You Don't Need All Pet Products—Just These

My dogs are the canine equivalents of the cobbler’s children who run around barefoot while the rest of the town is well-shod. I write frequently about dog products, but, well, I don’t buy very many of them.

It's not because my dogs don’t deserve them; they just don’t seem to use very many of them. They turn up their short little noses at soft beds and blankets, preferring to lie on our hardwood floor. They’re not big on toys, their crates are hand-me-downs, and they don’t have any need for clothing, protective or otherwise—although I contemplated getting raincoats for them a few months ago when it looked as if we might never see the sun again. That said, there are some items that have become must-haves in our home.

The most important is an enzymatic odor and stain remover. My dogs are house-trained, but Bella, our oldest at 15, has heart disease and takes diuretics to prevent fluid from building up in her lungs. That means she drinks more water and has to urinate a lot. We don’t have a yard, and she can’t manage the stairs anyway, so she wears a diaper in the house. It usually contains any urine in case she has to urinate before we can take her outside, but sometimes there’s leakage. Enzymatic odor control products “eat up” smells and stains, so they are great for removing evidence of potty accidents and hair balls vomited up by cats. We use Nature’s Miracle, but there are lots of similar products that are just as good.

Another favorite is my Dyson hand-vac. It sucks up the Cavalier dust bunnies that constantly form in the corners, under the table, on the stairs and pretty much everywhere else in my house and handily removes hair that builds up on area rugs. Watching the clear canister fill with dirt and hair is strangely satisfying, as is pressing the little red button to release the contents into the trash. Its only real flaw is that debris doesn’t always drop readily and sometimes has to be pulled out by hand. I love it, though.

The Dyson probably would not get as much of a workout if I made more frequent use of the Furminator. Our middle dog, Twyla, whose nickname is Pigpen, is blessed with a heavy, bearlike coat that requires constant brushing to keep the hair under control. The Furminator’s teeth do a great job of removing loose hair, and it has a neat little button that can be pushed to release the hair from the teeth into the trash. (You may have noticed that’s my favorite feature.) Other tools that successfully tame Twyla’s coat are a wire slicker brush and a coat rake called the Mars Coat King. They all get plenty of use.

I know I said my dogs weren’t much for toys, but Twyla has one exception. She loves her Skinneeez. These flat, floppy chew toys squeak, but they aren’t stuffed, so when your dog tears them up, you don’t have bits of fiberfill floating around the house. Twyla likes to carry hers around, squeak it for a while, then nap with it. I like it because she comes running every time she hears me squeak it. It probably wouldn’t last long with a dog that likes to chew aggressively, but I can highly recommend it if your dog is more of a gnawer than a ripper. The only drawback is that you might get sick of hearing the squeak, squeak, squeak.

Last but not least, I am a big fan of our Lookout pet car seat. Twyla gets carsick, and riding in this booster seat—which gives her a view out of the window—is the only thing that keeps her from throwing up on car rides. It has a washable micro-suede cover and a short strap that attaches to her harness, keeping her safely confined. The car seat belt goes through a loop at the back of the car seat, holding it in place in case the car stops suddenly. There’s no way I’d ever give it up.