’s in Em?

These dog agility leashes are made with either polyester fleece or the new miracle micro fiber fur, braided with a strong and pliable tubular nylon webbing for softness, durability and resistance to stretch.

Please ignore all the big words here, I don’t mean to be pompous, but I do want you to know that you can trust me to get the best for you. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make these leashes, and even more time researching materials and designing these leashes.

Designed With Care

Research is important to me; I don’t just follow the crowd and accept the norm or the status quo when it comes to our products. I use our products with my dogs, and of course my friends and family have our products so getting it right is a big deal to me. Our dogs aren’t just pets, they’re family members and I take their care very seriously.

I’ll give you an example of the kinds of information I uncover in the process of designing new products. Did you know that one of the reasons dog leashes are made out of nylon webbing is that it’s safe if ingested?

Skip This Part If You Don’t Want To Know

How do you suppose that we know that? Stop right here and skip to the next paragraph if you’re the queasy type. We know that because researchers fed nylon webbing to dogs over a period of years to see the effects on the dogs. That’s right, fed the material to the dogs. I won’t recount the exact details except that the study went on for several years, and the dogs were fed a substantial amount of nylon with their food.

Who wants to think about such things? Nobody who loves dogs, that’s for sure. The good news is the dogs were unharmed and the nylon deemed safe for pet use.

That’s A Lot of Love

So how would I know that nylon webbing is safe if I didn’t care? You’ve got to ask the questions if you’re going to get the answers, and I’m the kind of person that asks those questions.

I’m the kind of person that goes to a lot of trouble to see that my dogs are fed correctly and when I first heard about this study, I almost puked. But it illustrates my point. I care enough to do the research because I love my dogs that much, and I believe that you love your dogs that much too.

Trust Me

All of this info is my way of telling you that you can trust that our dog tug leashes are the best and the safest on the market because behind each and every one of them is me. With every dog leash, you get me. Testing, asking questions, asking why, how do we know? What’s good,

what’s bad, weighing the options, weight vs. safety vs. durability, and making my choices based on the safety of my dogs and yours too.

Bulldog Inventor

If I were a dog, I would want to be a Labrador retriever because they’re always happy. But if you wanted to describe my business style, I’d probably be a bulldog or terrier because I’m dogged, persistent, and I dig for the facts. I make my material providers answer the questions that you would never think to ask. I do it because I want to know and because that’s the way I am.

I wouldn’t be happy if you weren’t getting the best possible product I can make, so you can take my word for it. These are great dog leashes.

• First buy some top quality fleece fabric, preferably made in America. You’ll need three yards of fabric (6 yards if you want two different colors 3 yards of each).
• Then find some soft tubular webbing in 9/16” or 5/8” width, but not too thick or stiff, find a thin and pliable webbing with a high tensile strength.
• You’ll need a snap hook in the appropriate size, we use a non-rusting nickel plated 5/8” snap hook. You can use a larger or smaller hook if you want to.
• If you’re going to use the leash for AKC competition, you’ll need a heavy duty sewing machine as well.

Follow These 7 Steps

1. Cut one strip of fabric from each color, or two strips from the same color. Cut them approximately 2.5” wide the full length of the material.
2. Cut your webbing into a 100” length.
3. Wrap one end of the webbing through your snap hook and sew the webbing closed 1.5” below the fold.
4. Sew the ends of your fleece fabric together.
5. Thread the joined fabric strips through the webbing loop below the snap until the sewn part of the fleece is right below the snap and begin braiding.
6. When the fleece and webbing are all braided together, fold back 8” of the braid to form a handle, use the left over webbing to wrap around the base of the handle and sew it shut with your sewing machine.
7. You’ll need an industrial machine for this part, and it helps if it had a walking foot. Be sure to use a large size needle or you’ll just break all your needles.

There you have it!! Every thing you need to do it your self.

Option #2

The other option to tracking down the materials and getting them shipped in or running around town to pick them up (assuming that you can find them locally), is to purchase a finished leash from us. AND! Here’s the good part. If you buy two the shipping is free!
Pretty cool eh?

Do The Math

I’m pretty sure that if you do the math by adding up the cost of all the materials, shipping for delivery, or gas for going to the store, as well as value your time at a minimum of say $5 an hour, you’ll find that our braided leashes are a HUGE value! The do it yourself version could easily add up to $25 or $30 for materials and with a minimum cost for your time, probably another $15 to $25 dollars.

