Welcome to our 2023 dog holiday gift guide!
I hope that everyone has been enjoying the start of the holiday season! I know I’ve been loving watching cheesy Christmas movies cuddled up with my dogs. For those who don’t know, I have two dogs of my own. Kitsune (Kit) is my 14, almost 15, year-old papillon. Fenrir (Fen) is an 8-year-old Alaskan Klee Kai. When I update this gift guide each year I try to base my recommendations on products I’ve used and loved with my own dogs throughout the years. The best of the best! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been updating our holiday dog gift guide every year for 13 years now!
I always hope that these lists don’t feel too repetitive to our long-time readers. I’ve more than likely recommended many of these products on my blog before. When you’ve kept dogs for almost 15 years, and try out the crazy number of dog products that I have, clear winners start to emerge! I never like to recommend products here that I wouldn’t happily use for my own dogs. Although I could surely recommend more, I usually try to keep our dog holiday gift guide to a list of 10 products.
This year I tried to make my list a good balance between fun, toy-type products and more practical gifts. Hopefully, if you’re looking for a gift idea for your dog this holiday season, you can find something here!
This post contains affiliate links. If you use our links to purchase goods, we’ll receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Kit and Fen thank you for contributing to their treat fund!
Our 2023 Dog Holiday Gift Guide:
Post Contents:
Muscle Plush Dog Toys:
My partner found these toys on Chewy.com a couple of years ago, I believe around the end of 2020, and bought a couple of them for Kit and Fen. We just thought they were silly, and didn’t have any particular expectations that they would last long. My younger dog, Fenrir, loves toys, but can be rather rough on them. He has this habit of picking a “favorite” toy each day, which he’ll then proceed to carry around all day. Often, he’ll select the same handful of toys over and over again until they basically fall apart. Besides carrying his current favorites around, he beats them up. He plays rough and has a tendency to try to destuff plush toys. We have a couple of these Muscle Plush toys, and Fen often selects them as his daily favorites. After 3 years (!) of being carried around, beat up, dragged, snuggled with, chewed on, and played with, Fen has not managed to destuff a single one of the Muscle Plushies!
Fluff & Tuff Dog Toys:
These toys aren’t quite as durable as the Muscle Plush toys, but they are still fan favorites here at the Paw Print house! Fluff & Tuff is a brand of dog toys. Fenrir has been able to destroy these toys, but it takes a lot longer than your average toy. Most of all, I love all the plush options this brand offers! Fenrir LOVES the Fluff & Tuff Mary Lamb. He’s currently on his second lamb toy. The first one lasted him around a year before it needed to be replaced. Kitsune has never been as interested in toys as his younger brother is. When Kit does play with a plush toy, he almost always goes for oversized toys. The closer they are to being the same size as he is, the better! He really loves the large sized Fluff & Tuff toys. His favorite for a couple of years now has been his Fluff & Tuff Lobo Wolf. Plus, I love how stinking adorable these toys are!
Everlasting Treat Balls:
Both of my dogs, yes even picky little Fenrir, love these treat balls! The treat inserts that you put into the balls don’t exactly last forever, but they do last my dogs a good amount of time. Multiple days, despite their dedication. The rubber balls themselves just might be everlasting, though, as we’ve had the same ones for years now and they still look pretty much like new. It’s a pain to insert the treat replacements into the balls, but Kit and Fen say that it’s well worth my struggles.
Insulated Dog Bowls:
After our most recent move, when we had some of our old dog bowls break, I went on an epic quest to find the “perfect” replacement bowls. Well, maybe it wasn’t quite so epic, but I came across the wonder that is insulated dog bowls. I bought a few double walled, stainless steel, insulated dog bowls to use for Kit’s and Fen’s water. They’re especially awesome during any extreme temperatures, because they hold the temperature of whatever I put in them for much longer than a regular bowl. So I can keep the dogs’ water cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This year for Yule I bought Kit and Fen each a new food bowl too (shh don’t tell them!), in their signature colors, red and blue, of course.
Lupine Products:
If I had to pick my favorite leash brand that I’ve used for my small dogs, it would have to be Lupine! At first glance Lupine leashes are just regular, although adorable, nylon leashes. But I really like the handles on them. And bonus points, Lupine offers a lifetime guarantee on their products that yes, they actually honor! I have a Lupine leash that I started using when Kit was a puppy that I still use for him daily, almost 15 years later! Lupine offers other products besides leashes as well, including collars and harnesses.
