Top 10 items for a Puppy

SURPRISE!! Bonnaire family got a puppy!! Our sweet little Meeko was 3 months old when he joined our family, and we couldn’t be more in love and complete.

I know so many people have asked me already. How do you do it all with 4 kids, and now a puppy in the mix? It’s freaking chaos. If one kid isn’t crying, the other is, and I almost stepped in dog pee while rescuing one from the top bunk bed.

But honestly, we’re all adjusting well, including Meeko. The first week was definitely the hardest, but one month in, we’re still hanging on. In just this short amount of time, we have clung on to several staple items since adding Meeko into our family. These are items we don’t think we could survive new-dog-parenthood without!

In this post, I’m going to share with you my top 8 items YOU MUST BUY when you bring home a puppy! This will save your home, your sanity and some money $$$

Top 10 items YOU MUST BUY when bringing home a puppy:

1. Puppy Book from PetsMart: I put this one first because this is a hidden gem. As soon as we got Meeko, we became stereotypical new puppy owners and went straight to Petsmart to buy all the things. Well when we walked in, I was all proud of our brand new puppy and wanted to show the little sucker off. Well, that landed me in the right place at the right time because I showed him off to one of the employees who told me about the puppy book. It’s a big coupon book for new dog owners! it cost only $20 and it’s loaded with coupons (over $280 worth). The coupon that caught my eye was $15 off a bad of puppy food. BAM, just made your money back right there. There was also a coupon for free bath-used that. $5 off crate-used that. $5 off dod bed-used that. And so much more. So I highly recommend buying the puppy book when you bring home a new member to the fam.
2. Puppy Pads: These are a godsend. Not only do we use this for Meeko if he can’t hold his pee and poo while indoors, I use this in the car for car rides. Home boy gets car sick. CLICK HERE for link to puppy pads!
3. GOOD leash and collar: We bought THIS collar from target, and Renaldo swore that he could get us a cheap leash from the dollar store, and Meeko boy destroyed that leash in less than a week. So invest in a good, and strong leash!
4. Carpet Cleaner: I use this carpet cleaner vacuum LINK HERE. We actually bought this when I was pregnant with Laila and wanted to shampoo our carpets. Well little did we know this thing would be coming in clutch almost a year later. We use this weekly for cleaning up his little accidents in the carpet. The vacuum literally pulls the pee out of the carpet, and then shampoos it. We use a pet cleaner inside of it, and also pretreat it, just to be extra clean. Even after Meeko is 100% potty trained, having our own carpet cleaner is good to have, especially with kids and just maintaining the carpet!
5. GOOD vacuum: This is another big one. We. have THIS vacuum, and I swear by it. It’s a special one for pet hair. And again, we bought this before we got Meeko, or before he was even a thought in our minds. My husband surprised me and got this for me because he knows how much I love to vacuum. But he got this particular one for pet hair because there is so much of my hair in the carpet. But this one does such an amazing job at pulling it all out. So now with a dog, we are so thankful to have such a strong vacuum that’s able to pull pet hair out!
6. Crate and Crate Mat: This is an obvious one, But we bought a 24’x17′ crate (LINK HERE) for Meeko from PetsMart, with our coupon. And ended up buying this super washable memory foam bathroom mat from target (LINK HERE) for the bottom of the crate. I know dogs don’t need to have anything on the bottom of the crate, but I’m THAT pet mom who wants the very best!
7. Pet Bed: Got ours from PetsMart, with our coupon! We have a pet bed in our family room, so he had a cozy place to go lay in during the day while he’s not in his crate. Here is a good ones from Amazon, similar to mine LINK HERE
8. Dod Food and Treats: This is a given, but hey, it’s a must have item! We bought Meeko the Blue Wilderness brand, basically for free because of our $15 off coupon lol. We read lots of good reviews on this brand, and so far he seems to love it, so I think the next time we buy dog food, we will buy a huge bag in bulk from Sam’s Club.
9. Dog Bowl: So I’m super extra and didn’t want just any dog bowl, although my husband was sold on using old Tupperware for his food and water. I bought THIS dog bowl, and dog bowl holder from Target. It fits into our kitchen perfectly, and matches our home’s aesthetic. Plus it was cheap!
10. Chew toys: Make sure, especially if you have little ones, that you get your pup his own toys. We honestly didn’t think he’d need toys, but he started taking Laila’s toys, and Joel’s pacifier, so we bought his own and he LOVES them. We also bought him “busy bones” and he LOVES these. When we are away, and he’s in his crate for 2-3 hours, we leave him with a “busy bone” and I swear he goes to town on these, takes a nap, wakes up and finishes lol. These are perfect for dog’s who have to be left alone for short periods of time.

So there you have it! Those are the top 10 items you MUST get when you bring home your little pup. I’m no dog expert, but I promise you, we reach for these 10 items every single day since bringing Meeko home.

If you have any additional items, that you love for your dog, comment below 🙂 Thank you for reading.

Here are some more pictures of our sweet Meeko-Boy