Feel The Love

Be kind to yourself, follow this link and purchase one from us, you’ll have it in less time than it takes to find all the parts that you need, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you were good to yourself and saved time and money and that you were

Perfection In Tatters

To make our fleece tug toys for dogs we start out with multiple bolts of colored fleece and slice and dice it into thick and thin, short and long strips. Then we braid them back together again into all sorts of shapes with bite zones for bite stimulation and tassels for sight stimulation. We sew real fur onto some strips so that we can incorporate smell stimulation into a fleece dog toy without having the fur pull out of the toy, and we braid in soft thick handles to ease the strain on your hands from tons of tugging.

Shock Absorbers For Dogs

The best feature of our fleece tug toys is the stretch that is built into the toy because of the thickness of the strips and the way we braid them. Whether you notice or not,

Every time you use your fleece tug toy it’s stretching under the strain of your dog gripping and pulling. This stretch cushions the tugging shock for both you and your dog.

A Toy For Every Dog

We have fleece tug toys for dogs is such a variety of sizes and shapes it can be hard to choose the right one for your dog, but this list may help. The Flyball toys are the largest and longest of the toys, especially the Super King Tug. The Rocket 8 is currently our smallest toy, however we are going to introduce a smaller toy with fur soon.

Here are some suggested dog toys by use:

Flyball

• King Tug
• Super King Tug
• Tugmasters
• Tuff E Nuff Large

Agility

• Tugmasters
• Tuff E Nuff Large and Small
• Frenzy rings
• Jitterbug Tug
• Rocket Ring 8

Home Use

• Frenzy rings
• Jitterbug Tug
• Tugmaster

• Slip Leashes
• Tug Leashes
• Humane Leashes
• Logo Leashes
• Multi Purpose leashes
• Jersey Leashes
• Nylon Leashes
• Braided Leashes
• Fur Leashes
• Fleece Leashes
• Bungee Leashes
• 4’ Leashes
• 6’ Leashes

Success By Any Measure

If success were measured by imitators, our dog leashes would win first place for sure. However, while copycats may be common, our quality is one of a kind. Our braided tug leashes were not only the first tug leads for agility, but still the best and the only ones with braided in webbing for stretch resistance. And of course they always were, and always will be AKC competition legal.

Humane Is The Only Way To Go

I invented the humane slip leash for dogs, a significant improvement on the British-style slip leads, because I wanted to use a slip leash for competition, but didn’t want to risk choking my dog. I called it the Humane Slip Leash, in my mind that’s what it is. This choke free, humane improvement on the UK slip leads became so popular, we now offer it on our braided dog leashes, flat leashes, logo leashes and premium weight leashes as well as patterned leashes.

#1 Again

I also invented the bungee leash, the most copied and duplicated of all our products. But who cares about copys? All you need to know is that our products are so good that even our competitors have to have them. Pretty cool, eh?

All Under One Roof

From our one-of-a-kind light lines & super slick long lines, to our beautiful Martingale dog tug leashes we took your training and competition problems and provided the right dog leashes for all your dog training and handling issues. If you’re looking for a leash to walk one or more dogs, it’s hard to imagine that you won’t find it here.

How Easy Is It?

Years ago I asked a famous dog trainer for her opinion of some potential new dog toys. Her comments were generally favorable with the exception of one toy, which she labeled ugly and generally useless. The instant she uttered those words her dog escaped his crate, grabbed the dog toy and refused to let go. His ardor for that toy was so strong the trainer insisted I give her that prototype for her terrier. It’s no wonder the rest of us occasionally make poor choices. But if even the experts can’t tell, how are you supposed to know?

It’s Not About Looks

The lesson of the famous trainer story is, don’t pick a dog toy on looks, or “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. Years later, Genuine Dog Gear is still making that toy. We call it the “Jitterbug Tug” in the Fleece Toys category. And yes, it may be ugly, but no, it’s not useless. With a little understanding of doggie ‘hard wiring’ and some personal observation you can make a great choice for your dog.

Sense Stimulators

Dogs will play with toys that stimulate their natural senses. I call them sense stimulators and there are four: sight, bite, sound and smell. All dogs are stimulated by these senses in different ways and each dog favors one or more senses over the others. Your dogs “hard wiring” will give us some insight into his preferences. Let’s look at some common breeds and their attraction to different types of dog toys.

