Preparing For A New Puppy #ILoveMyk9 #CBias

I am an animal lover and I have had pets my whole life. My first several years were spent growing up with Tuffy, our family dog. Up until this year, we had four pets - two golden retrievers and two cats. They were all about the same age, and unfortunately, three of them are no longer with us. We still have our Chloe, and she brings joy to even the darkest days.

If you have the time (and money) to spend on a pet, I think pets are wonderful additions to families. During the holidays, many people add a pet to their family. I don't advocate buying a puppy as a spur of the moment Christmas gift for children, but if it is something that has been thought about and planned for, a new puppy, or even an older dog rescued from a shelter, can be a wonderful gift!

Brian and I got our first dog in 2001. He was a beautiful golden retriever named Cosmo. The next year, Cosmo's parents had another litter of puppies and we decided to add another furry member to our family and brought Chloe home.

Now that I know more about rescue organizations and shelters, I will not buy a pet from a breeder again, but that is how our dogs came to join our family and we are grateful to have spent so many years with them.

New puppies are so cute and are so much fun, but they are a lot of work. They have to be taught to use the bathroom outside which can make for a "fun" couple of months. They also need toys to play with and chew on, because if you don't provide these things to your teething puppy, they will find their own chew toys. We were lucky with our dogs because they were house trained very quickly, and they really didn't chew on anything except their toys, and each other.

I recently had the opportunity to create a "Puppy Prep Kit". Since I have had experience with puppies, I knew just what to put into this kit, and headed out to Walmart earlier this week to shop for my supplies. Check out my Google+ Album to read about my shopping experience, and to see all of the great supplies I purchased for my Puppy Prep Kit.

The first items I shopped for were treats. Treats are imperative when training a new puppy. They make great rewards for going potty outside, and for learning commands such as "sit" and "stay". When I think of treats, one of the first brands that comes to my mind is Milk-Bone®. Did you know they have been around since 1908?

Savings alert: check your local newspaper during the week of December 11 for a money saving coupon on Milk-Bone® Dog Treats.

I picked up a box of the small Milk-Bone® treats for my prep kit, along with some Pup-peroni® and Milo's Kitchen® treats. Pup-peroni® are actually Chloe's favorite treats, and she looks forward to her Pup-peroni® stick every morning after she goes outside. She will even do tricks for a Pup-peroni®!

I wasn't familiar with the Milo's Kitchen® treats until this shopping trip. They are 100% real treats, and come in varieties such as Chicken and Beef Jerky, Sausage, and Chicken Meatballs. I included two packages of the Milo's Kitchen® treats in my prep kit, and I also grabbed two packages for Chloe to try.

When you have a new puppy, you will definitely need something to clean up the accidents that are bound to happen in your house. There are specialty pet products like this OUT! Stain & Odor Remover that use enzymes to really get rid of the scent. If there is a scent left behind, your new puppy will most likely keep going to the bathroom in that same spot.

There are so many different types of toys that you can choose from for your new puppy, and even old dogs like Chloe like a chew toy every now and then. Golden retrievers are large dogs with huge teeth, so there aren't many toys that are durable enough for their powerful jaws. For puppies, though, you can get them durable rubber bones, squeaky toys that will make you wish you hadn't, and even soft, fuzzy toys that they can shake around for hours.

Grooming products are also a necessity. You will need a brush, nail clippers, and some gentle shampoo. Chloe has sensitive skin, so we have always used gentle puppy shampoo for her. I purchased a bottle of the Gentle Puppy Oatmeal shampoo to add to my prep kit. I love the baby powder scent!

Since we are not adding another pet to our family any time soon, I wanted to find someone with a new puppy to give my Puppy Prep Kit to for Christmas. I asked my friends on Facebook if any of them were getting a new puppy, or if they knew of any local rescue groups that could use the supplies. My friend told me about her mom who fosters pugs through a rescue group, and I thought she would be the perfect person to receive this puppy prep kit. People who foster dogs are such wonderful people, and they usually do it all with no financial help from the organization they are working with. I can't wait to surprise my friend's mom with this kit that she will be able to use for all of the dogs she is taking care of until they find their forever home!

I will be dropping my kit off to my friend's mom next week. Stay tuned to hear what she thought about it...

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are my own.