Have you tried “curated” gift boxes for your pets? A multitude of services can now send monthly shipments to your home—toys, treats, and games especially chosen for your pet or pets . . . because you get to say what you want. Cost and content vary, depending on your choices.
I asked dog owners and dog professionals about gift-box subscriptions.
Shannon Thier Personally, I love BarkBox! Everything they have is made in America and the toys are great! I love their packaging inside; there’s always a theme and a fun decorative or game-like paper liner or flyer for humans. Once I got paper 3D glasses for a 3D-themed liner; for Halloween, they sent this cute paper where you open the paper window to see the creatures inside. And though that stuff is gimmicky, it’s really cool and catered to your dog’s size or desires. I like that they have holiday-themed toys and snacks when each holiday comes. Overall, they’re just fun. My dogs go crazy when they see/smell the box (which is also a great box for nose work if you do that). Oh, and once in a while you get super awesome treat-dispensing toys besides the soft toys. Notice the themes—Halloween, fall, Christmas, Thanksgiving, space, camping, Asian (sushi, wonton, tea cup, ninja dude), Starbucks-like cup, safari, Hollywood, cleaning stuff like the vacuum, muscle/gym theme, Hawaiian, monsters, back-to-school, zoo animals, etc. Each box comes with five things—usually two bags of treats, a chewy, and two stuffed animals. The treats correspond with the theme.
Ruth L. Heller, DVM I really, really like BarkBox. They send quality toys that quickly become dog favorites, the treats seem yummy and high-demand, you can customize for heavy chewers, and if there is a particular treat or toy that is a bad idea for your dog, they will replace it with something more appropriate. For example, I won’t give rawhide, so they will replace it with a more edible treat, etc. Or if a toy doesn’t hold up well, they will send a different one.
Marni Fowler We’ve been using Doggyloot for several years and have been very satisfied. It’s more or less $11 a month (I’d have to double-check). We get only the treat subscription. She’s hell on toys and destroys 99% of them, even the ones made for “aggressive chewers.” Every month we get 1–2 bags of American-made, no-crap-inside, all-natural treats. Really nice variety. We’ve gotten puffed yak milk balls, gator bites, and a variety of crunchy-type treats. She loves it!
Photo by Lisa Hissong
Melissa Cara We tried BarkBox when one of the podcasts I listen to offered a month-free discount code. I was skeptical, as a “dog person” for many years. It sounded like it might be gimmicky and maybe not for serious dog folks. It’s actually been so awesome, we now subscribe and get two BarkBoxes per month. Our dogs LOVE IT! We have two Aussies, a Maltese, and a Yorkie mix, so we get a medium and a small box and share among the four dogs. The toys are high quality and last better than most toys we’ve gotten at various pet-supply stores and ordered from big pet-supply companies. I’m still surprised at how well the toys last, as we’ve had loads of supposedly tough toys with not the best results. It’s well worth the price. Each box contains two toys, two bags of treats, and a chewy of some kind, for $29. With how expensive good-quality dog toys can be, I feel it’s very affordable and you get your money’s worth. My dogs recognize the boxes and get super excited when we open them up and pass out their new stuff.
Ruth L. Heller, DVM I started with a free box code, too. We get the big-dog size and I upgraded to the extra toy—the heavy-chewer option comes at no extra charge. I agree, they know the box and get sooooo excited when it comes.
Gail Jackson I get BarkBox each month and really like the quality of the toys, and the treats are always wheat-, corn-, and soy-free. I did receive a toy I did not like (with little beads in it) that died within minutes, and emailed them that I was disappointed in the toy. They responded back right away, apologizing and explaining that the little beads were not toxic, and sendt us a new toy and bag of treats. The toys usually die but have held up with my giant Schnauzer and mini Schnauzer puppy pulling them apart.
