Favourite Doggy Things to Buy from Human Stores

It's a sad reflection of the world that pet store merchandise have ended up outpricing human store merchandise, but without waxing lyrical about the good old days, why not make the best use of that fact? After all, your dog doesn't really care that he's sleeping on a paw-printed blanket, he can leave his own jolly paw-prints on it!

These are the favourite things to buy from human stores, without any negative effects.

1. 
   
   Irma Fleece Throw £1.69 from Ikea. Larger than the average dog fleece blanket, it's machine washable and would fit dogs up to large sizes. This is my favourite dog blanket, I hardly ever get anything else and for the price, would not want to! A side benefit of fleece is that it is a magnet for dog hairs, so casting a throw over where your dog likes to sit will reduce the number of stray hairs floating around the house.
2. 
   
   Hairdressing Scissors, £5-15 from most leading pharmacies or Boots. Because I like to groom my own dogs and only send them for a professional undo twice a year, I invested in a thinning scissors (the one that looks like it has a comb on one edge) and a regular hairdressing scissors (that cuts). I use these only for my dogs, and have another pair for real human use. These are exactly the same as grooming scissors for dogs, and for a fraction of the price.
3. 
   
   Meat tenderizer for coprophagic dogs. A classic favourite for dogs who eat their doody - you can buy a specialized bottle of powder to sprinkle on your dog's food to stop them from doing this, or you can try meat tenderizer (which pre-digests the meat proteins in the food so avoids remnant nutrients that the dog eats up), fresh pineapple, MSG or apparently, courgette. The benefit is the flavouring, dogs love it!
4. 
   
   Omega 3/6 vitamins, 1000mg from leading pharmacies. Buying this in bulk from the neighbourhood pharmacy allows me to get 1000 capsules (I give my dog one a day) for about £9.99 when it would cost upwards of 3 times that much from a company that makes them only for dogs.
5. 
   
   Manicare Nail File. This one is a controversial one, doggy nail files (in metal) don't cost that much, but they don't work as well. I've found that the Manicare Nail File, albeit initially more expensive, lasts much longer and works much faster on the nail in sanding down rough spots. My dog is happier, and I am happier.
6. 
   
   White Vinegar. Use for cleaning up instead of non-enzyme scent removers. I recommend having a bottle of enzyme scent removers as well, but if you'd need gallons of cleaners, then a bottle of white vinegar mixed 1:4 with distilled/filtered water works almost just as well.
7. 
   
   Popcorn. The non-buttered kind work a treat with my dogs, who chomp them down like there's no tomorrow. They're also relatively fat and calorie free, while keeping them satisfied with a good chew, so are great to treat when training. A trick I learnt from a magazine would be to keep a smelly beef/meat jerky in with the air tight container where you store the popcorn, so the smell of the jerky infuses with the popcorn and smells delicious to the dogs. Also works with plain Cheerios.
8. 
   
   Dog Soft Toys from Ikea.  Many small ones are under £2 with a wide range to choose from.  My puppy with softer teeth loves chewing soft toys instead of bones, and especially enjoys nibbling on soft toy paws and tails.  I used to get them from pet stores at over £5 each, until a recent visit to Ikea found excellent alternatives in durable, soft fabric for under £2 each from the baby and child toy sections.  Not only that, but if you're not keen on squeaky toys because of the awfully grating sound they make when they squeak, baby toy rattles (in a soft toy) provide an excellent sound that attracts dogs, with a lot less annoying sounds.  My two terriers love shaking them from side to side and hearing them rattle.
9. Baby Bottle Cleaners/Old Toothbrushes.  Even if you don't have a baby of your own, if furkids are as far as you go towards taking responsibility for another life, buy new or reuse from outgrown baby bottle cleaners or your old toothbrushes for cleaning out doggy Kongs at least once a week with a bit of dishwashing detergent.  Putting them in a dishwasher is also an option, but I find that tends to leave fur in my dishwasher which over time forms a gooey muck.