READFIELD — When Chris Voynik’s mother asked him to drop off several bags full of his family’s old T-shirts at a donation center last winter, he had a better plan.

Something else. Anything else. 

Turning the old shirts into an iPad sleeve — his first idea — didn’t work. But as he cut a T-shirt into strips and began braiding the strips together, something rope-like emerged. It was colorful. It was durable. It enticed at least one canine member of the household. 

“It just kind of came to me,” Voynik said.

He named his invention Wag Rags. Eight months later, the tug-and-chew dog toys are starting to take off. 

“Dogs really do — I don’t know what it is — they like fabric. They chew rugs, cushions. They like soft stuff,” he said.

Voynik, a 20-year-old business management major at Thomas College in Waterville, spends his nights making the toys and his weekends marketing them at craft shows. His first footlong Wag Rags toy took him two hours to make. He can now make them in 10 minutes and in three different sizes: 7-inch itty-bitty, 12-inch original and 20-inch big dog. 

He sells a few dozen at each show, pricing the small toys at $7, the medium toys at $11 and the large toys at $20. He’s made a profit at every show he’s attended. He also sells Wag Rags on Etsy, a website that showcases handmade items, art and crafts.

Voynik, a dog lover since childhood, likes the weekly craft shows most. It’s where he gets to meet people, chat about his product and greet the dogs that love his toys.

“I enjoy it. I’m 20, what else am I going to be doing on a Saturday?” he said.

At his mother’s place, golden retriever Syd and Chihuahua Meeko serve as toy testers. At his father’s place, golden retriever Cooper does. Most of Voynik’s promotional photos feature one or more of the family dogs, though customers have started sending him photos of their own pets and Wag Rags.

“Dogs either chew them, tug on them or they’re not interested in them,” Voynik said.

Uninterested dogs don’t stay uninterested for long, however. Voynik tells customers to try tucking a dog treat between the braids. It usually works.

Although dogs chew and tug on the toys in their best effort to destroy them, the braids have proven durable. To allay customers’ fears, though, Voynik has started offering Wag Rag insurance for $4. If the toy is destroyed, he’ll replace it, no questions asked.

Voynik has taken over his mother’s living room, turning it into a Wag Rags office, with old T-shirts — given to him by friends — piled on one table, finished Wag Rags piled on another and unfinished braids hanging on a ladder, waiting to be woven together.

While Voynik has taken over his mother’s living room, he also taken her advice. The owner of a successful craft business, she’s guided Voynik on craft shows, market research and customer expectations. At her suggestion he’s started expanding the business. He will soon carry pillows and coasters that can be personalized with the family dog’s photo. He will also soon offer signs customizable with the family dog’s name. 

For now, Wag Rags is a way for Voynik to stay busy, have some fun and get experience in the pet toy industry. Later it could be the way he earns a living.

Though he still may be the one cutting up T-shirts.

“I don’t ever want to make them on a braiding machine. I don’t want to send them overseas and have them made in sweatshops,” he said. “I always want them made in Maine.”

Have an idea for Animal Tales? Contact Lindsay Tice at 689-2854 or ltice@sunjournal.com.

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