We have a lot of dog experience

I grew up with dogs. We have been watching neighbor’s two Goldens for years. She has been working from home for a couple years now, but we still keep them when she is on vacation or has a very busy day. 

We have two seven month golden doodles now too, sisters from the same litter, my middle’s dogs. I watch them during the day when she is at work. 

Looking through our Amazon orders from this year, I realized I had a good range of dog information. I added things from our PetSmart account also. These are not toys, they are what we consider necessities for dogs at our house. 

Birthday present to middle last March, this bin stores dog food.  It has a great twist on lid, keeps the food fresh, while securing it from mice, bugs and puppies. We keep it in a hallway. It could be used in garage easily. We only have one, it holds 60 lbs, one large bag. If we had two, we would not stack them. (I got this idea from Kim and Scott/Yellow Brick Home)

Dog food bowls. Between middle and I, we have purchased five of these. Two are here for the puppies, two are here for the neighbor’s dogs. One is at the neighbors for her 3.5 pup. It slows down eating process for dogs who snarf. 

Lick mats the puppies use. Puppy safe peanut butter, baby food (squash, sweet potato). We have these in the freezer, ready all the time. We use occasionally with the puppies. 

Lick mats we keep for the neighbor’s dog. I have ordered five of these. Two at our house. Two gifted to neighbor. One in the Christmas box for one of my husband’s brother’s dog. Neighbor’s two dogs get one of these every day for lunch when they are here. 

Car harness, it attaches to dog safety belt (below). The puppies had to get big enough for these. They are currently in a size small. There is a metal loop on back for car and one on front for leash. So can safely transfer dog from leash to car in parking lots. 

This seat belt is from PetSmart. One end hooks to dog harness, the other end plugs into regular safety belt piece in car. We have five of these. Two in middle’s backseat, two in my back seat, one in my glove compartment for when I have an extra dog. We always buckle all dogs.

This device fits over the safety belt plug in the car so no one accidentally unbuckles themselves by stepping on button. That happened twice before we got these for middle’s car and mine. These also work great for toddlers and special needs kids.

This is from PetSmart also. We have two, one in middle’s  backseat and one in mine. Yes, they keep things cleaner, but mostly they are safety. They keep the pups from slipping to the floor. They also make the backseat very comfortable, much like a hammock, for the pups. There is a zipper, so we can squish the pups on one side and someone can sit on the other half when needed, with all three riders buckled. It also comes with a supply case. I keep a collapsible water bowl, two servings of emergency dog food, two leashes, a roll of poop bags in mine. 

New leashes from PetSmart, very easy on my hands. We have four, two in my car, two in middle’s. All black, 4’.

Harnesses the pups wear in the house, but not in their crate (naked) and not in the car (car harness listed above).

We have two Kong crates from PetSmart with a black ortho crate mat pad (36”x24”) now in the bottom of each. 

We used just one of these large crates for a long time, with a washable pad (gray) in the bottom, and a divider to make the crate smaller. We used it to keep the puppies together in a smaller area until they were fully potty trained. As the puppies grew and got more dependable, we moved the divider to give them more space. We used a small pad and then a medium pad (gray).

Now the pups are each in their own full crate with the doors open so they can get to each other if they want at night and during nap time. If they are home alone, which very rarely happens, we lock each in their own crate. 

Ortho crate mat pad we use now (36”x24”), one in each crate, black. 

Crate Pads (gray) we used in various sizes while the pups were tiny and potty training. The medium one is still in use as a mat/bed in the living room. 

I think this is the right crate. We have two, size large. I think the Kong crates are only carried by PetSmart. (Our neighbor has this same type, she has one each size for puppies, did not use the divider.)

Current crate set up at our house. Yes, puppy condos. This is how the puppies are tucked in at night and morning nap time. Could they get out, yes, but they do not. If we are all gone, they are home alone, which hardly ever happens, they are each locked in their own crate. 

We have three sets of these. One is still out in the gravel puppy pee pit. One lived in the kitchen for a couple months. Lengths of 2-3 sections are still used to block doorways at our house and my mother’s. 

We also have two of these gates, one on pantry, the other at bottom of stairs. I think Target or Walmart. Those are old gates. Youngest had one at college to keep her former roommates dog out of her room. I had one on my sewing room to keep neighbor’s dogs out. 

We have a piece of wood just low enough to step over, to keep puppies out of kitchen. Could they jump it, yes, but they do not. 

These worked so great for puppies after spay surgery. They wore them for two weeks straight. One puppy ended up back in hers, so I recommend three weeks. We washed them a few times, but had to do it during nap time so they did not bother their incision areas. The puppies were in size large. 

Poop bags. Biodegradable. We use a stone (#8 river rock) potty area on the side of the house. We pick up after every trip, we use the bags for all pick ups and then the full bags go straight in an outside garbage can. This keeps things sanitary and prevents bugs and odor. We have used these for years, with neighbor’s dogs too. Each box comes with a carrying case that attaches to leash, we use those on all walking leashes. We have given a box of these as gift, for new pet owners. 

They are still on their puppy formula food -

Things we have/use that are not mentioned above -

Tooth brushes and toothpaste. Middle brushes their teeth each night. 

Ear cleaner. They get their ears cleaned once a week. The cleaner solution is from the vet. 

Brushes. They are brushed every day. 

Shampoo. They get a bath once a month. 

Vitamins. They were on one a day tiny puppy vitamins for the first month or so. 

Flee and tick meds. We buy these from the vet, specific to their current weight. They take meds once a month. 

They have lifetime city tags, very inexpensive ($30) after spay. 

ID tags. There is a set of ID tags zipped in a special compartment inside their car harnesses for an emergency. 

Chipped. Both puppies are chipped and all our phone numbers are on their online account/registration. 

They have collars with ID tags for safety/identification. These are not used very often. The last time was at the vet for their spay so the vet could tell them apart. Ditto at groomers. The pups look nearly identical.