Dog Favs

Food, Supplements, and Topicals

First of all, you need to sign up for alerts on Dog Food Advisor‘s website. They will send you recall alerts and other helpful news. I use Dog Food Advisor when researching any dog food I purchase. They give detailed information on the ingredients in the food. They also give information on an recalls the manufacturer has had in the past.

Here are my favorite dog foods for different needs and life stages. I have tried tons of different foods (and researched them all.)

If you have cats, be sure to check out this post on all of my favorite cat products.

Senior Dog Food

Our senior English Mastiff eats this. I give her joint supplements (see below) in addition to what is in this food since she is a big girl.

Go! Solutions Carnivore Grain-Free Chicken, Turkey + Duck Senior Recipe Dry Dog Food

Senior Diet Dog Food

Our senior English Bulldog eat this. She can be a bit chunky, so I put her on this food, and she’s the perfect weight now!

Horizon Complete Senior Weight Management Dry Dog Food

Diet Dog Food

ORIJEN Fit & Trim Grain-Free Dry Dog Food

Diet Dog Food for Sensitive Dogs

If your dog has food sensitivities (symptoms include unusual itching, vomiting, coughing, flatulence, diarrhea, ear problems), I recommend a limited ingredient diet food. I use this for my Welsh Corgi.

Wellness Simple Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Healthy Weight Salmon & Peas Formula Dry Dog Food

Joint Supplement: Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM

I give Nutramax Laboratories Dasuquin to my senior large breed English Mastiff dog as a boost to what she already gets in her senior feed. I have used these chews for years and really noticed a difference in mobility when I started using it. I do not use this for my senior English Bulldog as she gets enough joint supplements in her senior dog food.

Joint Supplement: CBD

Everyone produces CBS these days, but I only use NuLeaf Naturals because they use the best method (CO2 extraction) for processing, plus their products contain no additives – the only ingredient is organic hemp!

Make sure to sign up for their email list. They have great sales several times a year. I stock up whenever the store goes 25% off.

FYI, the CBD Full Spectrum Pet Oil is the same as the human. I dribble it along my dog’s gums so it quickly absorbs into their system.

Itchy Skin and Dry Coat

When I first get a dog, I give them Lipiderm for a couple of months to give their fatty acids a boost. Typically, the dogs have not been on the greatest of food, so they need this. Once I have them on my food (which has lots of fatty acids) for a couple of months, they don’t need any coat/skin supplements in the future.

Pill Administration

I always keep Pill Pockets on hand in case I need to give one of my dogs medicine for any reason.

Flea Control

I administer Frontline Plus to my dogs once a month for flea prevention. Have used this for years, and no one has fleas!

Dog Food Storage

I keep my dog food in these Vittles Vault Stackable Airtight Pet Food Storage Containers.

Treats, Toys, & Chews

Antlers

My biggest advice for dog owners: give your dogs moose antlers! Moose shed their antlers each year, so this in no way harms any moose. The dogs LOVE chewing on these, and it is AMAZING for cleaning their teeth. Every year, we go to the vet, and the vet compliments us on how clean their pearly whites are. We never have to clean their teeth. These antlers do it! I believe also feeding grain free makes a difference because they do not have sticky gluten gumming up their teeth.

I get all of our antlers from Acadia Antlers. They each get a new one in their stocking each year and one for their birthday. They get super excited when they come in the mail – they can smell them in the package! I will have to take a video one day of how excited they get:)

Indestructible Dog Toy

If you have some hard core chewers/tug of war players, you’ll want a tough toy like this.

Gordon – Well Loved, but Not Tough

Gordon is our Corgi’s absolute favorite. Sadly, Gordon is not that hardy, so we have been through a few. But of the millions of toys I have bought, this toy is the most loved, so I keep buying reincarnations of him. I believe we now have Gordon V (Gordon the Fifth.) He will not be the last! We will never give up on Gordon!

Dog Treats

Nothing fancy here. Just good ole dog treats. Of course, I say that… They are Limited Ingredient, so they don’t have any bad stuff in them like lots of dog treats I see on the shelves. I have these on my monthly Subscribe and Save as we tend to go through these…

What Your House Needs

Robot Vacuum

With three dogs and a cat in the house, we have hair everywhere. Thankfully, we now have an iRobot Roomba i7+ set to run every day. It does a great job of picking up hair (we have wood floors and one thin rug) and even empties itself! It is connected to an app which tells us when it needs to be emptied or if it has problems. It also docks itself to recharge when it’s done cleaning each day.

Handheld Vacuum

For other times we need to get the pet hair up (floor, sofas, etc.), we love to use our Dyson Cyclone V10 Animal Lightweight Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner. Boy, does it suck! In a good way.

Air Purifier

I have a small air purifier in the dogs’ room to help out with doggie odors. I like this one because it has a space on the top where you can add essential oils (which I do periodically.)

Plug-In Scent

Make sure to also get an Enviroscent plug-in to keep the air smelling nice. It is non-toxic and doesn’t have respiratory sensitizers, so it’s pet-friendly.

Beds & Kennels

Poof Bed

Our Corgi likes to snuggle in this poof https://amzn.to/3Tz5e4Obed.

Non-Chew Bed

We have been through a million beds (even sofas and mattresses) for our big dogs (English Mastiff and English Bulldog.) They chewed up everything. It was their mission in life to get the stuffing out as quickly as possible. Sigh. Finally, I found these beds. They are not thick, but we have four of them (in different areas around the house), and our dogs have not ripped up one of them in the several years we have now had them!

