I’m getting ready to head home for a friend’s wedding so I’m going through the list of items to haul from the US. Stuff for our dog Roxie far outweigh anything I’m picking up for Ryan and me.
Our pup may be a bit too spoiled. By Ryan, more specifically, but I must admit to going out of my way to spend money on items that make Roxie happy. I’m considering hoarding and purchasing double or triple of everything in case something breaks and isn’t available in Kyrgyzstan. Here are some of our favorites.
Kong Wubba Friend
It’s crazy that I’ve spent Saturday afternoons mending fifteen stuffed animal toys that ripped at the seams. Roxie likes to gut her stuffed animals, and even though she’s not super rough with them, they’re always ripping.
We dropped $30 on this stuffed animal (oh, Korean imported pet products), but it’s been with us for two months now without any mending. Plus, one looks just like Roxie, which is an adorable plus.
Nylabone Dura Chew
I was really hesitant about something made of plastic and infused with meat flavor.
However, Roxie has guarding issues and usually stresses over protecting things like rawhides and bones. For some reason, she doesn’t do that with Nylabones. In fact, she brings them over to let us hold them while she chews them, which is both cute and demanding. We’ve tried different flavors and Roxie’s favorite is the regular chicken.
Petstages Dogwood Stick
A stick is like Christmas for Roxie, which is a bummer because then we have to take it away. Apparently dogs really aren’t supposed to chew on wood. I was thrilled when I found this replacement – it’s supposed to smell like wood but not splinter and cause injuries. It’s not as thrilling as a stick to Roxie, but I think it comes pretty close.
Petsafe Pet Hands-Free Leash
I may look like a goober using this, but when I’m out with Roxie and trying to train her with treats and listen to an audiobook and be aware of our surroundings, it’s nice to have her tethered to me. This leash is adjustable too, meaning when we’re out in the middle of nowhere I can let her have a long lead and change it when we’re downtown.
Freedom No-Pull Harness
When we adopted her we were alerted that Roxie is a slipper – she can miraculously back her way out of many harnesses. She also thinks she’s a husky running the Iditarod when we walk, pulling us along. We are in never-ending, ongoing leash training, but this no-pull harness helps a lot.
We had a different harness that only clipped on the front but Roxie started to walk crookedly because it pulled her to the side. This one gives us the option to hook both to the front and the back or just to the back like a normal harness, and it’s really hard for her to back out of.
Kong ZoomGroom
The shedding! How is it that Roxie loses four times the amount of fur it looks like she has, and is still a fuzzball? We used to use some knockoff of a furminator but it took forever and then we realized it was giving Roxie a rash. The ZoomGroom is really gentle and seems to act like a magnet to pull hair out. It’s really messy though – fur just goes flying when we brush her.
Kong Wobbler Dog Food & Treat Dispenser
Roxie is a scaredy, so she hated this at first. She didn’t understand the toy and would just whine and get frustrated that the food wasn’t miraculously appearing. It took some training.
We had to reward her with treats for walking towards it, then for nudging it a little, then for nudging it a lot. Finally she figured out how to knock it the right way to get something out and get rewarded on her own. Now it occupies her at occasional meal times and is nice for days when she didn’t get as much attention as she might have liked.
It says something that I just donated half of my clothes but plan on packing this stuff for our international move.
Any favorite pet products we should know about?