Why do you need tough dog toys for small dogs? Just like large dogs, small dogs need a lot of exercise. Dogs who do not get enough exercise end up bored and will take their boredom out on anything that is close at hand. This can be your shoes, your furniture, or anything else your dog can get a hold of.
Your dog’s best toy is you as I show here. You need to walk your dog regularly, play with your dog regularly, and train your dog. This will strengthen the bond between you as the owner and your best friend. This is actually the point of all toys – to strengthen the bond between you and your dog.
Good quality toys help you to train your dog, treat good behavior for your dog, and have fun with your dog. That is after all, the point.
Tether Tug
If you have a small dog who needs tough dog toys, you don’t have to look any further than the Tether Tug. It comes in several sizes with the small one for dogs under 35 pounds (15.9 kg).
Interactive
You set up your Tether Tug in your yard. Your dog can then amuse himself playing tug-o-war with the tether tug. It is tough enough to give your dog all the tugging fun he wants. It also saves your arm since you cannot last nearly as long as your dog will want to play with the tether tug!
Durable
Tether Tug stands behind their products and will replace them if there is a defect in the materials. Each Tether Tug is handmade in the USA. There are some things that are not under the warranty that include:
- Dogs chewing on the pole itself
- Dogs being left unattended with the pole and causing damage
- Damage that occurs from leaving the Tether Tug out in inclement weather
- Normal wear and tear that is expected from a chewing toy. This includes: frayed rope ends, stress marks, or small abrasions near the base of the toy that do not affect the toy’s function.
How It Works
The Tether Tug is installed with a 14 inch (35.6 cm) base that is driven into the ground with a rubber mallet. You provide your own mallet. If you do not have a mallet, you can use a hammer, but you must place a block of wood on top of the base so that you don’t deform the base. The base is pounded into the ground until the two holes are just above the ground. The Tether Tug is inserted into the base and is ready for your dog to play.
You should always supervise your dog while playing with the Tether Tug, and don’t let children play with it without supervision.
Tether Tug has a Tether Tug Video that shows the toy in action.
What About for Indoor Use
Tether Tug offers some handheld tugging toys that can be used indoors or out such as the Easy Tug. This toy provides a stretchable bite tug so that you can provide exercise for your dog without the shoulder strain of a normal tugging toy.
Tether Tug also offers several versions of their tugging toys with the Ball Toy Plus where a tennis ball is attached to the tugging toy. It is designed to be attached to the Tether Tug. 
The Monkey Fist is similar to the Ball Toy but it replaces the tennis ball with a monkey fist knot. Ask your local sailor about the monkey fist knot – it’s a classic!
Tether Tug has a bite toy which is like the Ball Toy and the Monkey Fist Toy, but without the tennis ball or the monkey fist.
There is also a knotted rope toy which is a length of rope with three knots in it. Like the three previous toys, it is designed to be used by medium to large dogs on the outdoor Tether Tug.
The above toys are not really for a small dog or a puppy. For small dogs, Tether Tug has the Braided Fleece tugging toy.
Tether Tug is as Tough as Your Small Dog
Tether Tug toys are designed to provide your dog with long-lasting play. They will stand up to most of the determined chewers out there, but nothing is 100 percent indestructible. They are an excellent value for you and your pets.
Some people think that small dogs are not as destructive as large dogs, but as a small dog owner (I have two chihuahuas), I know that small dogs can be very destructive. They can take out your shoes. They may not be able to eat your sofa in one seating, but they can still do a large amount of damage.
Tether Tug is a good way for you to burn off your small dog’s energy and destructive impulses. You can do this without destroying your dog’s spirit or your furniture and clothing.
Be a Hero to Your Small Dog
Provide your dog with the toys that will enable you to stand up to the chewing and play that your dog needs. The energy and bonding that you will receive will reward you for years to come.
Please let me know if you have any comments to share.
Thank you for reading my article.
Love your puppy for always.
Interesting. I have really been searching for toys for my small dog to keep him busy and to enable him have fun but no positive result to my search. I’m so glad I came across this information as it has given me different options of toys to get and i will surely get one of this. Thanks for sharing this informative and educative article.
Please make sure that you interact with your dog as much as you can. For your dog, you are the whole world.
