Hey everyone. I don’t know about you, but it kind of feels like puppy season has arrived. And I know quite a few people who have gotten puppies recently. It might be because people have more time right now to dedicate to training while they’re at home.
As a result, we’ve gotten some questions around what our favorite dog supplies are. So today we’re gonna be sharing our list of items that we think every dog owner should have. So the first item on our list is a nice, sturdy crate.
We are big believers in positive reinforcement and crate training, especially for puppies. Both Kokoro and Chibi are crate trained. And we like to use metal crates like this one to give them a safe space.
Dogs are den animals. They really like having a nice, secure, small den-like space. So a crate really provides for that. There are a ton of pros to having your dog crate trained. It’s really helpful for potty training.
It’s really helpful for behavioral training and just making sure that they don’t get into any trouble around the house. At this point, Kokoro and Chibi are six and seven years old so they don’t really spend that much time in their crates.
They really just sleep in them overnight. For the most part, they spend all day around the house with free roam. So, a crate is a really good tool for any situations where you might need to contain your dog.
For example, if we have somebody coming over that is allergic or afraid of dogs or contractors coming over. Sometimes it’s just easier to have the dogs secure and safely in their own space so they’re not getting in the way of any workers.
Most of all, if you crate train properly, your dog will end up really loving their crate. There are a ton of different types of crates out there. We prefer the metal crates that are foldable and collapsible so we can fold them up and store them if you don’t want to use them for a while.
They’re also more sturdy, so Chibi has used a portable fabric crate before and actually ripped her way out of the fabric. So a collapsible metal crate is our preferred style. Number two, a dog bed or mat.
This is something that you can put in your crate. So we have one in Chibi’s crate because of her orthopedic issues, just makes it more comfortable for her. Around the house we have a few varieties of different types of dog beds.
A dog bed or mat is really useful, particularly if you’re gonna do mat training. So we’ve talked about mat training before in our video about solutions for separation anxiety in dogs. Mat training works very similar to crate training.
You’re basically establishing the mat or the dog bed as a comfortable and safe space for your dog. Having a dog bed or a mat that your dog is very comfortable and used to is also very useful if you’re gonna be taking them to your office or to a hotel or traveling and bringing that dog bed with you will give them a sense of security and familiarity with their typical routine.
If you’re anything like me, I’m obsessed with buying my dogs new beds. I don’t know why, it’s just my favorite way to spoil them and dog beds can be really expensive, but our favorite one is this one by MiaCara.
It has a removable and washable cover. We’ve had this bed for about two and a half years now and it stayed super poofy and really retained the original structure. And so we really find that this one was worth it.
Obviously having a dog food that your dog really likes and is healthy is on this list. We’re gonna actually talk about the types of bowls that we like. Right now we’re using these two ceramic bowls. We prefer round bowls like these because they’re easier to wash and you really should be washing your dog bowls every couple of days to make sure that there’s no bacterial growth or build up.
We’ve also used stainless steel bowls in the past and we really liked those. So ceramic and stainless steel bowls are our personal favorites. In addition, it’s probably a good idea to have some collapsible bowls for your hiking, going on a long walk.
We use this kind, it folds in and folds out really easily and we can just clip it to our bag and bring it along with us if we’re going on a long hike. So we have one bowl each for Kokoro and Chibi and we also have a water fountain that they share.
The reason why we really like using this water fountain, and this is the PetSafe water fountain, is because there are filters inside that you can change every couple of weeks and so it keeps the water fresh and filtered all day long.
We use filtered water in it to avoid tear stains for Kokoro. You just change out the filters every couple of weeks when the water starts to get a little bubbly from their saliva. We find this works a lot better than just filling a bowl over and over with tap water.
‘Cause standing water can get a little bit icky, so we highly recommend getting a pet fountain for your dog. Next is lint rollers. If you have a dog that sheds, you’re gonna need one of these in your car, in your house, at your workplace.
I have one in my bag that I carry with me all the time. So definitely this is key for making sure that you can clean yourself up a little bit if you need to be presentable instead of being covered by dog hair.
Next up is an exercise pen. It’s very, very useful for training for a puppy and for confining them to a safe space, giving them a little bit more room than just a crate. We haven’t really used our exercise pen that often, but we still think it’s a really good idea for any dog owner to have an exercise pen in case you’re going to any events or if you just need to block off a certain area of the house.
Having exercise pens is very handy for that. Durable dog chews. Dogs have a lot of energy and one of the best ways to get their mental stimulation going is to give them a durable dog chew. Our favorite chews are Benebone dog chews.
These typically lasts about one month and they come in a variety of different flavors. It’s usually a good idea to test out a bunch of different types of chews and see which is your dog’s favorite. Next up is a slip collar or a leash.
