pet connection

As syndicated pet-care columnists, we folks at PetConnection.com get oodles of product samples and books. Some we ask for, most we don’t. If we try a product or book and don’t like it, we generally don’t review it. We’d rather help people find the good products than tear down the bad ones.

Sometimes I just get behind on figuring out what to review, typically when I’m on a book deadline or, I don’t know, covering the deaths of thousands of pets from tainted ingredients. What generally happens then is that the products sit in opened boxes in my living room until they’re numerous enough to be in the way. Most migrate into the garage, although when I’m on top of my game I give them to shelters and rescues, or to charities with thrift stores. And sometimes I just Freecycle ‘em. (That’s especially true of the books: The library here doesn’t want them, even if brand new!)

Lot of work these last couple of years, and no, I’m not complaining. But let me just say it has been a long, long time since you could put a car in my two-car garage.

Recently, of course, I’ve had a new group of product testers: The puppies. They need a lot of different toys, of different shapes, textures and sizes.

Variety, thy name is Garage. The “shopping” out there is wonderful.

Other stuff I went out and bought. The  products that came in free for review are noted.

So far, the case of Flappy toys our new sponsor sent us as been an unqualified hit. The puppies especially like the Fluffy Flappy, They love the soft center, and the flaps are great for tug-of-war.

I’ve always loved the  products from Premier, and their Busy Body line is really a life-saver this week, when I’ve had to work late and leave the puppies in their pen for longer than ever before. The Waggle is the toy of choice, and I’ve stuffed it with bits of puppy kibble and Zuke Mini Naturals (peanut butter flavor). (The treats I bought: I won’t accept food or treats to review, since I don’t have a testing lab and all I’d be reviewing is palatibility — and that shouldn’t be the top criteria for choosing a food or treat, and certainly not the only one.) Premier has great products, and is always good about sending us sample to review.

The puppies are also digging their puppy Kongs, and soft rope and fuzzy squeakies from Aspen.  Great finds from the Freebie Garage.

Two products really are helping me to raise these puppies: The Dura-Pet Slow Feed stainless steel bowl, with a raised center, which I’ve used a water bowl. The raised center keeps the puppies out of the bowl, which is nice and heavy so they can’t tip it.  A selection of these bowls, different sizes, with centers and without, came recently for review and the timing couldn’t have been better.  Very nice quality, all of them. The company is the same one that makes the Flappy toys, by the way.

I love a product that was very hard to find, the Grrreat Wall, which forms the front half of my puppy pen (the back half, against the wall, is an exercise pen).

Although the plastic is darn hard to unroll with one person, once it’s set-up it’s perfect. Just the right height at 20 inches: Too tall for puppies to get over, but not too tall for a large-breed mommy dog or klutzy human care-taker to get over. The only place I could find it was KV Vet, but that might be because the spelling of the product is awkward and might be wrong in some catalogs. My friend Mary, who co-owns all my retrievers, uses this product with her littersand so I bought it, too. Well worth it!

And finally, as I mentioned earlier, I loved using Embark by Honest Kitchen for weaning.  Now I’m adding different kibbles, canned meats, dairy, eggs and raw meat to their “gruel” so they’ll be introduced to everything they might find in their new homes.  Had to buy that, too, of course, but again, well worth it.