This week we welcomed home our new puppy, Asa.  He is our third Golden Retriever pup and just like his brothers before him, he loves to chew – especially cloth textures.  Luckily for him, and us, we discovered TUFFY Toys years ago.  Most soft chew toys are not durable and given a few minutes – an hour at most, they are destroyed and you are pulling fluff out of your dog’s mouth while he is trying to swallow it.  That not only poses the obvious health risks but it becomes expensive.

After spending way too much money on “bargain” plush dog toys I started looking for other options.  I saw this TUFFY Toy called “Larry the Lobster” in a local dog store and spoke to the owner about it.  He told me they were some of the toughest soft dog toys on the market and they looked and felt that way.  The material was high quality and the shapes and sizes they came in were very unique.  I did not know it at the time but I had just found my “go to” puppy toy.  I bought Larry and was not disappointed.  Currently I own several TUFFY Toys and to me they are well worth it.

 

Larry lasted several months with my Golden puppy.  This is saying a lot as this pup was an aggressive chewer that would spend hours each day trying to tear Larry the Lobster apart.  Two things seem to make TUFFY Toys durable: the thick fabric and the compartmentalized stitching.  Larry the Lobster, as all TUFFY Toys, is stitched together in sections.  This works to extend the toy’s life.  When my dog did rip into Larry the Lobster he was only about to do so much damage.

TUFFY advertises “Each toy is made with two layers of industrial grade nylon, and one layer of soft fleece on the outside. All of the layers are sewn together to make one super strong layer of material. Each toy is sewn together with 2 layers of linear stitching. After the toy is sewn together an additional piece of black nylon trim is added to cover the four rows of stitching. This extra piece of nylon is sewn with 3 linear stitches to give the product a total of 7 seams! Now that’s one tough toy!”  I have to give it to them, they build one tough soft toy.

One thing to keep in mind is that these toys do contain fluff so when your dog eventually does rip into it there is the risk that they may swallow it if you do not catch it in time.  TUFFY Toys does make a “No Stuff Tuffy’s” which do not contain fluff.  This solves the swallowing issue, well at least for the fluff, and gives the toy more versatility as frisbees and tug toys.  No Stuff Tuffy’s also have the highest toughness rating.  I’ll be ordering some soon!

For Asa we purchased a smaller TUFFY toy to fit his size.  This time we went with the Gear Ring.  This should last him into his adult teeth.  However as he grows so will his collection of TUFFY Toys.  Lately, I have been partial to the Dinosaurs.

In case you are wondering, here is what our original Larry the Lobster looks like today.  We kept him for nostalgia reasons.

 

Little Asa played with him until he collapsed into a nap.  I guess our original Larry the Lobster has more play in him after all.