Hey everyone, welcome
back to another video. I don't know about you, but it kind of feels like
puppy season has arrived. And I know quite a few people who have gotten puppies recently. It might be because people
have more time right now to dedicate to training
while they're at home. As a result, we've gotten some questions around what our favorite dog supplies are. So today we're gonna be
sharing our list of items that we think every dog owner should have. So the first item on our
list is a nice, sturdy crate. We are big believers in
positive reinforcement and crate training,
especially for puppies. Both Kokoro and Chibi are crate trained. And we like to use metal
crates like this one to give them a safe space. Dogs are den animals. They really like having a nice, secure, small den-like space. So a crate really provides for that. There are a ton of pros to
having your dog crate trained. It's really helpful for potty training. It's really helpful
for behavioral training and just making sure that they don't get into any trouble around the house. At this point, Kokoro and Chibi
are six and seven years old so they don't really spend
that much time in their crates. They really just sleep in them overnight. For the most part, they spend all day around the house with free roam. So, a crate is a really good tool for any situations where you
might need to contain your dog. For example, if we have
somebody coming over that is allergic or afraid of dogs or contractors coming over. Sometimes it's just easier
to have the dogs secure and safely in their own space so they're not getting in
the way of any workers. Most of all, if you crate train properly, your dog will end up
really loving their crate. There are a ton of different
types of crates out there. We prefer the metal
crates that are foldable and collapsible so we can fold them up and store them if you don't
want to use them for a while. They're also more sturdy, so Chibi has used a
portable fabric crate before and actually ripped her
way out of the fabric. So a collapsible metal crate
is our preferred style. Number two, a dog bed or mat. This is something that
you can put in your crate. So we have one in Chibi's crate because of her orthopedic issues, just makes it more comfortable for her. Around the house we have a few varieties of different types of dog beds. A dog bed or mat is really useful, particularly if you're
gonna do mat training. So we've talked about mat training before in our video about solutions
for separation anxiety in dogs. Mat training works very
similar to crate training. You're basically establishing the mat or the dog bed as a comfortable
and safe space for your dog. Having a dog bed or a mat that
your dog is very comfortable and used to is also very useful if you're gonna be taking
them to your office or to a hotel or traveling and bringing that dog bed with
you will give them a sense of security and familiarity
with their typical routine. If you're anything like me, I'm obsessed with buying my dogs new beds. I don't know why, it's just
my favorite way to spoil them and dog beds can be really expensive, but our favorite one
is this one by MiaCara. It has a removable and washable cover. We've had this bed for about
two and a half years now and it stayed super poofy and really retained
the original structure. And so we really find that
this one was worth it. Obviously having a dog food
that your dog really likes and is healthy is on this list. We're gonna actually talk about the types of bowls that we like. Right now we're using
these two ceramic bowls. We prefer round bowls like these because they're easier to wash and you really should be
washing your dog bowls every couple of days to make sure that there's no bacterial
growth or build up. We've also used stainless
steel bowls in the past and we really liked those. So ceramic and stainless steel bowls are our personal favorites. In addition, it's probably a good idea to have some collapsible
bowls for your hiking, going on a long walk. We use this kind, it folds in
and folds out really easily and we can just clip it to our bag and bring it along with us if
we're going on a long hike. So we have one bowl each
for Kokoro and Chibi and we also have a water
fountain that they share. The reason why we really like
using this water fountain, and this is the PetSafe water fountain, is because there are filters inside that you can change every couple of weeks and so it keeps the water fresh
and filtered all day long. We use filtered water in it to
avoid tear stains for Kokoro. You just change out the
filters every couple of weeks when the water starts
to get a little bubbly from their saliva. We find this works a lot better than just filling a bowl
over and over with tap water. 'Cause standing water can
get a little bit icky, so we highly recommend getting
a pet fountain for your dog. Next is lint rollers. If you have a dog that sheds, you're gonna need one
of these in your car, in your house, at your workplace. I have one in my bag that I
carry with me all the time. So definitely this is key for making sure that you can clean
yourself up a little bit if you need to be presentable instead of being covered by dog hair. Next up is an exercise pen. It's very, very useful
for training for a puppy and for confining them to a safe space, giving them a little bit
more room than just a crate. We haven't really used our
exercise pen that often, but we still think it's a really good idea for any dog owner to have an exercise pen in case you're going to any events or if you just need to block off a certain area of the house. Having exercise pens
is very handy for that. Durable dog chews. Dogs have a lot of energy
and one of the best ways to get their mental stimulation going is to give them a durable dog chew. Our favorite chews are Benebone dog chews. These typically lasts about one month and they come in a variety
