What I've Bought My Dog For Christmas

Thursday, 21 December 2017

What I've Bought My Dog For Christmas

I love to spoil my friends and family with presents at Christmas time, but that generosity isn't just reserved for my human family; I like to shower my four-legged family members with gifts, too.

My Tibetan terrier, Rosie, is as much a part of the family as my parents and siblings, so why wouldn't I include her at Christmas time? She deserves to join in on the fun, too. I love any chance to spoil her rotten, and as it's still a novelty having my own dog at Christmas (this is her second Christmas with us), I may have gotten a little carried away and bought her loads of treats and toys this year. I just couldn't help myself.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who loves spoiling their dog(s) at Christmas time, so I thought it would be fun to show you what I bought Rosie for Christmas before I wrap everything up and put them under the tree. (Yes, I'll even be wrapping her presents; she always has so much fun ripping open the paper to find out what's inside!) Keep reading to find out what I got her. Apologies for how plain the photos are today; I'm struggling to mobilise at the moment and haven't got the energy for pretty flatlays, so these were the best I could do.

I've always loved finding a chocolate selection box under the tree on Christmas morning, so when I came across the Armitage Good Boy Pawsley selection box on Amazon, I knew I had to get it for Rosie. It's filled with five 40-50g bags of bite-sized treats including Doggy Chocolate Drops, Mini Marrow Bones, Turkey and Cranberry Flavour Bones, Yuletide Yummies, and Beef Bonies, along with a packet of five rawhide Munchy Rolls, which is pretty good value for £6.99. She's not sampled any Armitage Good Boy treats before, but I think she's going to love trying all of the bones, biscuits, and chocolate for the first time. I might avoid giving her the Munchy Rolls, though, as I'm not sold on feeding dogs those dyed rawhide treats.

I also picked out some meaty treats from Armitage's Good Boy deli range on Amazon, including Succulent Pigs In Blankets, Succulent Festive Bangers, and Chewy Chicken Stars, which I know Rosie is going to go nuts for. She'll be high-fiving me all over the shop to get these out of my hands. They're all made of at least 69% real meat (mostly chicken breast), and they're the perfect treats for spoiling the dog at Christmas without giving them human festive foods. A lot of our Christmas food can in fact be really dangerous for our four legged fur babies, as many of our festive treats are toxic to dogs, or too high in fat and salt for a dog's digestive system to process, so it's best to stay clear of human food when treating our dogs at Christmas, and reach for dog treats like these instead.

Petface always have the loveliest Christmas gifts for dogs, and I couldn't resist picking up one of their reindeer toy and treat gift sets when I was in Sainsburys a couple of weeks ago. It features the most adorable corduroy reindeer toy, and a big packet of grain free, oven-baked Turkey & Cranberry biscuits, and it's fantastic value at just £6. I actually bought one of these sets for Rosie last year, too, and she loved it. She enjoyed chewing the reindeer to pieces, played with the box, and wolfed down each bone we gave her, so it seemed like a no-brainer to treat her to the set again this Christmas.

Rosie loves playing with toys (and when I say 'play', I mainly mean 'chew to pieces'), so I had to buy her some new soft toys to murder this Christmas. I bought her a squeaky Petface corduroy reindeer with rope legs for £5, and a tweed gingerbread man for £4 from Sainsburys, and also picked out a cute Armitage Good Boy squeaky reindeer with rope legs from Morrison's for £4. They'll probably all be trashed by New Year's, but she'll have so much fun tearing them apart, so even if they are short-lived, I won't feel like the money is wasted. Plus, they were all inexpensive compared to most plush dog toys, so they didn't break the bank in the first place.

To give Rosie a real treat this Christmas, I decided to pick up a couple of things from Lily's Kitchen for her to try for the first time. When I saw that they do a Three Bird Feast wet dog food for Christmas, I just had to get her a tin (£1.99 for a 400g tin) for Christmas Day so she can have her own dog-friendly Christmas dinner. It's been specially created with turkey, goose, and duck, plus parsnips, organic carrots, cranberries, broccoli, organic apple, and a variety of minerals and herbs to give dogs a wholesome Christmas feast. It's free from soya, wheat and grains, and contains none of the bad stuff like artificial additives or GMOs, so as dog food goes, it doesn't get much better than this. I'm reassured that I'll be feeding Rosie a healthy, natural Christmas meal, and I'm confident she's going to love it. She'll probably have the bowl licked clean in minutes.

I'm also giving her a Lily's Kitchen Christmas Cracker, which is filled with heart-shaped, bite-sized biscuit treats made from turkey, cranberries, thyme and cinnamon. To be honest, they don't look like anything special, but it's what's on the inside that counts- they're packed full of goodness, and the cinnamon works as a wonderfully warming anti-inflammatory that helps boost energy, circulation, and brain health. Rosie definitely doesn't need any more energy, but I'm all for treats that look after her health. Plus the packaging is adorable, too. The Christmas crackers are £3.49 each, and currently on promotion with two for £5 on their website.

Now I just need to wrap up her presents, and put them under the tree ready for Christmas morning. I'm looking forward to watching her open everything, and seeing her play with her new toys in a few days. Naturally, I won't be giving her all the treats over Christmas; they'll be occasional rewards and the stash will hopefully last her for months, but she'll certainly get spoiled a little more than usual if she behaves herself this Christmas. She deserves a merry Christmas, too.

I'll leave you with this photo of Rosie sitting like a person, which I took on Saturday, and absolutely cracks me up...