Dog Brands I'm Loving
My third child is my dog, Tinsley, who has a pretty cushy life here in Auckland: she gets to go for walks by the beach every day, gets pets from everyone she meets, and has the staff at our favourite coffee shop trained to give her treats when I order a cappuccino. Lately I’ve had some really good dog-related people/experiences/shops that I thought I’d share.
Peter Collinson, Auckland Animal Eye Center - While we were in the US, Tinsley managed to take a chunk out of one of her eyes. We got regular updates and pictures of her eye as it slowly got worse and worse despite a couple of trips to the vet. When we got home, we took her to our vet, who referred us to the Auckland Animal Eye Center. Dr. Collinson was incredible. We started a crazy eye drop regimen to get the infection under control so we could avoid eye surgery. After a week, we went in for a checkup and it was clear that the drops were working. A few weeks later, and it was more or less cleared up. I was very impressed with how calm Dr. Collinson was with Tinsley - she didn’t mind his examinations at all - and how quickly we were able to get in and out of his office in Mt. Wellington. Even better, he didn’t charge us for the two follow up visits. A nice surprise when you’ve already paid a small fortune to assorted vets for all sorts of drops, goo, and pills.
Kinfolk Leather - I decided that it was time to replace Tinsley’s collar and leash as they were old, chewed in places, and embarrassingly, kind of smelly. I went around checking out all of the available options in local shops, but finally decided to go with an online option with Kinfolk Leather. This shop is based in the Bay of Plenty and handcrafts all of their dog leashes and collars. Each one is made to order so I was able to customize the size, width, and colours of everything. I decided to go with a half inch dark tan collar and a coordinating dark tan with green handle leash. When they arrived about three weeks later, I was thrilled. They’re well made and feel great. They strike me as the kind of item that will last forever and develop a lovely patina over time.
Of course, after I got a new leash and collar, I had to get a new harness, too. I’ll add Louis & Phoebe Pet Boutique in as an alternative to the big box pet stores. They have a huge collection of harnesses, and I was able to get a brown Curli harness that works perfectly with the new collar and leash.
Scissorhounds - Cavaliers need regular grooming, and while I try my best to stay on top of things, Tinsley has to go to the groomer fairly regularly. After being disappointed with Tinsley coming home practically naked from another groomer, I decided to give Scissorhounds a try. I’m so glad I did because they actually understand how to groom cavaliers. They’ll trim everything that needs to be trimmed but leave everything that needs to be left. On top of that, they’re really nice and talkative in the shop.
VetPost - This online shop is based in Tauranga and is the best place I’ve found to get things like Milbemax for worms and Bravecto for fleas. In fact, when it felt like the whole country was out of Milbemax, VetPost was the only place that still had any stock. Since then, I’ve had an auto ship set up every three months so I never have to worry about having any of Tinsley’s pills on hand. Their prices are on par or better than everywhere else, too.
Want more Doggo content? I’ve got a few other dog-related posts found here, including how we got into rentals that said “no pets” with a dog.
