THE PRODUCTS

• What exactly am I buying? 

A hand-folded dog tug made from 240 GSM polyester knit fleece. Four strips, each cut 2.5" × 72" on the warp, folded by hand into one of two knot patterns. No machine assembly, no adhesives, no internal hardware — the whole thing holds together through the fold and knot tension alone.

• What's the difference between Vector-S and Helix-P? 

Only the fold. Vector-S is folded in straight, perpendicular lines — a four-strand crown knot that resolves into four distinct wrapped squares when you look at it from above. Helix-P folds on a diagonal shift instead, so each crossing offsets from the one before it, giving a visible shift running down its length. Same fleece, same cut, same price. Pick the one you like the look and feel of.

What's the difference between a 2-strip and a 4-strip build? 

• Size. 2-strip tugs finish at 8"–14"; 4-strip tugs finish at 15"–20". Both use identical material and the same fold patterns.

Why is the length given as a range instead of a number? 

• Because they're folded by hand. How tightly the fold is drawn and how much space sits between each knot changes the finished length a little every time. Two tugs built from identical strips can land an inch or two apart. That variation is normal, not a defect.

How do I choose colors? 

• Pick four from our Eight-color palette. With that many combinations available, exact repeats are uncommon — the tug you build is likely one of a kind.

Can I choose which color goes where?

• Yes, where the fold pattern allows it. Vector-S in particular shows all four colors as distinct squares from above, so position genuinely changes how it looks.

What are the prices? 

• $12 for a 2-strip build, $20 for a 4-strip build — same for both models.

USING THE TUG

What is this actually for? 

• Interactive tug play — you hold one end, your dog holds the other, you play, and then it goes away until next time. It's built for that.

Is this a chew toy? 

• No. It's not designed to be left on the floor with an unsupervised dog working on it. If that's what you need, a solo chew toy built for sustained destruction is a different product category and you'd be better served by one.

My dog would rip this to shreds. Honestly. 

• Honestly? If you leave it out with a serious shredder, probably. That's not what this is for. It's for tug with you on the other end, then put away. If your dog is a dedicated destroyer who needs something to work on alone, this isn't the right toy — and we'd rather say that than sell you one.

What size should I get? 

• The 4-strip build (15"–20") gives you more length to hold and more material in the same knot. The 2-strip (8"–14") is a smaller tug. Beyond that it's about what feels right in your hand and your dog's mouth.

How will I know when to stop using it? 

• Retire it at the first sign of fraying, loosened knots, or separated strands. The useful thing about how these are built is that wear tends to show up gradually and visibly — knots loosening, one section thinning where the grip lands — rather than failing all at once. Inspect it before and after play.

Can two dogs use it at once? 

• That's up to you and your dogs, and depends entirely on how they play together. Same as any shared toy, supervise it.

MATERIAL

What is fleece, exactly? 

• A knit fabric made from polyester (PET), brushed on both faces to raise a soft pile. Not woven — knit, meaning interlocking loops rather than long parallel threads.

Why fleece instead of rope or nylon? 

• A few real reasons: it's a knit rather than a woven structure, it doesn't absorb water into the fiber (so it dries fast and doesn't harden), the fiber itself is strong, and at 240 GSM it compresses and grips against itself under hand tension — which is the whole reason the fold-and-knot construction works at all.

What does 240 GSM mean? 

• Grams per square meter — the standard measure of fabric weight. Polar fleece generally runs from about 150 to 450 GSM. At 240, ours sits mid-weight: enough body to hold a fold under tension, not so heavy it's stiff to work by hand.

What does "cut on the warp" mean? 

The strips are cut running parallel to the fabric roll's length, rather than across its width. It's a cutting spec — a description of how the strip is oriented on the fabric.

Is polyester safe for dogs? 

• PET is a chemically stable, inert polymer — it's the same material used for food and beverage containers. That said, we haven't tested our tugs for anything, and no material is safe when swallowed. Supervise play, inspect the toy, and retire it when it wears.

Is fleece environmentally friendly? 

• Partly, and we'd rather be straight about it than spin it. Much fleece is made from recycled PET, which diverts bottle stock rather than drawing new petroleum. But polyester doesn't biodegrade, and washing synthetic textiles does release microplastic fibers into wastewater — that's a real, documented issue and we're not going to pretend otherwise. Washing less often, using cold water, and using a microfiber-catching laundry bag all help.

CARE

How do I wash it? 

• Hand wash or gentle machine cycle, cold water, air dry.

How often should I wash it? 

Only when it needs it. 

• Saliva-soaked fabric that stays damp can support bacterial growth like any wet textile, so let it dry fully between sessions. But washing synthetics sheds microfibers, so there's no benefit to washing more than necessary.

Will it shrink or fade? 

• Cold water and air drying minimize both. We can't guarantee colorfastness — care instructions are guidance, not a warranty.

Will it pill? 

• Probably, with use. Pilling is inherent to fleece: brushed filaments work loose and tangle into small balls on the surface. It's cosmetic, not structural.

CLAIMS AND TESTING

Have these been tested? 

• Not in any lab or clinical sense. We can tell you exactly what they're made of, exactly how they're cut, and exactly how they're folded. We can't tell you how many pulls one survives or how it compares to another toy, because we haven't measured it.

Are these vet-approved? 

Good for teeth? Good for joints? 

• No, and we won't claim any of that. Those are health claims, and making them without evidence would be dishonest — and worse, it could affect how carefully someone supervises play. If we ever have real data, it'll be on this site with the method attached.

Why don't you have more impressive claims like other brands? 

• Because we'd have to make them up. Everything we say about these tugs is something you could verify by looking at one, measuring one, or watching one get made. That's a smaller set of claims than most product pages carry, and it's the whole point.