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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
We're getting a puppy, what are your favorite pet products?
We have the crate and the thing you put on a door so they can't get to the rest of the house. Do you put a little blanket in the crate? What are your favorite products? We are planning on using bentiful for puppies unless you have other suggestions.
Re: We're getting a puppy, what are your favorite pet products?
I haven't posted on the Austin board yet, but as someone who is constantly researching dog food, I would say Beneful is not a good choice. The primary ingredient in Beneful is corn, and corn is an item that you would like to keep out of your dogs diet. Visit dogfoodanalysis.com and try to choose a food that is 4 stars or higher.
We let our dog have an old towel in her crate, but during the summertime she just pushed it away to lay on the plastic bottom to keep cool. Make sure to have lots of chew toys for the puppy.
I would get a couple different kind of toys so the puppy can choose which one they like. Mine didnt like squeeky at first, scared her.
As for the crate if you have a way of putting something in there that they can 'curl' up with might be good, and bonus points if it smells like their first home. I also put a sheet over the crate at night to make them her feel cozy.
When training (crate etc) I got small bite sized treats for that. You may also want to look into puppy training as soon as the puppy is old enough. Made a huge difference with potty training and crate training etc. I took mine through Petsmarts and it was awesome for Lola.
i also suggest an old towel. if puppy chews it up, no biggie. as for toys, i think you're going to have to figure out what your dog likes. one of our dogs loved rope toys while the other dog loves his kong, which is a chew toy that you can put treats into to keep them busy for a while. i also agree with getting a furminator, and i would add buying it off of ebay to say loads of money. i also bought a great nail clipper off of ebay, too, at a substantial savings. we feed our dog Taste of the Wild based on reviews, ratings, and ingredients listed on dogfoodanalysis.com. you can buy it at tomlinson's or tractor supply.
Kong:
Furminator:
Nail clippers (Millers Forge):
We don't put anything in the crate. Bed, towel....he'll eat it and it will make him throw up. And during potty training he would pee on the towel.
Food - we buy Purina One. We used to spend $50 a bag on some fancy food but decided it wasn't worth it. And the dog seemed to always have diarrhea. He's actually been much better on the cheaper food. Purina One is $18 at Walmart and does have a meat listed as the first ingredient.
How old is the puppy? Be prepared for some sleepless nights! Its like having a newborn all over again. We brought the dog home at 7 weeks old and we had to take him out 2 or 3 times a night for the first couple months. I rec'd putting the pup on a schedule. You can find lots of examples through google, here's one I used. I read somewhere that its very important that your pup gets lots of sleep during the day. He needs naps just like a baby, but you can't expect him to fall asleep on his own. You'll have to put him in his crate for naptime. It also said that most behavior issues from a dog are caused by lack of sleep.
TLAC used to have a deal with tons of Austin-area vets where you could get the first vet exam for free. We love our vet - Love Pet Hospital - and we use K9 Advantix for fleas and Heartgard for heart worm prevention. Definitely steer clear of the Hartz or other cheapo flea medications. They don't work well at all AND there have been a lot of instances of pets having seizures and whatnot from them. I don't remember what age you start the heartworm and flea prevention, but just wanted to throw that out there.
When my dogs were puppies, they loved Nylabone bones and Kongs. They are super chewers, so we don't get them stuffed / plush toys.
ETA: we still use the blue puppy shampoo from Petsmart. It smells like baby powder and rinses really easily.
I also am against a towel in the crate.
As for food, we love California Natural and it's not that much, but Health Wise is the generic version and even cheaper. Great stuff.
I love the Kong, of course leash and collar. A harness can actually encourage pulling on a leash. Training treats. Toys, a rope and something soft is generally what we use. No rawhides.
I agree with the others on waiting on putting a towel in the crate. We use them now, but Rufus is a little older. He chews on them, but doesn't pee in there. The Kong is great. We started out with a baby Kong (and the puppy cheez whiz stuff they sell) for puppy teeth and progressed to bigger ones. Puppy nylabones are also good (not the edible ones like chicken until they're 3 months old, though). We had a bed for R right off the bat (for outside the crate napping), but didn't let him use it because he just wanted to chew it. We started off by letting him use it monitored for a little at a time until he was old enough not to destroy it. Kong also makes a Wubba that was a good starter pull toy.
As for food, we've tried a few the first year and for R, Purina Pro Plan works best. Blue Buffalo is one of the best on the market and Petsmart carries it, but it didn't settle well in our guy. Neither did Royal Canin. But every dog is different. I do recommend going high end, though, because it makes a huge difference in their coat, their smell, and gassy-ness. Buy bags big enough to last for a couple weeks only to see how they're working. Petsmart has a bag of the tiniest little training treats and they were great.
Not everyone agrees with this, but I fed R in his crate to get him accustomed to it. Always associate the crate with happy times, not punishment.
Good luck and give lots of love!
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My 101
one word (especially for large breed chewers)- Nylabone.