Ellen
Wow, I can see straight off how the Tether tug will be useful for my dog and fo rmyself. I like the outside one, but also see a usefulness for the hand-held one, which I can use to tone my arms with as he pulls on it. This is a very informative article and I thank you for sharing it. Bookmarked as a favorite so my family and I can visit your site again.
Ilaisanne,
I never thought about the Tether Tug being used as an exercise device for the human as well as the dog! What an insight! Thank you!
Ellen
Thanks for this informational post you made.
We had a dog sometimes ago, even though we walked the dog often times, we never really utilized the toy options for strengthening the bond.
She exhibited some destructive tendencies, and from this post, i’ve discovered that, such expressions could be curbed just by engaging her with toys.
This has truly been helpful, hope to come around some other time, to learn some more
Festus,
Thank you for reading my article. If you get a dog in the future, it is important to train and bond with your dog.
Ellen
Hello Ellen! Your article is great. Reading through your first paragraph, made me understood certain reasons why some dogs are cantankerous. It is amazing that a dog can actually out of boredom, attack shoes etc. It makes sense playing and walking the dog on a regular basis, the more we do that, the stronger the bond. It is interesting to know that Tether Tug can actually help in training a dog. The features are great. Thanks for your informative article.
Thank you for reading my article.
Ellen
My Little hand reared Daschund was really cute when he was small and chased balls for fun. Now he is 5 and hounds me all day ( I am retired so no breaks for me) to play ball. This would certainly give him something to do and give me some downtime. Do they ship internationally?
Bryan,
They only ship to Canada and the United States.
Sorry,
Ellen
Hi Ellen,
These are incredible dog toys for dog training and bond strengthening. Allow me to appreciate how good you are in describing the stuff you at. This is so chock full of useful information about the toys I can’t wait to dig deep and start utilizing the resources you have given me.
I must admit I find it insightful to read your blogging. Keep up the good work.
Ayodeji,
Thank you for reading my article.
Ellen
This is exactly what I like about articles like this one. It brings awareness of stuff I wouldn’t have found otherwise. I have never seen the tether tug before, despite the fact I had a dog until I separated (yep, she took the dog, different story).
I am sure that our lab would have loved to have a toy like that in the garden and I will definitely show this article to my ex. I am curious to see though if the dog will keep playing on its own though, but I will certainly take your word for it.
Lars,
Sorry, but with visitation, you can see if your dog would play with the Tether Tug.
Thanks,
Ellen
Ellen, what a great exercise toy for pooches. I don’t have dogs but my neighbour has two. Very active toys. I will pass your link to them.
Now about inside exercising. Can any of these be adapted for dog’s use indoors. Especially when you are not home and the dog is inside. A lot of people feel more comfortable leaving the dog in while they are away. And I know how much mischief a bored dog can get into.
Friends of mine, years ago, had a German Shephard and a Rottie. Left alone one evening, these two found the connecting garage to house door was slightly ajar. In they went, through the open Mercedes window. Where they found a carton of unopened beer cans. The results were a case of empties, a torn up car interior and two dogs with severe hangovers.
A tug toy might just have kept them occupied elsewhere. And making sure doors and windows shut would have worked too!
CiaoHelen
Helen,
The toys are best when used by the owner in playing with the dog. If the dog is given sufficient exercise and tired out then there is no need for the dog to get into mischief! At least that is the theory. Dogs all require time and attention from their people – this is first and foremost. There is mention on the Tether Tug site about an indoor Tether Tug, but the links to it are broken. This leads me to believe that it has been removed from their inventory. The different toys: Ball Toy, Monkey Fist, etc can be used indoors by the owner. There’s no reason that the dogs cannot use them by themselves. You will always want to be careful when allowing a dog to use a toy alone as they may break the toy or dislodge pieces that can cause choking.
Grazie,
Ellen
I ‘m glad I cone across this nicely written article. The Tether Tug looks amazingly tough, being able to use the tether tug both indoor and outdoor makes it a perfect toy for my doggie as he’s done a lot of damages. Glad I will not have to only restrict my dog outside the building.
I love my dogs but I can’t stand it destroying my sofas and shoes.
It is important to play regularly with your dog. This will reduce their need to be destructive. See my post on dog toys
Thanks,
Ellen