Tug is the most useful game in the box. It burns energy quickly, it teaches a reliable release if you play it properly, and it can be done in a small garden in the rain when nothing else is on offer. What it needs is a toy with a proper handle at each end and seams that survive two animals pulling hard in opposite directions, which is where most soft tug toys give up inside a week.

This one measures 40.9 centimetres, which is enough length to keep your hand well clear of the teeth, and it is built the way Tuffy build everything: bonded layers of material, several rows of stitching through them, and webbing along the seam lines where the shearing force concentrates during a tug. That is the difference between a toy failing at the seam on day one and one that has to be worked through layer by layer. It floats and it washes.

• 40.9 x 3.6 x 16.5 cm
• Around 230 g
• Multiple bonded layers with several rows of stitching
• Protective webbing along the seams
• Floats, so it doubles as a water toy
• Machine washable, air dry
• Made in China, shipped tracked to the UK

Tug needs rules more than it needs a toy. Teach a clean release before you start, keep the movement side to side rather than up and down so you are not straining the neck, and leave tug alone with a puppy who is changing teeth. And no plush toy is chew-proof, so this is supervised play equipment rather than something to leave in the crate.

Who it's for: Medium and large dogs who love a proper game of tug, and owners who have already been through a few ordinary rope toys this year.