Current At Home Service Projects

• Oat Dog Biscuits
• Apple Cinnamon Dog Treats
• Cat Bed
• Cat Toys
• Kitten Sunshine Toys
• Kitten Ring Ball Toys
• Bunny Paper Roll
• Bunny Tissue Box
• DIY Dog Bandana

Completed service projects may be submitted any time Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. to the Volunteer Services Office. Please feel free to ask for a service hours acknowledgement form when you submit your completed projects.

Recipe for Oat Dog Biscuits

One batch earns credit for two hours of volunteer time

You Need:

• 2 ½ cups oats
• 1 tsp. salt (or less)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. beef or chicken bouillon granules (can substitute beef or chicken broth/stock)
• ½ cup hot water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Dissolve bouillon in hot water
• Add remaining ingredients
• Knead dough until it forms a ball (approximately 3 minutes)
• Roll dough until ½ inch thick
• Cut into slices or bone shapes
• Place dough pieces on lightly greased cookie sheet
• Bake for 30 minutes

Apple Cinnamon Dog Treats

One batch earns credit for two hours of volunteer time

You Need:

• 1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated (about ⅓ cup grated apple)
• 3 tbsp. unsweetened natural applesauce
• ¼ cup honey
• ½ cup water
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° F
• Mix apple, applesauce, honey, water, and egg in a bowl. Stir to combine thoroughly.
• Sift flour & cinnamon together.
• Add the flour & cinnamon mixture to the wet mixture in 2 or 3 additions, stirring well after each addition.
• Knead the dough by hand until all of the flour is absorbed, and the dough is smooth & flexible.
• Generously flour a board or countertop, and roll the dough to about ¼ inch thick.
• Cut the dough into about 1″ pieces and arrange on an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake about 20 minutes, until firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely.
• Store in a ziplock bag or other airtight container.

Fleece Dog Tug Toy

1 Hour of Service for Each Dog Tug Toy

These are super easy to make, and you actually probably already know how! Have you ever made a plastic lace lanyard? We’re going to use that same technique here, but with fleece.
Gather your materials including fleece, scissors and ruler. You’re going to need four strips of fleece for each tug toy. The width of each fleece strip is going to depend on the size of dog you’re making it for:

• For big dogs (greater than 70 lbs), you need four strips, each 4 inches wide X 20 inches long
• For large dogs (greater than 40 lbs), you need four strips, each 3 inches wide X 16 inches long
• For medium and small dogs (less than 40 lbs), you need four strips, each 2 inches wide X 12 inches long

You can use a rotary cutter on this, but you can also cut them with scissors. The edges won’t show, and if you have something scraggly, you can trim it easily. Don’t worry about selvedge edges because we will be trimming those off later.

Directions:

1. Grab your strips and tie them together on one end, leaving a few inches of fleece on one side of the knot. Pull each strip tightly to make sure your knot is secure:
   
2. Spread the strips out so you have one going in each direction. We’re going to call them North, South, East, and West for the purposes of this tutorial:
   
3. For the first pass, you will always do this: fold South towards North and North towards South.
4. Fold East over South and through North. Fold West over North and through South:
   
5. Tighten each strip (not too tight, though – just so it’s neat). Do this by pulling North and South, then East and West, and repeating until they’re all even and situated nicely:
   
6. When it’s your desired length, take your four strands and tie them off near the braid/boondoggle. You’ll want to leave more end than you think to easily tie them off, and so you can finish off the ends with fringe. Pull each strand tightly to ensure a secure knot:
   
7. Finally, grab your scissors and cut the strips at the ends to the same length, and chop off the selvedge edges. Then cut the two ends almost to the knots to make fringe for extra fun:
   

Cat Bed

One bed earns credit for two hours of volunteer time

You Need:

• 2 pieces lightweight fleece material (18” x 24”)
• Scissors

Directions:

• Lay 1 piece of fabric on a flat surface and cut 4” fringe along all 4 sides
• Repeat this for the second piece of fabric
• Layer the first piece of fabric onto of second piece of fabric and lay flat on a table or the floor
• Using a piece of fringe from the top layer and a piece of fringe from the bottom layer, tie a knot
  
