Our family never intended to get a dog. We already had four horses and three cats to take care of, which was more than enough trouble at the time. But in January of 2011, this is what looked up at me when I opened the door one afternoon:

I live in the countryside. so hunting dogs passing through is a fairly normal occurrence. Usually they’ll poke around for a bit, grab some water out of the horse trough, and then head on their way back home. We waited a few days to see if he moved on, but he never left our farm, so we took him to the vet. The vet didn’t find a microchip on him, but did find a whole lotta worms and a skin condition. As there were no “missing dog” ads that matched his description in the area, and his time running short, we paid the $1,000+ to get him back to health and named him Jake.

Today, Jake got his first subscription box!

It all started on a whim: MySubscriptionAddiction posted about a new dog subscription box called PetTreater that was offering a free pet bed for a limited time with a box. I bit the bullet because Jake can never have enough beds. I think he has four at the moment, but our cats do commandeer them on occasion. And I like being a guinea pig for new things, so a new sub box was perfect!

You enter in your dog’s information, choose your subscription length option (I did the month-to-month at $24.99), and select your dog’s size (small 0-20, medium 21-50, large 51+). I selected Large for Jake, because he is right around 50lbs (and should probably lose a few pounds, to be honest), and he can chew through bones like a dog twice his size.

My box shipped on October 27th, and I received it via Fedex today as I am only one state over from the PetTreater location. I tried to remember to snap pictures, but Jake was running around and distracting me! Even though we have boxes constantly coming in to our house (my mother does horse supply retail stuff), he somehow figured out that this was his box and freaked out. Even my mother, who is pretty cynical over subscription boxes, thought he looked like a kid at Christmas and demanded I get him another sometime!

The shipping box was extra big this month because of the bonus doggie bed! Here it is all wrapped up beside the very snazzy PetTreater box. I like the bright colors of the box.

Jake with the bed! It isn’t a super high quality one, but I didn’t expect it to be as a free bonus on a $25 sub box. It has a Scooby-Doo logo on it and is very soft fleece-like fabric. Jake loves scrubbing his face into it (he’s weird).

“Is it for meeeee?!”

I opened the box and Jake dive-bombed it. He smelled good things and he wanted them now. He is more than a bit of a chow-hound. The box contained a letter addressed to Jake (welcoming him to the box, basically), but I didn’t see a product list. To get him out of my way I quickly ripped open one of the chews and threw it for him. It was the Nylabone Romp’n Chomp Treat Toy. Technically it is the medium size version of the toy, but it was a very good size for Jake who is at the smaller end of the “Large” dog category. Here is a stock image of the product, because I didn’t have time to take a picture of it before I gave it to Jake.

He attacked that for a good bit while I took pictures of the other stuff in the box. Occasionally I’d run over to him and steal it and roll it away for him to chase and pounce on (he pounces like a cat). He did finish off the center treat chew in about 15-20 minutes, and then gnawed at the rubbery tire part for a bit before I took it away so he wouldn’t completely destroy it. Then I added refills of the treat part to my Amazon cart for him.

Sorry that the top product is out of the package, I was a bit overzealous. It is actually a Portable Paw Bath-thing (okay, that’s not the technical name but I threw the package away already). It looks like a plastic tumbler, but it has a neoprene-ish top on it that has a good sized slit opening at the top. Apparently you put water in it and you can stick your dog’s paws in it one at a time to rinse them off while the top keeps the water from splashing everywhere. They even included a red microfiber towel to dry the paws off when you’re done rinsing them! Jake doesn’t really get dirty, so I don’t see a need for us to keep this. However, a friend of ours has a dog named Brewster that loves playing in horse poop and has a tendency to do stupid things and get cuts on his paws. This is going to be gifted to Brewster’s owner so she can wash his paws off after the beach or if he plays in poop before getting into her car.

the Swiss Tech Dog Leash Light will be good for Jake’s evening walks now that it is getting dark earlier. He likes to join us for late night trips out to the barn, so this will be well used.

Nom nom nom

For another edible chew Jake got the Nylabone Happy Time long lasting chew. Any dog edible that claims to last a long time I am skeptical over until I see it in action. Jake can go through bones in record time- he may not be the biggest or strongest dog, but he’s pretty determined and industrious. Jake hasn’t had this one before, so I’m excited to have him try it sometime.
(Update 10/30: I gave Jake the chew to nom on today. He excitedly carried the heavy chew out to the backyard to enjoy it in the warm sunshine. About five minutes later I went out to check on him…and he was licking the remaining pieces of treat out of the grass. It took him less than 8 minutes to completely break down and inhale it. Never underestimate the chewing power of a hound dog. Jake: 1, “Long-Lasting” Chew: 0.)

The Full Moon Chicken Bacon treats smell amazing! I want to eat them! They smell just like BBQ sauce and make my stomach growl. These chewy jerky treats elicited much drool from the pup when he tried them. Very much a win.

The Warthog toy is a bit bigger than a football, making it the biggest squeaky toy Jake owns. It took him a moment to get used to it, because it doesn’t have a traditional ‘squeak’ either. The toy sounds kinda like a duck call and less shrill than a normal squeaky. He tried to take it to the barn with him this afternoon, so I know the warthog has been deemed “good” by Jake!

I can’t even…

Its an…oven mitt? It did have a sticker that said it was for the human, but why put this in a pet box? If you’re going to include something for the dog owner, at least try to make it somewhat cohesive to the box theme. Personally, I feel that anything that isn’t a toy or treat is more “for the human” than it is for the dog (grooming stuff, collars, leashes, the leash light, etc). The side tag on this say “Master of Life Neoprene collection” and Googling that brings up….not a whole lot. It seems to be a Chinese bulk item of some sort?

Thankfully the oven mitt is the only “wtf” item in this box, as PetTreater is a new subscription and I had no idea what I was going to get with it. Overall, I don’t regret buying this box, and I think Jake agrees with me on that.

Say Goodnight, Jake!

I purchased this box with my own money and all opinions are my own (and Jake’s). Please feel free to leave Questions, Comments, and Casual Insults as usual.