We actually don’t have Kokoro and Chibi wear collars permanently. For Kokoro, the coat around her neck can get matted really easily with different types of collars. And there’s also an added risk of them getting stuck on things when we’re not at home because of a collar.
That can happen when the metal pieces of the collar get stuck on, for example, the bars of a crate. So, just for safety reasons, we prefer to have them just totally naked when we’re at home. And because both of the dogs have really good off-lease training and recall, we prefer to just have them use slip collars and leashes when we’re out and about.
So this is what a slip or Martingale collar looks like. Basically, as long as you size it properly, you can just slip it over the dog’s head and it will tighten as you’re using the leash or going on a walk.
These are just super easy and quick to use if you’re getting the leash or collar on and off. There’s no buckles or weird clasps that need to be worked with, so we just find this to be the most convenient and easy way.
Next we have paw wipes. We always wipe our dog’s paws when coming in from a walk. You just never know what they could have stepped on out there, especially during these times. Obviously you need poop bags and a poop bag dispenser.
These are our favorite types of poop bag dispensers that we put on the leashes with us so that we never forget a poop bag if we’re on a walk. I’ve gone through so many different types of leash attachable poop dispensers and these are really my favorite ones.
They fit one roll perfectly, and they’re not too big. They don’t have too much space and they’re very compact. And they attach really, really easily to your leash. We also got this adhesive poop bag dispenser for our backyard.
So if you have an outdoor space and you want to have a poop bag dispenser available so that you can pick up any poop in your backyard, this is one that we got and we really, really like and it’s been really handy to not have to run back inside to grab a poop bag if we’re hanging out with our dogs in the backyard.
Next up is a treat pouch. First of all, I think that it’s a really good idea for everyone to have a treat pouch and have it in your bag or somewhere handy or just bring it along with you wherever you are.
For us, training never really stops and it’s a good idea to have treats available if you want to reinforce your dog’s good behavior when you’re out and about on a walk, walking by a dog park. We’ve gone through so many different types of treat pouches.
There are some huge ones that are like this big and they attach like a fanny pack to your hip. We’re not a fan of those. I personally like a treat pouch that’s small and compact and that has a magnetic closure which makes it really easy to open and close and it keeps all the treats really secure.
This is our favorite one, it’s by Wildebeest. And I have searched all over for a better treat pouch, but so far this is the best one that I’ve been able to find. We also like to carry this little nifty tool with us on walks, it’s called a pet corrector.
This is good if you have a reactive dog or just to protect yourself from off-leash dogs that may run up to you. It basically just makes a loud, air hissing noise that startles dogs. We like to keep this just in case of emergencies.
We have been charged at, and Kokoro’s been attacked while we’ve been on a walk before. So, it’s better safe than sorry. You can use it to deter off-leash, aggressive dogs from coming up to you. Next step is a really secure travel crate or a seatbelt.
We used to actually just let the dogs kind of roam free in the car and stick their heads out the window. Until I learned that this is actually very unsafe and you can get a ticket in some states for having an unrestrained dog in your vehicle.
Having a really secure crate is a really good idea so that you can keep your dog safe in case of anything going wrong. It actually works out really well for us too because Chibi has like no core strength and it makes it easier for her to travel in the car so she’s not like wiggling around and moving along with the G4.
So, this is our favorite brand of portable fabric crate. It folds down really, really easily. So if I have a bunch of groceries, I can just quickly fold them both down and it’s like they’re not even there in my trunk.
Otherwise I keep them both side by side in the back of my car here. And the dogs are used to riding in them wherever we go. This one is a lifesaver. We are in love with our BISSELL spot cleaner. I honest think this is a must-have for every dog owner no matter what kind of dog you have and no matter how old they are, this is the perfect cleaner for if your dog has any accidents on any type of rug or carpet, probably even more essential for puppy owners.
But we found that it’s really useful for us even now because Kokoro tends to have some stomach problems. This spot cleaner is amazing. All you have to do is add some hot water into it, mix it with some cleaning solution, and it basically sprays the effected area and vacuums at the same time.
So we’ve used this in so many tricky situations. One time the dogs literally got into a bag of fertilizer in my backyard and started throwing up everywhere and it was able to get all the stains out of my white rug.
This is one of my favorite, favorite items and I highly recommend everyone with a dog consider getting one. It’s probably also a good idea to have stain and odor remover. We really like Nature’s Miracle.
This is something that we usually reserve for accidents on the hardwood floor. For any accidents on carpets or rugs, we usually go with the BISSELL spot cleaner. Next up is a nail grinder. We prefer to use this one by Dremel and it makes clipping your dog’s nails super, super easy.