of different flavors. It's usually a good
idea to test out a bunch of different types of chews and see which is your dog's favorite. Next up is a slip collar or a leash. We actually don't have Kokoro and Chibi wear collars permanently. For Kokoro, the coat around her neck can get matted really easily with different types of collars. And there's also an added
risk of them getting stuck on things when we're not at
home because of a collar. That can happen when the metal pieces of the collar get stuck on, for example, the bars of a crate. So, just for safety reasons, we prefer to have them just totally naked when we're at home. And because both of the dogs have really good off-lease
training and recall, we prefer to just have
them use slip collars and leashes when we're out and about. So this is what a slip or
Martingale collar looks like. Basically, as long as
you size it properly, you can just slip it over the dog's head and it will tighten as
you're using the leash or going on a walk. These are just super easy and quick to use if you're getting the
leash or collar on and off. There's no buckles or weird clasps that need to be worked
with, so we just find this to be the most convenient and easy way. Next we have paw wipes. We always wipe our dog's paws
when coming in from a walk. You just never know what they could have stepped on out there,
especially during these times. Obviously you need poop bags
and a poop bag dispenser. These are our favorite
types of poop bag dispensers that we put on the leashes with us so that we never forget a poop bag if we're on a walk. I've gone through so many different types of leash attachable poop dispensers and these are really my favorite ones. They fit one roll perfectly,
and they're not too big. They don't have too much space
and they're very compact. And they attach really,
really easily to your leash. We also got this adhesive
poop bag dispenser for our backyard. So if you have an outdoor space and you want to have a poop
bag dispenser available so that you can pick up
any poop in your backyard, this is one that we got
and we really, really like and it's been really handy to not have to run back inside to grab a poop bag if we're hanging out with
our dogs in the backyard. Next up is a treat pouch. First of all, I think that
it's a really good idea for everyone to have a treat pouch and have it in your bag or somewhere handy or just bring it along
with you wherever you are. For us, training never really stops and it's a good idea to
have treats available if you want to reinforce
your dog's good behavior when you're out and about on
a walk, walking by a dog park. We've gone through so many
different types of treat pouches. There are some huge ones
that are like this big and they attach like a
fanny pack to your hip. We're not a fan of those. I personally like a treat
pouch that's small and compact and that has a magnetic closure which makes it really
easy to open and close and it keeps all the treats really secure. This is our favorite
one, it's by Wildebeest. And I have searched all over
for a better treat pouch, but so far this is the best one
that I've been able to find. We also like to carry
this little nifty tool with us on walks, it's
called a pet corrector. This is good if you have a reactive dog or just to protect yourself
from off-leash dogs that may run up to you. It basically just makes
a loud, air hissing noise that startles dogs. We like to keep this just
in case of emergencies. We have been charged at,
and Kokoro's been attacked while we've been on a walk before. So, it's better safe than sorry. You can use it to deter
off-leash, aggressive dogs from coming up to you. Next step is a really secure
travel crate or a seatbelt. We used to actually just let
the dogs kind of roam free in the car and stick their
heads out the window. Until I learned that this
is actually very unsafe and you can get a ticket in some states for having an unrestrained
dog in your vehicle. Having a really secure
crate is a really good idea so that you can keep your dog safe in case of anything going wrong. It actually works out
really well for us too because Chibi has like no core strength and it makes it easier for
her to travel in the car so she's not like wiggling around and moving along with the G4. So, this is our favorite brand
of portable fabric crate. It folds down really, really easily. So if I have a bunch of groceries, I can just quickly fold them both down and it's like they're not
even there in my trunk. Otherwise I keep them both side by side in the back of my car here. And the dogs are used to
riding in them wherever we go. This one is a lifesaver. We are in love with our
BISSELL spot cleaner. I honest think this is a
must-have for every dog owner no matter what kind of dog you have and no matter how old they are, this is the perfect cleaner for if your dog has any accidents on any type of rug or carpet, probably even more
essential for puppy owners. But we found that it's
really useful for us even now because Kokoro tends to
have some stomach problems. This spot cleaner is amazing. All you have to do is add
some hot water into it, mix it with some cleaning solution, and it basically sprays the effected area and vacuums at the same time. So we've used this in so
many tricky situations. One time the dogs literally
got into a bag of fertilizer in my backyard and started
throwing up everywhere and it was able to get all the
stains out of my white rug. This is one of my favorite, favorite items and I highly recommend everyone with a dog consider getting one. It's probably also a good idea to have stain and odor remover. We really like Nature's Miracle. This is something that we usually reserve for accidents on the hardwood floor. For any accidents on carpets or rugs, we usually go with the
BISSELL spot cleaner. Next up is a nail grinder. We prefer to use this one by Dremel and it makes clipping your
