Prepping for puppy

In preparation for adopting Lumi, I bought a ton of supplies. Turns out about half of them were rubbish or unnecessary. So I’ll list here the items that turned out to be awesome, in case you are also about to adopt a fur baby.

Toilet training

I was lucky that Lumi was easy to toilet train to pee and poo on training pads. I tried a few different brands, but these ones from Smug Pets Premium Dog Training Pads (from Amazon, or directly from Smug Pets) were by far the best for soaking up pee neatly. Unfortunately, for some reason, they now don’t sell in the UK, so I had to resort to these ones, which are ok as well. I also bought compostable dog waste bags from Smug Pets (£9.99) too, which are great.

Sleeping

Lumi loves her Little Petface blanket (£9.99) and this fleece-lined dog bed (£17.99). I also spent quite a bit on this Omlet Dog Bed and Crate, but Lumi resisted being crate trained, so other than the pillow it comes with – which she sleeps on at night in my room – I haven’t used it. The truth is, Lumi happily sleeps on anything soft: my bath mat, my sofa blanket, even the stuffing from my Mindful Chef box.

Toys

I bought a ton of toys, but Lumi has gravitated to a small subset that I bought, and has sequestered unexpected things as her toys, including my slippers and my cloth shopping bags. She absolutely adores her Sharples Shake ‘a’ badger (£7.68) and Shake ‘a’ fox (£5.97), as in, totally obsessed with it. She also loves her Nylabone Teething Keys (that smell of bacon!) (£5.49), and a pink starfish stuffed toy she was given as a gift but I can’t find anywhere. I bought a ton of other balls and ropes and chew toys, but she ignores them all.

Food

I took home the same hard puppy food she’d been eating since she was weaned, but she would only eat it when I soaked it in water. She loves eating boiled chicken and loves drinking chicken broth. Most other food I bought her she ignored or at best tolerated. The only food she seems to consume with incredible gusto are these James Wellbeloved Turkey and Rice pouches £38.44) which she not only loves but are easy to take with you if you are out during feeding time. I bought a TON of other snacks, treats, bites, but she doesn’t get excited by anything else.

In terms of bowls… I bought a ton of fancy bowls, but she won’t drink out of anything metallic or reflective. Plain simple ceramic is best.

Leashes, collars and harnesses

I wasted a ton of money on leashes, collars and harnesses that were too big or just didn’t function well. This is probably because I have such a small dog, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But the best leash for Lumi is this Halti Training Lead (£8.50), and this very cute light-weight one is good for when I was training her to run free in the park, as she could run around with it behind her with ease. All the collars and harnesses I bought were too big initially, I’m sure she’ll grow into them, but I now really love this new spotted one from Pets at Home (£4.00).

Cleaning

I have had to tolerate a lot more dirtiness in my life since Lumi came along. But I am armed with a ton of good cleaning supplies which have made a difference. I love using these Pogi’s Grooming Wipes (£6.95) to clean her face, legs and bum after she’s been outside on a particularly wet or dirty day. These Ezywipe Compressed Cleaning Towels were handy when she did accidentally pee off her pee pads and I had to soak up a lot of liquid. I was initially worried about germs so bought lots of hand sanitizer but in truth I’ve hardly used them. I did use this Simple Solution Pet Stain and Odour Remover a lot initially, but now I just use a normal organic surface cleaner when she does accidentally pee on my wooden floorboards.