What The Retrievers Want

Retrievers will work all day for a cookie, because they have a good work ethic and are food motivated, right? Yes, but they’re also sight stimulated and bite stimulated. Retrieving is a joy for them because there are two attractors in this retrieval game. One is visual stimulation, ‘chase the toy’ the other is bite stimulation ‘carry the toy’.

I don’t think that it is a coincidence that retrievers like to chase things that fall out of the sky. They were bred to retrieve birds and bring them back to their masters. Now they’re chasing tennis balls, but the game remains the same. The toy stimulates their natural senses and the game stimulates their natural behaviors.

What The Shepherds Want

Herding breeds including Shepherds and Collies, like most dogs, are sight and bite stimulated. But being bred to herd stock they’ll be most motivated to control, grip or nip at a dog toy that simulates the herding experience. Imagine the sight, from the dog’s perspective, of a herd running in tight formation. Visual movement is a strong stimulator for them. Real sheepskin or a visually active toy they can grip and control could be their dream come true!

What The Terriers Want

How about terriers? Terriers were ratters; they find their joy in the dirt. Instinctually they’ll want to locate prey by scent and sound and then kill it. They’ll like toys that scurry and squeak or smell like vermin. Real animal scents like raccoon or squirrel could be just the ticket or an erratic floor level dog toy. While retrievers and herders should be sight and bite stimulated, terriers should be sound, smell and bite stimulated.

What Do All Dogs Want?

If you have a mixed breed dog, or your dog doesn’t follow the breed type, you should ask yourself what kind of toy your dog has enjoyed in the past and what creates the most excitement. Was it something at ground level, like a rolling ball? Or did your dog want to struggle for control in a game of tug, chase something that fell from the sky, or tear at something really smelly? What toys are ignored? Comparing the toys your dog likes and doesn’t like, based on how the dog toy moves and smells will help you determine what he wants.

My Dog’s Favorites

My lab Annie’s favorite toys are a plain old tennis ball and our two-handled Fur Force toy. Both are slightly furry with a firm but yielding bite, so I’d look for that in any new toy. We play fetch with the ball and tug with the Fur Force toy, which are bite and sight stimulations. But, the one stimulator you might not expect is actually the most important for her.

The ULTIMATE Dog Toy

The ultimate dog toy, from Annie’s perspective, is me. The interaction between us is the common thread and it’s what she really loves. So any toy that involves me will do because she will play with any object as long as I’m involved.

She ignores every dog toy we have unless I’m playing with her. She’ll take any toy off the floor when I return home to entice me into a game of ‘slow speed chase,’ where she trots around the house and I pretend to try and catch her.

It took a while for me to figure out that I was the common factor in her favorite toys. I bought lots of dog toys when she was young that she really had no interest in. Now, I don’t waste money on toys that don’t involve me because she won’t play with them. She only wants interactive dog toys and from her perspective, that’s the way it ought to be.

Easy Rules for Choosing a Good Toy

So, there you have it. Look for the common thread in your dogs desire to play in a certain way or with certain things, including yourself. He may like soft toys, but not hard ones. Or like to chase toys, but only if they are scented or baited. If your dog likes squeaky toys, perhaps he’s sound stimulated. But, if he ignores noisy toys if they don’t have a soft furry cover, then the fur is important to him. If squeaky toys frighten your dog, skip the noisy ones and look for a scent or sight-stimulating toy.

Is your sheltie too shy to tug? Then try a dog toy that is soft or naturally scented or a small toy he can chase and easily dominate. Our Soft Tug N Treat was designed to help shy dogs learn how to play with toys.

Does your retriever refuse cookies? Try a movement or a prey scent toy or a bite stimulation toy. If your dog only plays with you, perhaps any interaction toy will be fine.

The Right Toy For That Job

The toy I mentioned in the famous trainer story (at the beginning of this post) was the hot ticket for her dog because it was fluffy and bouncy, had erratic movements and was situated at floor level. From a terrier point of view, it doesn’t get much better. It was the perfect dog toy for that dog because it had the right size, it was in the right place and it had the right movement.

An Informed Choice

You can’t always tell for sure what your dog will like. But by understanding sense stimulation and interaction and by observing your dog, you can make a really good choice. We have a lot of great interactive dog toys here on our site and there are good toys in most stores as well. With some observation, and a little thought, it’ll be easy for you to get the dog toy that “your dog” will love.