Puppy Essentials

You can make owning a dog as expensive as you want. Truth be told, to keep a dog, you really don’t need a lot of fancy things and expensive equipment.

• Dog Food: Good kibble is critical, but don’t think you need to spend $100 a bag for grain free or single source protein to be buying ‘the best’ for Fido. Much of their price is paying for marketing hype and popularity – not R&D. Yep, that’s right. For example feeding Purina Pro Plan is actually a good choice, while feeding Purina’s Beniful is a rather poor choice…The Dog Food Project is an amazing resource to help you make better choices.
• Food & Water bowls. There is no limit to what you can spend on a dog bowl, after all I’ve owned Polish pottery dog bowls, but the ones from the feed store work just as well.
• A simple and sturdy flat collar. For a puppy it should be at least 1/2” wide, preferably adjustable and have a 'D' ring. Once pup nears adult size, around 11-months or so, upgrade them to a 1” wide collar, with a sturdy buckle and ‘D’ ring. Again, you may be tempted to buy harnesses, halti’s, chokers, pinch-collars, martingales, and so on. Please, just save your money. Your dog has one neck, and frankly there is no need for any of those other items. In particular if you train the Two Gun way.

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• A leash. A simple 6’ latigo leather lead ¾” or a full inch wide is one of the best things you can buy. Treat it with some mink oil occasionally, It will last you a lifetime and only get better with age and use. Another leash worth your time and money is a British-style slip lead these are incredibly useful tools. Lastly, for doing your yard work on recall, even sit/stay, and down/say, retrieving, and field work the most useful lead to own is a biothane long line, like the one I have linked to. But 33' is too long – measure back 12’-15’ and cut it and leave the end ‘raw’. You should then cut the handle off the other end, and create a spare line…either way, cut the hand loop off – it’s only purpose in dog training would be to increase the leads liability by getting caught on every damn thing possible. Please just leave the mountain rope, anything with a ski-handle, or some other gimmick e.g. flexi-leads, and flat nylon lines in the store. They are uncomfortable in the hand at best, or a useless waste of your money.​
• ID. I have plates riveted to my dog’s leather collars, until then a simple tag works great. Put your phone number on there, not the dog’s name – but some other identifier you know.
• A dog crate. This will make potty training much easier, and give your dog a home of it’s own within your home. Pup should be able to lay out, stand up, and turn around. Much more in the early days. Once they are potty trained, how much space do you want to give them? Pups travel crate should be a bit tight, but they should still be able to curl up, stand up, and of course turn around. A small kong filled with frozen peanut butter, should be part of your crate training tool kit...

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• Chew ‘toys’. Puppy nyla-bones are fantastic. Plush toys, rawhides and rope bones, if you elect to offer them need to be offered only when you can supervise their use. Otherwise, you could be in for an expensive trip to the vet when a pile of fluff, rope-shreds, and a squeaker make into into the gullet.
• Regular toys. Some Drents love their toys, most seem to be quite cat like in their toy love. The more you spend, the less they care…but offer them a torn off flap of a cardboard box or paper towel tube – wow, what an amazing toy!
• Dog beds. Either your Drent will never chew it’s bed and you can spend as much money as you are willing to believe you are boosting their comfort. Or they will be a bed shredder. So work them up and supervise. Otherwise a Drent, much like a cat, will sleep comfortably on anything that isn’t precisely the floor. A sheet of paper or hand towel can also make for a great Drent bed.
• Grooming tools: What you will need is a single row Undercoat rake (a double row is better), a Coarse/Med Comb, a Pin brush, a Fine tooth comb, a Boar bristle brush, and for the Pro a medium stripper blade for the ears. Good tools last, we like Safari.
• A veterinarian who listens to you, and that you trust.

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