dog's nails super, super easy. You may have to do a little bit of training to get them used to the sound, but we used to clip Kokoro's
nails with actual clippers and it's just much harder to be accurate and you can potentially clip their quick. So we highly recommend everybody to just use a Dremel nail grinder. We clip the dog's nails
at least once a week. We just flip them on their backs and give them treats when it's done. Pro tip, dogs are creatures of routine. So if you always clip the dog's nails in the same order from the same paw. So for example, front right
front left, back right back left and you go in the same
order every single time, they'll know when the nail
clipping is gonna be over and they'll know when to expect it which could just make the whole
experience easier for them. We also always like to have an eye cleaner or a tear stain remover, especially because Kokoro has a white coat and it's easy to see a lot
of tear stains on our face. We found that having an eye
cleaner is very, very useful and we clean both of the dog's
eyes every morning and night to prevent any sort of
staining right here. You're probably also going to
need an e-collar or a cone. We prefer to use this inflatable one that kind of looks like an
adorable airplane pillow over an actual plastic cone. It's much more comfortable for the dog and it just looks way cuter than the cone. All right, this next one is one of my favorite new items
that we've just added. It's basically a portable,
foldable dog bath for small dogs. One of the biggest issues that I've had as a small dog owner is bathing them. We have standing showers in our house and if we're gonna wash
the dogs in the shower, that means I'm gonna have
to bend down, wash them, and it really causes a
big strain on your back. This dog bath is amazing because it basically acts
as a standing bathtub. There's a hole at the bottom that drains just like a regular bathtub would. You can use it inside
your bathtub or shower. We've used it also
outside on our back patio which makes it really easy and no dog hair get
anywhere in our bathroom. Honestly I feel like this dog bath is a game changer for anyone with a small dog and I've
been highly recommending it to all of my small dog friends. On the note of grooming, we also really like using
the high velocity pet dryer rather than using a normal hair dryer that you would use on yourself. We love that these are
made especially for dogs and have the right velocity
and heat for their coats. Along with a grooming table or arm, this makes it much easier
and faster to dry your dog. If you have coated breeds that
shed like Kokoro and Chibi, having a cordless vacuum is a must. We have a Roomba robot vacuum that we use every single
day to start off the day and it actually gets a lot of the dog hair in hard-to-reach
places under the couch. We also have a Dyson cordless vacuum, the V8 that we've had for
a couple of years now, and it's been a lifesaver and game changer for vacuuming up messes or
vacuuming up a certain area after I've brushed the dog and there's a lot of dog hair around, especially if you have dogs that shed, having cordless vacuums is a must. I also think it's really
important for everyone to have treat dispensing
toys to keep your dogs busy. They're also a really, really great tool for separation anxiety training. Here are just a few of our
favorite treat dispensing toys. Our favorite way to use these is to actually fill a whole bunch of toys before we're about to leave and we hide them all over the house so that when we leave we release the dogs and they're able to use some time and get mentally stimulated
and not be bothered by the fact that we're leaving. To fill these toys, we use
low calorie training treats and our absolute favorite
ones are by Charlee Bear. And we just find that these treats are the perfect size to fill most toys. I also love that they're dry. I don't really like
crumbly or moist treats that can get your hands really dirty. So these are my favorite type
to throw in a treat pouch or throw into a treat dispensing toy. And the best part is
that they're low calorie so that your dog doesn't get too chubby. We also always keep a supply of natural edible chews for the dogs. We've actually made a video in the past about our favorite
long-lasting chews for dogs. So you can check that
out if you're interested in more detail about which
specific chews we use. Having a really sturdy
toy bin is also a must. Our dogs are just spoiled
with so many toys. There are a ton that they
don't even play with. Having one place for them to contain all of their toys is really important. We actually really like
this one that we have. I think we found it at Target
and it's just a wire basket and this way they can
see and smell other toys that may be closer to the bottom and they can dig them out. We also love our Furbo pet camera. In addition to having cameras
set up around our house with ring and nest just
for security purposes, the Furbo pet camera is
made for dogs specifically. The top of it contains some treats. So the Charlee Bear treats
that I talked about earlier are perfect for using
here and via a phone app, you can basically control the camera and have it shoot out treats
even when you're not home. All right, so that wraps it up. I know that that was a lot of products that we've just talked about and obviously Kokoro
got tired of me talking and has already left the video, but we hope this was helpful for anybody who is getting a new dog or just looking to add
some more nifty tools to their list of dog supplies. I'll also be linking in the
description to my blog posts that will have photos and links to all of our preferred brands and the products that we've talked about in this video. If you have any questions
or suggestions of items that I might've left out, feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you guys so much for watching and we'll
see you guys next time.
