Nerf Dog Nylon Square Braided Twisted Infinity Tug – 12in, Blue & Green

Nerf Dog Nylon Square Braided Twisted Infinity Tug – 12in, Blue & Green

A tug rope lives or dies on the braid. A loose one comes apart into strands within a fortnight and those strands are what causes trouble if they are swallowed; a tight square braid holds together under a dog that pulls hard. This one is braided square and then twisted, which is what gives it the ridged surface rather than a smooth rope.

Twelve inches is a sensible length for two-handed tug with a medium or large dog — long enough to keep your fingers clear of the teeth, short enough that you are not being dragged around the garden. The texture is also the reason it gets handed to teething puppies: something ridged to work at is more interesting than something smooth.

Performance & Benefits

• Square-braided and twisted nylon, which holds its shape better than a loose twist rope.
• 12 inches long — enough to keep your hands away from a dog’s teeth during tug.
• Ridged, textured surface gives a dog something to work at as well as pull against.
• Doubles as something for a teething dog to chew on.
• Blue and green, so it is easy to find in long grass.
• Part of the Nerf Dog tug range.

Suitable For

• Two-person or person-and-dog tug of war.
• Medium and large dogs who pull hard.
• Teething puppies, under supervision.
• Training games where a tug is the reward.
• Not a retrieving toy — for fetch, the Nerf Dog Rubber Super Bounce Ball or the Bash Squeak & Crunch Football throw far better.

How to Use

• Hold one end and let the dog take the other; keep the tug low and side to side rather than upwards, which is kinder on the neck and teeth.
• Teach a clean release before you start playing tug properly.
• Hand wash and dry it thoroughly if it comes back muddy; a wet rope left in a toy box goes sour.
• Put it away after the game so it stays a tug toy rather than being shredded on the sofa.

Specification

• 12 inches long. Blue and green.
• Nylon, square braided and twisted.
• Barcode 810009471196.
• Nerf Dog publish weight and a fuller material breakdown on the pack rather than anywhere we could verify from them directly, so no figures are invented here.

Care & Caution

• Supervise every session. A tug rope is not a toy to leave with an unsupervised dog.
• Throw it away once it starts to fray or shed strands. Swallowed rope fibres can cause a linear foreign body, which is a serious surgical problem.
• Keep tugging gentle with puppies and with any dog that has had dental work; hard tug is tough on teeth.
• Never let two dogs tug the same rope without you holding the middle — that is how fights and tooth injuries happen.