You may have to do a little bit of training to get them used to the sound, but we used to clip Kokoro’s nails with actual clippers and it’s just much harder to be accurate and you can potentially clip their quick.
So we highly recommend everybody to just use a Dremel nail grinder. We clip the dog’s nails at least once a week. We just flip them on their backs and give them treats when it’s done. Pro tip, dogs are creatures of routine.
So if you always clip the dog’s nails in the same order from the same paw. So for example, front right front left, back right back left and you go in the same order every single time, they’ll know when the nail clipping is gonna be over and they’ll know when to expect it which could just make the whole experience easier for them.
We also always like to have an eye cleaner or a tear stain remover, especially because Kokoro has a white coat and it’s easy to see a lot of tear stains on our face. We found that having an eye cleaner is very, very useful and we clean both of the dog’s eyes every morning and night to prevent any sort of staining right here.
You’re probably also going to need an e-collar or a cone. We prefer to use this inflatable one that kind of looks like an adorable airplane pillow over an actual plastic cone. It’s much more comfortable for the dog and it just looks way cuter than the cone.
All right, this next one is one of my favorite new items that we’ve just added. It’s basically a portable, foldable dog bath for small dogs. One of the biggest issues that I’ve had as a small dog owner is bathing them.
We have standing showers in our house and if we’re gonna wash the dogs in the shower, that means I’m gonna have to bend down, wash them, and it really causes a big strain on your back. This dog bath is amazing because it basically acts as a standing bathtub.
There’s a hole at the bottom that drains just like a regular bathtub would. You can use it inside your bathtub or shower. We’ve used it also outside on our back patio which makes it really easy and no dog hair get anywhere in our bathroom.
Honestly I feel like this dog bath is a game changer for anyone with a small dog and I’ve been highly recommending it to all of my small dog friends. On the note of grooming, we also really like using the high velocity pet dryer rather than using a normal hair dryer that you would use on yourself.
We love that these are made especially for dogs and have the right velocity and heat for their coats. Along with a grooming table or arm, this makes it much easier and faster to dry your dog. If you have coated breeds that shed like Kokoro and Chibi, having a cordless vacuum is a must.
We have a Roomba robot vacuum that we use every single day to start off the day and it actually gets a lot of the dog hair in hard-to-reach places under the couch. We also have a Dyson cordless vacuum, the V8 that we’ve had for a couple of years now, and it’s been a lifesaver and game changer for vacuuming up messes or vacuuming up a certain area after I’ve brushed the dog and there’s a lot of dog hair around, especially if you have dogs that shed, having cordless vacuums is a must.
I also think it’s really important for everyone to have treat dispensing toys to keep your dogs busy. They’re also a really, really great tool for separation anxiety training. Here are just a few of our favorite treat dispensing toys.
Our favorite way to use these is to actually fill a whole bunch of toys before we’re about to leave and we hide them all over the house so that when we leave we release the dogs and they’re able to use some time and get mentally stimulated and not be bothered by the fact that we’re leaving.
To fill these toys, we use low calorie training treats and our absolute favorite ones are by Charlee Bear. And we just find that these treats are the perfect size to fill most toys. I also love that they’re dry.
I don’t really like crumbly or moist treats that can get your hands really dirty. So these are my favorite type to throw in a treat pouch or throw into a treat dispensing toy. And the best part is that they’re low calorie so that your dog doesn’t get too chubby.
We also always keep a supply of natural edible chews for the dogs. We’ve actually made a video in the past about our favorite long-lasting chews for dogs. So you can check that out if you’re interested in more detail about which specific chews we use.
Having a really sturdy toy bin is also a must. Our dogs are just spoiled with so many toys. There are a ton that they don’t even play with. Having one place for them to contain all of their toys is really important.
We actually really like this one that we have. I think we found it at Target and it’s just a wire basket and this way they can see and smell other toys that may be closer to the bottom and they can dig them out.
We also love our Furbo pet camera. In addition to having cameras set up around our house with ring and nest just for security purposes, the Furbo pet camera is made for dogs specifically. The top of it contains some treats.
So the Charlee Bear treats that I talked about earlier are perfect for using here and via a phone app, you can basically control the camera and have it shoot out treats even when you’re not home. All right, so that wraps it up.
I know that that was a lot of products that we’ve just talked about and obviously Kokoro got tired of me talking and has already left the video, but we hope this was helpful for anybody who is getting a new dog or just looking to add some more nifty tools to their list of dog supplies.
I’ll also be linking in the description to my blog posts that will have photos and links to all of our preferred brands and the products that we’ve talked about in this video. If you have any questions or suggestions of items that I might’ve left out, feel free to leave a comment below.
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