Wonder what we use in our own home with Barli and Tiki? Here’s our Buying Guide, an extensive guide to the gear that makes our household tick!
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Dog Beds
Big Barker 7″ Orthopedic Dog Bed
Buy: Amazon
Front and center in our living room sits the in place of a coffee table in our home. It ALWAYS has at least one dog (or cat) on it. We reviewed it for use for Tiki’s arthritis but all our pets just love it. It’s very easy to vacuum fur off and the neutral gray tone fits in well in our living room.
Coolaroo Elevated Pet Bed
Buy: Amazon I bought this bed at a thrift store years ago just to see if the dogs would like it. They didn’t just like it: they love it. In the summer, they like it for the cooling effect but, year around, like the elevation and the hammock feel that keeps pressure off their joints.
Aspen Pet Self-Warming Rectangular Lounger
Buy: Amazon We have one of these beds in John’s office; Barli especially loves snuggling down in it on cool winter afternoons.
Dog Walking Gear
I couldn’t find a dog walking bag that really fit my needs for easy treating, room for my items and protection and easy access to my phone–so I designed one! Use coupon code DOGTIPPER to save 20% — and every order in our store helps support the care of a shelter dog!
Again, since I couldn’t find it, I designed it! Drop that full poop bag in a waterproof poop bag carrier, and no one but your dog will know what’s inside!
YUCKY PUPPY Biodegradable Poop Bags
Made of cornstarch, our poop bags are both biodegradable and compostable!
Dog Travel Gear
Whistle GPS Pet Tracker
Buy: Amazon
Since they hit the market, our dogs have always worn Whistle (previously Tagg) trackers so that we can always track them via smartphone if they should get separated from us.
Kurgo Cargo Cape
Buy: Amazon
We permanently keep the back seat of our car down for the dogs; that area is protected with a Kurgo Cargo Capt. [Our review] Kurgo also makes bucket seat, bench seat, and other car protectors. We’ve had this for YEARS now and it works just as great as it did on day one.
Kurgo Tru-Fit Harnesses
Buy: Amazon
Barli and Tiki always wear their Kurgo harnesses in the car to keep them safely buckled in place. Kurgo makes several models.
BSeen LED Rechargeable Dog Collar
Buy: Amazon
We have several of these inexpensive lighted collars and just slip one over our dogs’ heads when we step out at night. You cut them to the proper length, and they recharge using your computer’s USB port. Use them as a supplement to your dog’s collar; they’re not for securing your dog but only to provide an easy way to light your dog (and they look so cute!)
Solvit Deluxe XL Telescoping Pet Ramp
Buy: Amazon
Extending up to 87 inches, this ramp is excellent for dogs that need a gentle slope to get in the car (like our Irie did after ACL surgery!)
Training Treats
We go through a lot of treats and chews at our house. Our dogs were trained with high-value treats, and their training continues every day. We especially like treats with a very strong flavor that are easy to break into small pieces.
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Chicken Hearts Dog Treats
Buy: Amazon
These single ingredient treats are very easy to cut into tiny slivers for intensive dog training sessions–and the dogs love them!
Stewart Freeze Dried Beef Liver
Buy: Amazon
These sourced in the USA, made in the USA dehydrated treats are nice and small for training–and have no added color, flavors or preservatives.
Zuke’s Mini Naturals
Buy: Amazon
These semi-moist treats have only three calories each so they’re a training favorite for us; flavors include Peanut Butter, Salmon, Wild Rabbit, Chicken, Duck and Roasted Pork.
Dog Chews
Our dogs love to chew. We used to give them raw marrow bones but, after each dog had to have multiple extractions because of fractures, we switched to chews. We don’t give our dogs rawhides due to choking risk, instead selecting more digestible chews like bully sticks and tendons.
Our dogs love the bully sticks from this company, all made from free range cattle. Best Bully Sticks also has economical chicken and duck feet (a great source of chondroitin) and esophagus strips, too. (Our dogs love these strips so much we can no longer say the word esophagus…)
Icelandic Lamb Horn Dog Chew
Buy: Amazon
As I mentioned, we no longer give our dogs bones and antlers due to fractured teeth (which resulted in extractions). These chews, however, are made of digestible keratin, not bone. I love the XL size but it’s hard to find them.