Favorite Puppy Products

Since getting my sweet puppy Henry about a month ago, I've bought many toys, treats, training objects, and cleaning products I've never bought before.

Tonight I'd like to tell you about two that have proven spectacular.

The first is a toy, a stuffed animal we just call Donkey. It's official name is goDog Checkers with Chew Guard Technology Tough Plush Dog Toy: Donkey. These come in other animal shapes, too, including an Elephant, Kangaroo, Pig, and both a White Rooster and a Brown Rooster. The manufacturer guarantees that the toy will last longer than the usual plush chew toy, and it has lived up to that and then some. While Donkey has gotten somewhat dirty over the past month, Henry hasn't been able to rip a single seam, which is amazing. As a rat terrier mix, he's made short work of most of his other stuffed chew toys, but Donkey keeps lasting and lasting and is greatly beloved. It has crinkle material in its ears, and squeakers in its limbs and chest. Henry loves to run from room to room carrying Donkey, which he can do much more easily now that he's doubled in size from when he first got the toy. It was pretty hilarious watching Henry carry the 8" doll around when he wasn't much bigger than it. The Donkey is washable, too, but I haven't had a chance to clean him yet, as laundry in NYC is a hassle when you don't have your own washer/dryer.


Speaking of cleaning, the second product is the aptly-named Nature's Miracle cleaning spray. This was recommended to me by all my dog-owning friends, and they were all absolutely right. It's amazing. Not only does it kill the smell of puppy pee and poop in my one-bedroom apartment, it seems to dissolve excrement. That's right, the color of poop just melts away and wipes cleanly, with no staining or darkening. For the first few weeks, Henry decided that his favorite place to poop would be on my yellow shag rug in my bedroom. (Yes, very foolish to have a yellow shag rug during puppy housebreaking training.) No matter how carefully I watched him, Henry would take advantage of a nanosecond of my diverted attention, and hit the same spot behind the bed on the rug. He's a poop ninja! Nature's Miracle has saved the rug, getting out the mess even in the deep crevasses of the shag. I'm already on my second bottle, and it's almost time to buy a third. I cannot recommend this product highly enough.

I'll be back to recommend more puppy (and eventually dog) products as I discover them!