Mostly True Memoirs

The Best Dog Stuff

I love my Blue.

She’s the Best Dog Ever.

Well, except for Wrigley, our last dog.

Who was also the Best Dog Ever.

As were Dave and Shatzi before Wrigley.

Best Dogs Ever.

I admit it, I’m a sucker for my dogs.

They’re all the Best Dog Ever.

I’m going to share some of our favorite dog stuff with you.

I’m only recommending products that I actually own and use.

If you do buy something, I’ll earn a small commission.

Blue’s Favorite Toys

Blue can, and will, tear apart almost any toy. This is dangerous because she could choke on a scrap. It’s important to find toys that she can’t destroy.

Blue LOVES rope toys, but it has to be a rope with a large knot. If the knot is too small, she won’t play with it.

Tuffy Toys are a great brand. Blue has never been able to destroy one. Her favorite toy is the donut ring. These are machine washable. We’ve had some for over a year, and they’re still in great shape.

Training Treats

Training treats are essential for obedience lessons. What makes training treats different from other snacks is that they’re very, very small. This is an important element in training. You want instant gratification to praise them for a job well done. If it takes them too long to eat it, they’ll forget what they did to earn it.

Also, and I guess this goes without saying, if you give them too many large treats they’ll start to gain weight. 15-20 dot-sized treats will be better for your dog than 15-20 regular snacks.

Here are some great training treat options:

Water Bottles

When you’re out on a walk, working your dog through the obedience lessons, you don’t want to forget the water. It’s very easy for dogs to overheat. Especially hairy dogs like Blue. I always carry a doggy water bottle with me.

Coat Care

Blue has a coat like a shag carpet. There isn’t a brush or a comb made that can work through her fur. She is the first dog that I’ve had this problem with. But never worry – there’s a solution! I use a dog dryer, which is essentially a blow dryer. When Blue is dirty from playing outside, I simply blow the debris off rather than brushing her. It works like a charm!

Crate

We’ve tried lots of different crates, but this is the only one that we can use. It has to be open all the way around. The ones that have any kind of walls don’t work for us. Blue feels trapped and freaks out. She has no trouble at all when the crate is open all the way around.

Stuff You Never Thought Of

There’s a couple of other things that you maybe never even thought about. They sure come in handy though. You won’t know you ever even need these things until you find yourself in a situation. And then you’ll wish you had them.

D-rings come in handy when there’s some kind of emergency and you need to tie the leash off quickly. Say your kid falls off the bike and needs your help. What do you do with the dog? If you have a D-ring attached to the leash, you can tie the dog off quickly anywhere. It really comes in handy. Always keep a D-ring on your leash.

This last tip is one I’ve never actually had to use, but it seems like it would work. Always carry an airhorn. If you are approached by a strange, aggressive dog or even a coyote or other wild animal, the airhorn will scare it off. You would think that pepper spray would work, but chances are great you would injure your own dog with it. As well as yourself. Of course, you’ll scare your own dog with the airhorn, but if it’s on a leash, you can get yourselves out of the situation and back home safely.