How to Clean and Disinfect Dog Toys

By Justin Shmalberg, DVM, CVA, ACVN, ACVSMR

Toys · July 31, 2026 · 4 min read

Knowing how to clean dog toys properly matters because saliva, food residue, and bacteria build up fast.

A new toy comes home clean. Within a week of daily fetch, tug, and chew sessions, it has picked up saliva, dirt from the yard, and whatever your dog dragged it through on the last walk. Studies on other frequently mouthed pet items back this up: research on dog BMC Veterinary Research: food bowls found meaningful bacterial contamination across bowl materials and cleaning methods, and toys sit in that same category of daily-contact objects. None of this means a toy box is dangerous. It means a simple, repeatable cleaning routine is worth having.

Why Toy Hygiene Matters More Than It Looks

A chew toy spends hours a day in a dog’s mouth, then gets set down on the floor, dragged outside, and picked back up. That cycle moves bacteria, yeast, and whatever is in your yard onto a surface your dog is going to mouth again. Puppies and dogs with any immune vulnerability are the ones most likely to feel an effect from that buildup, whether it is a mild stomach upset or, less commonly, a skin irritation around the mouth. Keeping toys clean is a low-effort habit that supports normal digestive and skin health rather than a response to any single symptom.

Starting the Routine: When the Toy Is New

Give every new toy a first wash before it ever reaches your dog, even if the packaging looks clean. Warehouse dust, manufacturing residue, and shipping grime are common on both cheap and premium toys. A rinse under warm water with a small amount of unscented dish soap, followed by a full air-dry, is enough for this first pass.

Weekly Maintenance, By Material

Rubber and Hard Nylon

These are the most forgiving toys to clean. Scrub with warm water and dish soap, using an old toothbrush to get into grooves and treat-stuffing cavities, then rinse until no suds remain. Many solid rubber toys, including ones without batteries or moving parts, can go on the top rack of a dishwasher if the manufacturer allows it — the combination of heat and detergent does a more thorough job than hand-washing alone.

Plush and Fabric Toys

Plush toys absorb saliva the way a towel absorbs water, which is exactly why they need more frequent washing than they usually get. Put them in a mesh laundry bag, wash on a gentle cycle with regular detergent, and skip fabric softener or scent boosters, since dogs mouth the toy right after it comes out of the dryer. Air-drying or a low-heat dryer setting protects any squeaker or stitching inside.

Rope Toys

Rope is the toy most likely to hold onto bacteria, because the woven fibers trap moisture and debris deep inside strands that a quick rinse never reaches. Soak rope toys in warm, soapy water for several minutes, scrub the surface, then rinse and let them dry completely before storing. If a rope toy starts fraying into loose strings, that is also the point to retire it rather than keep cleaning it, since loose fibers are a swallowing risk.

Deeper Disinfection: After Illness or Boarding

A weekly soap-and-water wash handles routine grime, but there are times that call for actual disinfection — after a dog has been sick, after a stay at boarding or daycare, or when introducing a new dog to the household. For hard, non-porous toys, the CDC guidance on cleaning pet supplies recommends washing with soap and water first, then soaking the item in a diluted bleach solution — about 2 ounces of bleach per gallon of water — for at least 10 minutes. After the soak, rinse thoroughly and let the toy dry fully before your dog gets it back, since bleach residue left on a toy is exactly the kind of thing you were trying to avoid in the first place. This step is not appropriate for porous items like plush or rope, which can trap the solution in their fibers; those toys should stick to the laundry-cycle method instead, per Preventive Vet.

Building the Habit Long-Term

Once a cleaning routine is in place, it is worth pairing it with a broader look at how toys get used day to day. Rotating toys rather than leaving the whole bin out also cuts down on how dirty any single toy gets between washes, and it doubles as enrichment — something covered in more detail in our guide to exercise ideas for small breeds. The same everyday-hygiene mindset applies to other routine care tasks, like easing a dog into tooth brushing, where consistency matters more than intensity.

When to Stop Cleaning and Start Replacing

No cleaning method fixes physical damage. Cracked rubber, exposed foam or stuffing, squeakers poking through fabric, and rope fraying into loose strands are all signs a toy has moved from cleanable to replaceable. Keeping a toy past that point trades a manageable hygiene task for a genuine choking or ingestion risk.

A clean toy box is not about sterilizing every squeaky ball. It is a short, repeatable routine — soap and water weekly, a real disinfecting soak after illness, and the willingness to retire a toy once it is worn past cleaning.