Dental Chews:
Dogs love to chew! Or, at least mine do. Lately especially I’ve been trying to pick multipurpose chews. Of course the main purpose when it comes to buying chews is to give my dogs a mentally stimulating snack. But I’ve been all about dental chews especially in the last couple of years. Doggy dental health is SO important, and there’s no funner way for your pooch to keep his pearly whites clean than to chew! They don’t take my dogs a super long time to get through, but Kit and Fen both love these PlaqueOff chews. They really seem to do a good job at helping to keep their teeth clean too. This year for Yule, I also picked up the pups some good ol’ fashion bully sticks. They’re gross, I know, but dogs sure do love them!
Chuck-It Accessories & Balls:
Three years ago for Yule my partner got Fenrir a Chuck-It Ball Thrower with a bunch of Chuck-It balls. To this day, Fen loves his ball thrower/balls and gets super excited every time he sees one of us get it out. Chuck-It balls can be a great alternative to giving your dog regular tennis balls, especially if you worry about your dog pulling the fuzz off a tennis ball and potentially damaging his/her teeth. I love that the Chuck-It balls are bright orange, so they’re easy to find when they get lost in the yard. Because they are rubber, they are also super easy to clean after a long play session. No one likes muddy balls, after all!
Dog Beds:
If I had it my way, all the dogs in the world would each have a warm, comphy bed to call their own. Or in the case of my own dogs, like 300 warm comphy beds! I still have to update our Best Friends by Sheri dog bed review, because Kitsune has been using that dog bed a lot more lately! For some reason it took him a really long time to start using it. I’m a big fan of Brindle memory foam dog beds. I use them in my dogs’ crates and both Kit and Fen seem to really like them. There are some amazing, really high quality dog beds out there but, unfortunately, some of them are currently out of my price range. It’s something I’m going to reevaluate again in the near future, though. My Kitsune is almost 15 and, as anyone with a senior dog knows, high quality, supportive beds are super important!
Gooby Dog Clothes:
Last year for Yule I bought each of my dogs new Gooby jackets. I know not everyone loves dressing up their dogs, but it actually does get really cold where we live! Luckily neither of my dogs mind wearing jackets. Out of all the dog clothing brands we’ve tried over the years Gooby has came out as the clear winner. Gooby clothes are sized for smaller dogs. I always find it funny to have to order size XL for my small(ish) dogs. For some reason I feel like this brand just fits both of my dogs really well. They are simple, yet adorable, and practical too. They fit my dogs well, look cute, and keep them warm on our cold winter days.
Hide & Seek Puzzle Plush Toys:
Both my dogs, but Kitsune especially, really loves these plush puzzle type toys. I’ll often hide treats in with the plushies so he has to work to dig them out. And you know Kitsune loves anything that can involve treats! But they also love just playing with the cute little squeaky plush toys. The little toys are small enough that I’ll often throw one around in the living room for Fen to fetch when the weather is bad and we can’t play outside. Toys like these have been around since Kitsune was a puppy, but some of the newer designs you can get now are too funny. I wanted to get one for Kitsune for Yule this year, and had a hard time deciding between the guacamole bowl and the camping BBQ. A food themed toy is super fitting for Kitsune! I ended up going with the guacamole bowl.
Vet Bills & Other Necessities:
I know, I know, no pet owner actually enjoys paying vet bills. My own dog, Kitsune, has been costing me quite a bit recently. He’s almost 15 and, sadly, it’s true when they say that senior dogs start to experience more health issues, and thus cost more. Of course my sweet Kitsune is worth every penny!
Besides just vet prices going up, the world has been a bit crazy lately. It seems like my partner and I can’t walk out of the grocery store without paying nearly double what we used too. Necessities, for people and pets, going up so much in cost can make it hard to have a lot of money to spend on nonessential items. Don’t feel bad if your current financial situation calls for a small scale Christmas. Guess what? Your dog doesn’t care!
Time
Because the thing that will always mean the most to your dog is your time! Throw a ball around in the yard, go for a nice long walk, or just spend some extra time cuddled up with your pup. I know the holiday season can get super hectic for a lot of people, myself included. But try to find what time you can to spend with those you love. There really is no greater gift.
Happy Holidays!
I hope you enjoyed our 2023 dog holiday gift guide, and maybe got inspired if you came here searching for gift ideas for your dog. Comment below! If you already know, or already finished shopping, what is your pet getting for the holidays?
I know that it’s early for this, but in case I don’t put up another holiday themed post, Kit, Fen, and I would like to take the time to wish all our readers a warm, cozy, fun, happy holiday season!
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