We’re lucky to be in a day and age with many services offered on demand, and products shipped to us within days. In this post we share some of our favorite dog products and services that we think will make your dog happy, and your life a bit easier (and fun).
SLEEPING
1. Furhaven NAP Sofa Bed (Visit Site)
Like a sofa. But on the floor.
When he was younger, our lab/boxer mix (Wilson) was a pretty easy sleeper—he was just as happy snoozing on grass, concrete, wood floors, carpet, or in the nook of a leather couch (obviously). But when he got into his creakier years, we started noticing him having more trouble finding a comfortable position other than on the couch, and even that was starting to get difficult to climb. That’s when we went on our intense dog bed hunt.
We had been pretty obsessed with finding our own perfect mattress (side bar: we ended up with this one), so we figured it made sense to do the same for Wilson. After investigating a couple options in stores and in person, we settled on the Furhaven Nap Sofa bed.
It comes in a nice array of sizes and colors, and we ended up going all out and getting the Jumbo version in gray, which was $79.99. Wilson is a 70-pound dog—and I think he could probably have been comfortable in the Large as well. But since this bed was to be a place he’d probably spend a lot of time, we thought it’d be nice to give him some extra wiggle room.
He adored the bed (as did our roommate’s younger dogs), and converted to alternating between only sleeping there and on the couch. It has a built in pillow edging, which really helped to take strain off his achy shoulders. We also brought it with us on mini road trips, and he’d happily curl up in the trunk of the SUV and fall asleep until we arrived.
The cover comes apart into two pieces, so it’s pretty easy to remove and wash. The inside is made of pretty simple convoluted foam, which made it really soft and nice (even for myself when I cuddled him on it). The gray color resisted stains, and the suede material didn’t gather pet fur.
As much as I am trying to, I can’t really think of any drawbacks to this bed.
COUPON: Get up to 40% off the Furhaven Nap Sofa Bed with the code PET40, available here.
EATING
2. Pro Plan Savor Dry Food (on Amazon here)
This dry food brings all the dogs to the yard and they’re like, “It’s better than yours.”
When it comes to food, we’ve always been a bit of the mindset, “He’s a dog. He’ll eat it.”
But for our recent dog, this mentality didn’t really work. He was the fussiest eater we’d ever seen. He’d snub his nose at most dry food. He’d spit out about 80% of dog treats given by friends. He’d even usually sniff and leave bits of smelly floor food we passed on our walks through the neighborhood alleys (whereas my previous dogs all ate everything they found on the floor, regardless of whether it was covered in mold or ants. Gross).
At first, we tried to just make him man up and deal with it—we gave him the same old dry food we’d always been buying. And granted, he’d eventually eat it. But I think he literally was only eating it when it seemed like his only chance of surviving the night. So we started to rotate through various new dry food, but always being pretty strict about keeping in the cheap-medium price range. We didn’t want to risk our dog latching onto some expensive human-grade craziness.
After about 8-10 different bags (which we made him eat in their entirety, poor thing) he finally went nuts for one. It was the Pro Plan Savor Dry Food from Purina. Granted, it’s more expensive than your bottom of the barrel stuff—we used to spend $25 on a 35 lb bag, this one is closer to $40. But it wasn’t so awful that we couldn’t manage it. And he literally ate it like it was the first time he’d seen food.
And surprisingly, other (less fussy) dogs started reacting to it. Our household had 3 dogs at the time (2 of them being our roommates), and the other two would try and sneak his food when we weren’t watching. And when our neighbor’s dog came to visit each week, he ignored gorging on every bowl of food except for the one with the Savor stuff in it.
I’m not sure what it is about the food exactly that makes it so yummy. But from the looks of it, it has a mixture of different textures and flavors, like an “everything” cereal might:
It has the most appealing smell of the dog foods we’ve tried (to me anyway). And I was happy that my dog was happy and full.
When our fussy pup eventually passed, we gave a remaining half-empty bag to our roommate. Their dogs now go nuts for it—so I don’t think they’ll be happy converting back to their old stuff. Whoops.
You can buy the Pro Plan Savor Dry Food on Amazon here.
WALKING
3. Wag Walking (Visit site)
Wag Walking is great for days when you know you won’t be back from the office until late—or if you just want your pooch to have a little extra fun during the day. You can use the Wag Walking app to book on-demand walks for your dog or schedule them in advance so you don’t have to worry about anything.
Wag also can provide you with a free lockbox, which will allow your Wag Walker to access your house to let your dog out (if he/she is inside). It’s super easy and secure—Spot will thank you later.
COUPON: Get $20 off your first walk when you use the promo code HAPPY20.
Visit WagWalking.com.
TRAVELING
4. For Leaving Spot at home: Rover (Visit Site)
For some vacations, bringing your pet along just isn’t feasible, or sensible. But we all know how tough it is leaving them with someone random. Rover.com tries to help that by setting you up with Dog Sitters who can either stay at your own home with your pet (if your pet is not big on adventures) or who can watch your dog at their own home, sometimes with other dog friends present. Lastly, there’s an option to have someone just drop-in on your dog during the day, to feed them and let them in or out as needed.
COUPON: Get a $20 discount on your first booking with this link.
5. For Bringing Spot Along: BringFido (Visit site)
BringFido is basically a TripAdvisor, for dogs. It has a gigantic database of hotels, restaurants, beaches, and more—where your dog will be welcome. Their best feature is definitely the hotel search—you can enter your dates, number of humans staying, and the number of dogs. You can also enter specific Pet Policy details—like only finding places that don’t charge extra for pets or allow big dogs (less common than little dog allowances).
COUPON: Sign up for BringFido here and use code WONDERLIVELY for an extra discount.
FUN
6. Bark Box (Subscribe)
This is more of a silly fun product than a life-changing one. We know everyone loves a good surprise in the mail, and now it can even extend to your dog.
While we ourselves weren’t full-time subscribers, we did receive a sample box from Bark Box and really enjoyed it. Each box comes with (at least) 2 toys, 2 treats and a chew. Our dog really enjoyed the toys and found one of the treats yummy.
We have heard from friends who regularly subscribe and their dogs love the boxes so much that they get excited every time any package is brought in from the mailbox at all. Too cute!
COUPON: $5 off your first box available here.
Add Your Own
We’d love to hear from you on your own favorite dog products and services that have been improving the life of either you or your pet (or both)! Comment below and we’ll investigate and potentially add it to the article!
