Puppy Files: Favorite Finds
Although we have been dog owners together for many years and both grew up with dogs, the reality is products are constantly changing and evolving with time. In addition, what has worked for our small dogs hasn’t necessarily worked for our larger breed puppy. For example, Millie likes to chew, like most puppies – not usually on items like shoes – although we did have a Christmas light incident this last Christmas – but most raw hides didn’t work for us. Millie would chew through a large rawhide in record time and be ready to chew the next thing. Millie is also a messier eater and messier when she drinks.
Today I am sharing with you our 5 Favorite are products we have grown to love around our house for our Millie, and our older dog Rudy too.
Go-Go Antlers
Antlers totally changed things for us when it came to her wanting to chew on something hard. We found ours from Dig It Pets and they are completely worth the extra money. She’s had hers for 6 months (that’s unheard of with her!!) and it still exists. It’s smaller now so we are ordering a new one soon!
Food & Water Bowl Waterproof Mat
These food and water bowl mats by Unruly Tails are perfect for messy eaters and messy water drinkers. Millie girl drinks super sloppy when she’s thirsty so we needed to find a solution. Ours is the large size so we can put three bowls on the mat which is perfect for us. These mats are fantastic. We’ve washed ours several times and it’s held up wonderfully. Unruly Tails also has super cute collars that are on our wish list. You can USE CODE: INDIEALIST to SAVE 15%
KONG
We have been using KONGS for years now, but when we adopted Millie the shelter had them at a serious discount and Millie loves them. They are a little more expensive when buying them at the store, but I know Kong is great about donating items to shelters. The local shelter we got her from said KONG donates a bunch of KONGS to them, so they can sell them at a large discount and the proceeds go back to the shelter, which is awesome. We’ve gone back to get more since we adopted her. She uses it more as a fun toy than we fill it with things but it’s such a versatile toy and she has yet to chew it up yet!
GREENIES
Our older dog, Rudy, has always had rough teeth. It’s common in little dogs so we weren’t necessarily shocked but we wanted to get a good, early start for Millie’s dental health. I’m so glad we did. When at the pet store we were talking to an associate about the products and we learned the Greenies are the only products on the market that actual breakdown tartar to get rid of dental decay and poor smelling breath. Other products on the market just mask the issue, they don’t work towards correcting the issue. After learning about this we were sold. They are more expensive than other things on the market but they work and both of our dogs have better smelling breath.
CANIDAE
It’s easy to often forget that what you feed your dogs can and will have a long term affect on their overall life and health. In our quest for great food for all of our animals we decided that Canidae was just what we wanted to be feeding them. When you bring a new puppy home one of the first decisions you should make is “what type of food will they eat” because you will start this transition immediately. Unless you have done your homework on what the shelter or breeder was feeding them don’t “assume” it’s a good food to continue feeding, it’s often what’s economical, what was donated, or what they “usually” feed all of their dogs. This is your dog and it’s now your responsibility to make good decisions for them. We like Canidae for a lot of reasons but here are a few things that you should look for in any food you choose. Canidae has no wheat, corn, soy, fillers, antibiotics, hormones, artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. In addition, Canidae uses 4 real natural meats in their food including chicken, turkey, lamb, and fish and real whole vegetables no “animal by-products” found here. Their “All – Stage Life” formula can be fed to dogs of all ages including puppies. Lastly just as important as anything else our dogs love the taste and it’s made in TX right here in the U.S.A! What you feed your dogs is a big decision, treat it like one – be educated!