Easy to throw these in the washing machine to keep clean. Don’t forget to clean your washing machine afterwards!

Kennel

We do have a kennel. The dogs do not stay in it on a regular basis, but we do use it time to time (like when they got spayed and had to stay away from the other dogs or when one sprained her ankle and had to stay on limited mobility for a while…)

Playpen

I purchased two sets of these playpens and made one big dog yard for our dogs inside our house. I had to do this because our Bulldog eats the walls. Yes. You heard me. So this created a room within a room. It would also be great outside if you don’t have a fenced in yard or for use inside if you need to separate a dog.

Food & Water Bowls

I wash all of our dog bowls and food mats once a month, so I buy two of everything (so one is in the wash and one is being used.) Stainless steel is the most sanitary, so I don’t have any plastic bowls.

Dog Food Mats

Dog slobber is no joke, so I put these mats down under all food and water bowls to keep the floor clean. Throw these in the dishwasher periodically to remove all the nasty buildup!

Water Bowls

Again, I use stainless steel water bowls because stainless steel doesn’t harbor bacteria like plastic does. When I wash these, I put them in my dishwasher on my pro setting and hit sanitize – they come out sparkling clean!

Food Bowls

As with the water bowls, I use stainless steel food bowls. Get two of whatever size(s) you need so one can be in use while the other is being cleaned.

Giant Feeder

For my English Mastiff, I use this giant elevated feeder. This makes it easier for her to eat. She also consumes a lot more food, so this way, the little dogs can’t chow down on her food.

Kennel Bowls

I tried tons of different kennel bowls. Some, the dogs would chew, some had all of these crevices that would get dirty. Some wouldn’t stay attached. I also had the criteria that the bowls be stainless steel. I finally found these stainless steel kennel bowls that I love. I used zip ties to secure the bowl racks (behind the bowls on the back side) so my mischievous Corgi can’t work them off.

Travel

Whether you are taking your dog to the park, Home Depot, or out of town for vacation, you will need to pack for them just like you would pack for yourself!

Booster Car Seat

Our Corgi is too short to see out of the car, so we love this booster seat for her. There is a clip which attaches to her harness so she does not race around the car. She loves sitting in it because she has a good view out of the windows.

Water Bottle

Just like you take your water bottle along, you’ll want to take a water bottle for your pup. This one has a button you push to release water into the bowl so they can drink. When they are done, you push the button, stand the bottle up, and the water flows back in!

Food and Water Bowls

When staying overnight, we put our dogs’ food in Ziploc bags to keep the food fresh. Once we arrive at our destination, we use, you guessed it, stainless steel bowls. There are lots of collapsible food and water bowls, but getting them really clean afterwards is difficult (sometimes impossible.) If I can’t throw something in the dishwasher (or washing machine) to get it good and clean, I’m not interested. I’m not interested in germs or a lot of work.

Doggy Backpack

If you like to hike or bike, you definitely need to get a K9 Sports Sack! When our Corgi’s little legs get tired, we put her in this sack so we can keep going. It’s lots of fun for her and us! We have the Plus 2 Large for our Corgi.

Leashes, Harnesses, Collars

Large and Giant Dog Harness and Leash

This harness is easy on/off, comfortable, and comes in a huge size for our English Mastiff/large size for our English Bulldog. Comes in lots of colors and is reflective.

Here is the matching trainer leash with two handholds.

Small and Medium Dog Harness and Leash

For small to medium dogs, I use this more traditional harness. Again, various colors and sizes, and it’s reflective. It’s quite adjustable, so it’s been able to grow with her overtime from puppy to adult.

Here is the matching leash.

Retractable Leash

If we are going to a place where the dogs can run a bit (but I still want them on leash), I use this extending, retractable leash.

Dual Leash

On occasion, I use this dual leash to walk both our English Bulldog and English Mastiff at the same time. You adjust each side of the leash to match up with the height of the two dogs. Highly recommend it!!

Grooming

Short Fur Brush

For our English Mastiff (who sheds a TON) and our English Bulldog, I love the FURminator. I brush them every few days. I get so much hair from our Mastiff, that I don’t know how she’s not bald… and yet, she still manages to shed. This definitely helps, though. If I didn’t brush her regularly, I can only imagine how much hair would be in the house.

Long Fur Brush

For our Welsh Corgi, I use this brush and love it! Gets all that long hair, and the undercoat. It has a button which you use when you’re done to retract the tines, so all the hair falls right off the brush.

Dog and Puppy Shampoo

This is a huge pump bottle of shampoo, but I always get the big pump because it’s so much easier to pump the shampoo when bathing the dogs than to have to squeeze a bottle over and over with soapy hands. I use this one in particular because it has “NATURAL & ORGANIC INGREDIENTS: Blended with the finest ingredients, such as renewable plant-derived & coconut-based cleansers, colloidal oatmeal, and organic aloe vera. NO PARABENS, NO DYES, NO SOAP, NO SULFATES, NO PHTHALATES, NO ALCOHOL.” It’s also PH-balanced for pets. Safe for puppies too!

No Tears Shampoo

Before I wash my dog’s body, I do the face first (so I don’t have soap all over my hands.) I use good ole Johnson’s Baby Shampoo (yep, the one for human babies) so I don’t burn my pup’s eyes washing their face. Once their face is clean, I use the dog shampoo for the rest of their body.

Sanitizing Wipes

I also keep wipes on hand in case they need a quick spot clean in between baths.

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