Some time back my mom embroidered the Nerd’s Eye View logo onto a pair of safari vests, one for me, one for the husband. A safari vest is damned useful when you’re on safari, you can keep your sunscreen and your wallet and your pocket camera and some Kleenex and a wad of local currency and lip balm and and and… Bonus, if you’re something of a paranoid traveler, a safari vest is handy for keeping your stealables close. I’m not particularly paranoid and don’t safari but once in a lifetime, it seems, so the safari vests have been hanging in the back of the closet.
Until this weekend. The weather in Seattle has gone full on summer. It’s been in the 8os and that is not normal for spring, it’s just not. Now, here’s the problem. When you walk a dog, you carry all kinds of crap with you. Sometimes, that is literal crap. If you are a good dog owning citizen — and you are — you know. But there’s other stuff, treats and poop bags and keys and your phone because you need to continually take cute dog photos. When you are wearing a coat, you have pockets. But when you have gone to shorts and t-shirt weather… where did all your pockets go? The safari vests — and all their pockets — are out of the back of the closet and hanging on the banister where the coats used to be, pockets now full of dog things.
Pre-Harley, I read a lot about bringing your dog home. Very little of it focused on the dog owner, it was about as dog-centric as can be. Harley the Dog came from the shelter in a shabby collar, he had a paper bag for his things — an actual paper bag containing a Ziploc bag of his food and a short leash with no hook on it. He was a cartoon orphan missing only a newsie cap. He’s since been spoiled rotten with beds and sweaters and treats and so many gifts, much of it stuff he really did need. He’s taken care of, thank you friends. You’re the best.
But I was unprepared for his impact on my day to day existence, that my kitchen floor would need to be swept nine times more often, that my black sweater would have tiny white threads of Harley hair highlighting, that there would be kitchen prep work. None of the lists told me that I would need more pockets.
Here’s the missing list of the things I wish I’d known I was going to need when Harley decided my house was his new home. (There are Amazon affiliate links in here so I get a little something if you shop, but the prices are the same.) If you know a new dog owner and you want to get them a little gift (besides cute sweaters, man, we sure love all the cute sweaters Harley got, he wears them ALL and he wears them well), here are some ideas. Most of them are boring but they’ll be most appreciated. I promise.
Dog owners — tell me what I’ve forgotten, please, I’m still very new that this.
- Ziplock bags: Training a dog means always have treats in your pockets and treats in your pockets means Ziplock bags. I got the too small ones, don’t do that. Get them pocket sized — I mean sandwich sized — and use them as pocket liners.
- Lint rollers: Love means always being covered with hair, I guess. I have one in the house and one in the car, Harley stresses on car rides and that means shedding. A person who has a brown and white dog might consider giving up their fondness for wearing black, but no.
- Hand-held vacuum: I got a cordless one so I could use it in the car, too. You probably get more suction power with a corded gadget, but I like the free range version and it’s made vacuuming the couch easier. What, you think not letting the dog on the couch will keep the hair off? Aren’t you cute.
- Towels: You wanted new towels anyway, right? You need those old towels to keep by the back door for drying your pooch after bad weather walks. Keep one in the car, too, because who knows what your friend has decided to roll in when you’re out in the world. If you like your current towels just fine, go to a second hand store to stock up.
- Washable place mats: Why not these map ones so your dog can learn geography while he’s splashing water out of his dish or dropping kibble on the floor so he can pick out only the broccoli from his dish? Mine came from a friend and they have pictures of sushi on them so Harley knows how to order the stuff that’s not on the conveyor belt. He loves seafood.
- Safari vest: Mine is from Magellan, Ex Officio makes a nice, one, there are a zillion of them out there. So much the better if you can get your mom to personalize it for you. As a person who is walking a dog all the dame time now, I can not overstate the usefulness of all those pockets. You can use them on safari, too, if you can stand to leave your dog behind, that is.
Collapsible water bowl. When taking a break on a walk, it’s the nicest way to give you buddy a drink.
Maybe a doggy back pack. On longer walks it lets THEM carry their water and poop and snacks. We got ours atvREI.
A chucker. Depending on the breed. It throws a tennis ball much further than I can and saves my shoulder at the same time. It also picks up the slimy dirty ball so it doesn’t touch your fingers.
Water dish for walkies — good call, thank you! Harley doesn’t really do fetch yet, he doesn’t totally know how to play. It’s odd, but I guess his shelter time wasn’t great, and his original home, he must not have played there, either.
Poop bag holder that fits on lead. I’ve seen one that has a hand gel thing dispenser in the end of it too but I have the ordinary one. So useful. Leaves hands for taking pictures.
I keep looking at those things and not buying one because I keep the roll of bags in my pocket, you know? But they seem like a reasonable idea, they’re awfully popular.
You might try a treat bag instead of ziploc bags. Mine clips to my waistband so I don’t have to reach into pockets to get food. I keep keys and phone in my pocket, a poop bag tied to the leash, and the treat bag on my waist. I’m not saying I look good, but I figure nobody’s looking at me when I have a dog with me anyway. My goal is to have nothing in my hands but the leash, but of course that goes out the window once he poops. I try to mitigate it by playing in the yard before the walk. It works out some of the energy pre-walk and encourages him to poop in the yard first. I’m not always successful, but it’s vastly cut down on the number of times I’ve had to carry poop through my neighborhood.
This makes sense, and I’ve actually considered that fashion don’t, the fanny pack, more than once, for treats. But also, Harley, a genteel territorial pooch, does not poop in the yard. He requires a bit of walking until he’s several blocks from his domain. A very mixed blessing, to be sure, and one that means I am always carrying poop through the neighborhood.
May I also suggest a Gonzo sponge? It’s a freaking whiz at getting hair off fabric (even when you think you’ve vacuumed & there’s no visible hair). I say this not as a dog person but as a cat person, but – since you have seen my cats – you know that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to animal hair. Boy, howdy.
http://www.amazon.com/Gonzo-Hair-Lifter-Sponge-count/dp/B000209Z2C/