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Tuesday, 10 March 2009 11:06 |
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Owning a Big dog can be expensive, not just the vet bills
but all the associated things, like toys needing to be bigger and tougher. so here you will find suggestions aimed at saving a few pennies,,,, we all like to spoil our dogs, but it needn't always cost a fortune.
This topic was suggested to me by a friend on the international Irish Wolfhound forums, Alexis, I personally think it is a great suggestion and I plan to update it regularly. If you have any suggestions of your own and it is not listed you can drop me a note here and I will add it to the list.
Toys:
Toys like the Kong brand are great but they are not cheap and certainly they only last Jaks a couple of weeks at most, interestingly my daughter gave hime a very cheap squeaky rubber fish which he plays with constantly and yet has not damaged at all, he has great fun out of it and I guess it cost us only a few pennies,
Empty plastic drinks bottles, These are great fun according to my Irish wolfhound. I saw a suggestion that you put a few pebbles or so inside to make them rattle, I took this a little further and put some small dog biscuits inside, I get anything from 30 minutes to a week of play out of one of these and it costs nothing!
Cardboard tubes, the biggish ones out of a paper towel roll is ok for a 20 minutes or so, but if you want serious long term fun you could try what I do... Go to your local haberdashery, cloth merchant and ask them for a few of the big rolls from inside the fabric rolls, these are great for a big dog and whilst I am constantly picking up cardboard shreds from around the house, Jaks has loads of fun, and I think there is probably a bonus in as much as it distracts your big dog from eating the furniture!
Bedding etc
There are an absolute stack of commercial beds out there for big dogs and small dogs alike, things like this one are great but can cost a small fortune and if some serious chewing goes down, well you have lost your investment.
Filling for your bed:
Alexis suggested this one and I have to say it is a big cost saver: Use cheap duvets from your local downtown budget stores to fill your dogs bed, they are cheap and fully washable. As for the cover, well It is fairly easy to make your own, either use a cheap lightweight material and consider it a short term disposable cover. Or you can use a heavier weight wipe clean material. |
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Last Updated on Friday, 20 March 2009 11:29 |
OK a simple way to make an extra large dog bed for basically...
