Rabbit Hides for Dog Toys

[Basenji43]

I would like to use my rabbit hides to make dog toys, braid it into fleece fabric to make tug toys and such. How do you think I should preserve them? The toys obviously wont last forever but I also dont want the hides to spoil or smell bad. The hides dont have to turn out high quality just good enough to keep the hair on without going bad. I would like to avoid acid and other harsh chemicals as the dogs will have the toys in their mouths. Do I need to do the full tanning process? I was maybe thinking of using the alum method? Could I just dry them out,or will the hair fall off? Just salt them? As you can tell I know very little about tanning and preserving hides. Thank you in advance for your time.

 

[Secuono]

They don't last a day here.

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

I have never tried this but I think it would work. Take your hide and cut down the belly area so you can "open" it. Then take small nails or tacks and nail/tack the hide to a board fur side down put tacks/nails every half inch or so. Leave the hide like this in a warm area with a good amount of air movement the hide should dry out and turn hard within a couple days. Remove all the nails/tacks and take your dry hide and cut it into strips then soak these strips in water until they are soft enough to braid. Once you braid them put them in a area with alot of air movement and they should turn hard again making a pretty good chew toy that should last for awhile atleast with small dogs and no chemicals needed! If you try it let me know if it works.<br /><br />__________ Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:16 pm __________<br /><br />Ps. When you are braiding the wet hides some of the hair will fall out but most should stay intact. You will not need salt with this method its basically the same method trappers use to put up millions of furs a year.

 

[skysthelimit]

Good idea.

You can just air dry them too, or salt them if you like.

They don't last long here either, if the dogs even let them dry out.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Ours don't last either.

I'm surprised the dogs don't have hairballs... they have furry poop instead!

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Good idea.

You can just air dry them too, or salt them if you like.

They don't last long here either, if the dogs even let them dry out.

If you salt them or dry them without stretching them they will shrink alot that is why hunters/trappers use nails to keep the hides stretched out and never use salt. Here is a video that kinda shows what I am talking about just to help you get a general idea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjxTSL1E1o
Of course just letting one air dry would also be a good thing to try because it would save work though I think the leather would be thicker and harder to braid.

Ps a stapler (a real on) works great for nailing hides to boards.

 

[skysthelimit]

Good idea.

You can just air dry them too, or salt them if you like.

They don't last long here either, if the dogs even let them dry out.

If you salt them or dry them without stretching them they will shrink alot that is why hunters/trappers use nails to keep the hides stretched out and never use salt. Here is a video that kinda shows what I am talking about just to help you get a general idea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjxTSL1E1o
Of course just letting one air dry would also be a good thing to try because it would save work though I think the leather would be thicker and harder to braid.

Ps a stapler (a real on) works great for nailing hides to boards.

I have never had one shrink, I left it salted for days before I decided to tan it, no shrinkage or hair slipping.

 

[Secuono]

Ours don't last either.

I'm surprised the dogs don't have hairballs... they have furry poop instead!

Soooo many furry poops! Sure does make poop scooping more interesting!



Mine all shrink unless you stretch nonstop until fully dried/wont be soft until stretched until fully dried. But if you nail/pin it and then let it fully dry all stretched out, it sh!ould not shrink.

 

[Basenji43]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I will give some a try later this week and report back my findings

 

[Arahant]

I'v been wondering about this to, I'v been trying to make some plans for a hypothetical rabbit farm, for commercial purposes, so im trying to figure out all the possible uses for all the different parts of the rabbit. One of my ideas was making doggy toys/chew toys out of the hides/fur like you guys have thought of to. I havnt tried it but im wondering how easy the hair will pull out, and if it will make a mess.

When my dog caught a wild rabbit, there was fur everywhere, mind you i didnt tan that fur so thats probably why, im thinking you could even just take the hair out and roll it up something like a rawhide or pizzle stick, they sell for half decent money.

Another idea is making training aids for hunters to train their dogs.

 

[Basenji43]

Update: So far I thawed out one hide. I laid it flat out on some newspaper and applied some pickling salt. The salt has been on for about 5 days. The last two days I added a fan as an extra drying measure (not sure if it is doing anything). Today (day 7) I dumped off the salt but there is still a lot of salt stuck to the hide. Is it possible to get it all off without having to rub it off? The hide looks good to me, dry, stiff, no smell. I cut off the edges so it looks really nice and neat Now to just get the rest of the salt off. Any ideas?

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Are you going to soak the hide in water to get it soft and workable again? If so that will take the majority of the salt off.

 

[Basenji43]

So I can just wash it off with water and then lay it out to dry again?

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Yes. Personally I wouldnt bother with using salt to dry the hides in the future, As long as the entire flesh side of the hide is exposed to air movement you will be better served by a fan in my opinion.

 

[Wyldrose]

I bet my dogs can't wait for furry poo... It will fit in nicely with the rainbow poo. Apperently crayons are yummy!

 

[Basenji43]

The next one I will try without salt and see how that goes. Thanks for all of the ideas.