The Basics

Notice something missing? We’re under construction!

Everyone, for the most part understands the basics, but I find it’s imortant to make lists so when you go to buy these much needed items for your new dog, you don’t forget anything!

Food/Water

Please note I’m not including dog treats and biscuits here.  I use them for training only.

There are many things to think about here, although this might seem very simple.  What type of food are you going to get? Does your pup/dog need a special diet?  Have you read the ingredients of the food to make sure there is nothing that is harmful to dogs such as corn? (corn is in a lot of store-brand foods)  Do you know what food your puppy/dog is on right now? It will be beneficial for the pup to switch over s-l-o-w-l-y.  the other thing is that some breeders in the sale contract say you must stay on a specific type of food for the dog.  Keep this in mind.

The other thing to think about is containers to put the food and water in.  For the water dish, do you want just a regular water dish? Do you want one of the dishes that help prevent bloat? Do you want a water fountain type?  With the food dish do you want plastic, or one that can prevent bloat?  What size?  And do you want to keep it in a storage container so the dog and creepy critters can’t get at it?  Once you’ve thought it over you can then decide how much money you want to spend on each of them… I will be writing the approximate cost of what I want to spend on each item.  (this way I have  general idea on how much it will cost me)

PRICE LIST:

• Food/Kibble   –  $35   17 lbs bag (est. 2 mo supply of Limited Ingredients from Natural Balance)
  
• Food Dish  — $4 – $30
• Placemat –  $5 – $15
• Storage Container — $28
• Water Dish  –  $4 – $30
• Water Fountain  — $10 – $100

Shelter

Shelter is also fairly easy (as most of this is just common sense), however, I highly suggest that you crate train your dog for several reasons one being that if your dog ever has to go to a kennel or stay over night at the vets, it will be less stressed out!  Now, we need to think of what size of crate do you need? It all depends on the size of the dog.  The dog should be able to stand up,  turn around comfortably, and should be able to lay on their side comfortable as well.  (Ex.  a Portuguese Water Dog on average is about 21-24 inches tall.  I will want an intermediate size crate -about 36 inches tall.)

Do you need baby gates to keep your dog from getting into certain areas you don’t want him to get into? Or to keep other animals away (at least for the first little puppy period?)  what about a play pen for when puppy is young and you can’t  keep an eye on him?

PRICE LIST:

• Baby Gates  –  $30 – $60
• Bed & Blanket  –  $60  (for the 36 inch crate, blanket bed, cover)
• Crate/Kennel  — $70 (for 36 inch crate)
• Play Pen  –  $40
• Play Pen Cover  — $15

Toys

I am sure every dog owner knows that puppies and dogs love toys!  There are many types of toys in which I believe a puppy should at the very least get to know.  There are also toys out there on the market that are not good for dogs to play with.  Make sure any kong-type toy has at least two holes… one on each end, if it does not DO NOT BUY IT!  Dog’s can suffocate if there is only one hole in the kong-type toys because their tongues get stuck in it and they cannot get them out.  there are tuggy toys (only use rope kind under supervision because the pieces of rope can fall out and hurt the insides of the dog), squeeky toys, balls, chew toys etc etc.  For any of the rubber toys, please make sure that they are somewhat flexible because if they are not the hardness can destroy the enamel on the dogs teeth!

I would suggest that if you want to start buying things ahead of time, I would only buy a few toys and mainly toys that specific breed is more likely to play with.  For example, the PWD (Portuguese Water Dog) is a notorious chewer as a puppy, and I will be buying a lot of chew toys.  They also love the water, so for me, it’s a good idea to get toys that float!

PRICE LIST

• Balls $2 – $15
• Chew Toys  — $2 – $25
• Interactive Toys — $8 – $20
• Kong-type Toys  — $8 – $25
• Retrieve Toys — $2 – $15
• Rawhide Bones
• Stuffies
• Squeaky Toys
• Teething Toys
• Toy Box
• Tuggy Toys

Exercise

Obviously all dogs need to exercise.  I know that some things listed here aren’t exactly meant for exercise, however, this was the best category I saw fit.  So here we are buying leashes, collars, some toys could be included in this category, but I’ll leave them in the toy section.  There are also harnesses, halti’s and gentle leaders.  There are different types of collars, however, I prefer the rolled leather, although it tends to be more expensive.  I find that they last longer, and some dogs that have thinner coats like the grate dane, can have skin issues.  Something that some people may not think about is getting booties for their dog.  Booties are great for many reasons, and mainly, it helps protect the dogs feet from hot pavement to the salt on the roads in the winter.

PRICE LIST

• 6 ft Leash
• 10-30 ft Leash
• Booties
• Collar
• Halti
• Puppy Collar
• Puppy Halti
• Rain Coat (for self)
• Rain Pants (for self)
• Rain Boots (for self)

Elimination

Every dog needs to pee and poop.  And believe it or not there are a few things which an owner will need for this!  I know when I was a kid, I had to pick up the dog poop in the back yard and we had what i called a pooper scooper, a trowel or something like that.  Plastic baggies are also a good thing to have.  Do you have an unspayed dog?  You may want a diaper for that…  Rags and sprays for accidents.

PRICE LIST

• Diapers
• Stain and Odor Sprays
• Pee Pads
• Plastic Baggies
• Pooper Scooper
• Rags for Accidents