• Repeat knotting around all four sides
• Finished product should measure 11” x 17”
  

Cat Toys

10 toys earns credit for one hour of volunteer time

You Need:

• Infant Socks (INFANT SOCKS ONLY)
• Stuffing or fiberfill
• Dry Catnip

Directions:

• Take an infant sock and fill from toe to heel with stuffing (stuffed portion of sock should NOT be longer than 2”)
• Add a pinch of dry catnip
• Pinch the sock around the heel and ankle, then stretch the ankle and cuff and tie the sock closed in a knot (do NOT use ribbon or string to tie sock closed)
• Done! This is an easy cat toy to make, and cats love it.
• Finished toy should NOT be longer than 3 ½”

Kitten Sunshine Toy DIY Project

1 Hour of Service for 3 Sunshine Toys

You Need:

• Scissors
• Empty toilet paper roll(s)

Directions:

• Beginning on one end of the toilet paper roll, cut vertical 1.5 inch strips about ½ an inch thick and work your way around the perimeter of the circle.
• Repeat on the opposite end of the roll.
• When finished, gently bend each strip on both sides of the roll outwards, forming a sunshine ray effect.

Kitten Ring Ball Toy DIY Project

1 Hour of Service for 3 Ring Ball Toys

You Need:

• Scissors
• 1 empty toilet paper roll
• Cat treats (optional)

Directions:

• Beginning on one end, cut the toilet paper roll into even rings (about ½ an inch wide).
• When finished, begin to place the rings inside of each other in a criss-cross pattern to form a round shape.
• Before closing the ball completely, you may insert a few cat treats and then add the last of the rings.

Bunny Paper Roll DIY Project

1 Hour of Service for 3 Bunny Paper Roll Projects

You Need:

• Scissors
• 1 empty toilet paper roll
• Oat hay, timothy hay or alfalfa

Directions:

1. Beginning on one end, cut the toilet paper roll into even rings (about ½ an inch wide).
2. When finished, begin to place the rings inside of each other in a criss-cross pattern to form a round shape.
3. Before closing the ball completely, insert a treat such as timothy hay and then add the last of the rings.
4. Give this fun treat toy to your rabbit and watch as they have a blast trying to get the treat inside!

Bunny Tissue Box DIY Project

1 Hour of Service for 4 Bunny Tissue Box Projects

You Need:

• Scissors
• 1 tissue box (any type)
• About 4 toilet paper rolls (quantity may vary depending on the size of your tissue box)
• Oat hay, timothy hay or alfalfa

Directions:

1. Cut out and remove any plastic from the opening of the tissue box.
2. Place the toilet paper rolls into the tissue box one by one until the entire opening of the box is covered (paper rolls should fit snuggly).
3. Drop treat(s) such as timothy hay into each individual toilet paper roll.
4. Give this entertaining treat toy to your bunny and let them have fun as they try to get to the treats!

DIY Dog Bandana

1 Hour of Service per Dog Bandana

You Need:

• Regular scissors or pinking scissors
• Half yard of quilting fabric (holiday/seasonal fabrics are always appreciated!)
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Tailor’s tape measure (regular tape measure or yard stick will also work)
• Large paper bag or craft paper

Directions:

Option 1: Medium-Sized Bandana
Option 2: Large-Sized Bandana

1. 1. Lay your craft paper on a table or flat surface. If you are using a large paper bag as your craft paper, cut it open and lay it flat.
   2. For a medium-sized bandana, draw a 26” horizontal line on your craft paper. For a large-sized bandana, draw a 36” horizontal line.
   3. Locate the middle point of the line and draw a vertical line downwards. For a medium-sized bandana, draw an 8” line. For a large-sized bandana, draw a 10” line.
   4. Draw two diagonal lines connecting the tip of the vertical line to the end points of the horizontal line, forming a triangle.
   5. Cut the triangle pattern out.

1. Place the pattern on top of the fabric and cut the pattern out. *You may need to use a small weighted object to hold the pattern in place during this step.
2. You are all done! You can also save the paper pattern cut-out to make more bandanas!