If you walk in to any pet store, you’ll immediately spot out the basics – cage, food, leash, toys, etc. The stores are filled with everything you could possibly need for your new puppy! And a lot of things you could probably live without 🙂 . Prior to bringing home our little doberman girl, Reagan, I scouerd the isles off all the local pet stores trying to decide amongst the zillions of products that all seemed necessary to a new puppy mom! Fast forward 2 months I realized that there were a several surprising puppy supplies I wish I would have had prior to bringing her home.
Click on any of the images below for details on the product.
Now here’s why I chose each of these …
1Â Old towels for bedding |Â We initially purchased a comfy bed for Reagan, which she promptly chewed right through! Embarrassingly, the switch to towels didn’t occur until she had destroyed TWO beds. Once she gets a little older, and a lot less destructive, we’ll move back to giving her a real bed. For now, the towels are working pretty well.
2 House training door bell | Our dog sitter recommended this after babysitting Reagan shortly after we got her. The concept is that your puppy will literally ‘ring the bell’ when she has to use the bathroom. Surprisingly Reagan caught on to this so quickly. The consolation was that the bell rings so often that I think I hear it in my sleep! I chose to get the white one to blend in to our door so it wasn’t SO noticeable.
3 Training Clicker | Per the recommendation of our puppy training class we purchased a couple training clickers and kept them by our sides at all times. It was a lot of work at the beginning, but repeatedly ‘clicking’ for good behavior expedited her training. Similar to the doggy door bells, I can also hear ‘clicks’ in my sleep!
4 Harness | Reagan was a stubborn little puppy right from the beginning so her collar just wasn’t enough. The harness was SOOO incredibly helpful in training her to go on walks.
5 Water gun | I think Joe & I had a little too much fun with this one! We used the water gun to help train Reagan. She’d get a squirt every time she jumped up on the counters & beds. She got so much water that it almost counted as a bath!
6 Lots and LOTS of poop bags | Although I don’t know how many diapers a newborn baby goes through daily, I’m convinced that Reagan could rival any baby with her poop bags. I was pleasantly surprised that this one also came with a dispenser to put on her leash for easy use.
7 Baby gate | Probably Reagan’s least favorite item on this list, but it was a life saver. We opted for both a dog pen (below) and a simple baby gate for our stairs. Reagan did chew the wood baby gate a little, so a metal one might have been better. Yet for the cheap price, I’m still glad I got the wooden one.
8 Basket for toys | Puppy toys are now consuming our entire family room! We tried to store these in a nice cotton basket, but Reagan assumed the basket WAS the toy and chewed completely through it. I then opted for an old popcorn tin that I transformed into this fun DIY project.
9 Long leash | I really appreciated that we purchased this long leash early on before Reagan was old enough to go to a dog park. We would take her to open field areas and let her run around, letting out some of that puppy energy. I know that a lot of people take their puppies off leash, but I just get too nervous that Reagan will run. Everything and anything catches her eye and distracts her. (last week she went CRAZY barking at a plastic bag blowing in the air 🙂 ).
10 ‘Smart’ toys | When I first got Reagan I had NO idea what a smart toy was. I mean I’m not planning on sending Reagan to Harvard or anything. But apparently a smart toy is one that will keep her entertained and stimulated for a while. Regardless if she gets any smarter, I’m down with that!
11 Puppy Coat | In Seattle not only is a winter coat essential, so is a rain jacket 🙂 . Joking aside, dobermans are somewhat sensitive to cold weather and Reagan would shiver when outside at night so a puppy coat was worth it. I got a bigger size for her as she’s growing like crazy and I new she would grow in to it before the season was over (she also actually grew OUT it during that season too!).
12 Rope toys | We held off on giving Reagan bones while she was a puppy as she had a lot of tummy problems at the beginning. I had no idea the hour and HOURS of tug of war I was in for with these toys though!
13 Food storage container | Although not absolutely essential, I liked putting her food into a clear storage container as opposed to having the bags and bags of dog food sitting around. Whether storing the food in the kitchen or in a closet, it just looks better in a plastic container. This one also came with a food scooper too.
14 Food bowl tray | After using a cheap flimsy mat to put Reagan’s food on, I ended up purchasing this tray. It was much more sturdy and had higher sides to prevent all the water spills that Reagan makes! Once I noticed our wood floor starting to warp from Reagan’s play time (aka – eating time), I knew we needed to switch to something more durable.
Now for a RARE glimpse at Reagan quietly napping 🙂 .
Any other surprising puppy essentials that I missed?
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Smart Toys! One of the best was a Kong – two sizes one when they are puppy’s and one once they grow a bit. When We have friends over we fill it with peanut butter, pumpkin purĂ©e and treats and freeze it for a few hours. We give it to him just before sitting down for dinner so our guests can eat in peace!
Freezing the kong is such a great idea! I just put ours in the freezer now! Also super brilliant to give to the dog right before guests come. Reagan is such a handful with new people to see!
Great Post! I love reading anything about sweet puppers…..I’m a Pupper lovin’ mama myself 🙂
awww thanks! appreciate you stopping by!!
Aw, precious puppy! This is a great list. 🙂 I seriously need to get a squirt gun for use with my own little four legged bundle of joy…
Found you via Funtastic Friday
Aww thanks so much for stopping by! Admittedly the water gun has been a fun training tool! Well, fun for me, probably not for Reagan!
What an adorable pup you have! We’re picking up our Lab/Golden Retriever mix in a month so I’m starting to prepare. I had been wondering if they would chew through a dog bed in the crate, so thanks for the old towel tip, we have plenty of those.
Great post! Thanks!
So exciting!! Glad the post helped 🙂 Good luck with your new puppy!
My heart melted when i saw your little girl in those jackets, i have to know, do you remember where you got them?? We are picking up our red male doberman on Monday, I can’t wait! Love the post, and your pup is adorable!
Good luck! That’s so exciting! I got the rain jacket from Amazon – http://amzn.to/2dlVMCE Excited for you!
One of the best items I got for our new puppy was a cd of dog music”. You can find it by searching on Amazon, or you could just use some soothing classical music. I put it on just I up the puppy in the crate before before nap time or night time. It was calming and soothing and really helped with crate training.
Another thing I got was a Snuggle Puppy– that helped with crate training, too. It comes with a removable heart that sounds like a heartbeat and a pack you can warm. It makes the puppy think he’s right there with his mom so he doesn’t feel all alone in his crate.
I really believe in giving them a crate as well as a pen. If used correctly, the crate (I call it a bed) becomes a place of safety for them. I give a small treat and never shut the door unless it’s for the night. Never use it to punish either.
Heaven forbid there’s an emergency such as a fire, etc., you’ll be able to have your dog have a place that it’s comfortable in. My pup cried the first couple of days, till I layed next to her crate to reassure her. It only took about 15 minutes for a couple of nights of laying next to the crate to calm her. Now as long as I leave my slippers near her crate she settles right down. My other dog WAS crate trained, but I let her sleep with us eventually. Big mistake! She’d crowd my legs despite me trying to gently move her. For someone with occasional restless legs it was not good.