Amy Fumetti-Levine We get two BarkBoxes per month. We love it. When our puppy started eating his toys, they upgraded us to a power-chewer box at no charge. Then we ordered the second box for the super-chewer toys. We spend a total of $50 per month and get five toys, four full bags of treats, and three edible chews. It’s a great deal!
Greg Stripes We received a BarkBox [as a gift] a good year ago [and we were] very happy with the toys contained within. One of them was Gracie’s favorite and we reordered the toy after she destroyed it.
Sandee Strobel Szabo I did get the Rescue Box (https://www.rescuebox.com) for both my cats and my dogs. Even though I have large dogs, I got the small-dog box. (As a trainer, I have more large than small toys.) Unfortunately, the way I look at toys, most of them are inappropriate, as they have squeakers in them and I do not allow my dogs [toys with] squeakers unless I’m home with them. [They] will destroy them in seconds, and I don’t want them to choke on them. But I did get them so I could also support the animal rescue site in feeding animals.
Bob Hadley Got BarkBox—my dog loved the treats, hated the toys. I canceled. They were very cordial about the cancellation.
Cheryl Strobel Micknick We get BarkBox deliveries each month. We have a Presa Canario (a big good puppy) and an older girl (Australian shepherd). We like the shipped BarkBoxes, and last month we upgraded to a super-chewer option as [the Presa] ripped and shredded the plush toys (he loves the ripping sound). The boxes come with treats and both our older dog and Jethro love them. Each box has a theme (Hawaiian, college days, spooky, etc.) which we get a kick out of. Jethro tears through the plushies and destroys the provided chew toys (we time them—anywhere from 15 minutes to 8 hours, depending on his level of interest), and he truly enjoys decimating each one. It seems to give him a sense of power. We will continue to order them. Customer service is great and they replace toys that are destroyed within a certain timeframe (we’ve taken advantage of this a few times), which saves us from trying to find similar, possibly more overpriced, toys at the pet store. And Jethro knows when the box arrives. Apparently the company has a dog-friendly environment and he smells the dogs. He’ll follow us and knows where the box sits as we dole out the treats. We’re happy.
Lisa Hissong We’ve been BarkBox subscribers since May. My teenage daughter loved the idea of a surprise theme in each box and she asked if we could ever get one for our dog, Bear. I placed a monthly subscription order with the intention of getting only a box or two. After the second box, we decided we need a third, and then an obsession was born. LOL! I switched our monthly subscription to a six-month subscription and was offered the current promotion at the time . . . a free third toy in each box! The following month we bumped it up to a twelve-month subscription and we still receive the free third toy each month. What was planned to be only one or two boxes has turned into BarkBox for life. There’s no way I’m canceling this subscription! Each month the theme changes and just when we think the toys couldn’t get any cuter, the next box shows up and proves us wrong. Our dog isn’t particularly hard on toys and he has killed only about three of his BarkBox toys out of about 30. I’d say that’s pretty good! We had one toy arrive with a bum squeaker that was replaced without question. A few times I wasn’t comfortable with a chew . . . [it was] replaced generously with extra chews! We’ve earned some points towards new toys with their Destroyers Club program. Dog destroys toy, you submit a photo, you receive points towards new toys. Of course, if something doesn’t last as long as you thought it should, they send you a replacement! The customer service is top notch! They have a heavy-chewer box (free upgrade) and a super-chewer box (with an additional cost). They also have options for dogs with allergies. We get the regular box for large dogs. Our dog is a 74-pound Rottweiler Lab mix. Bear receives three toys (typically two unless you join when they have the free third toy promotion, or pay for the “extra toy club”), two full-sized bags of treats, and a chew every month. The quality is great and we couldn’t be happier. We get types of toys that I never would have purchased in the store, assuming that Bear wouldn’t be a fan. I’m usually surprised because these toys are often favorites! Bear has learned what BarkBox means and is delighted each month!
Tiffany Niederle Murphy We have a BarkBox office here in town. They are an amazing company to support. They give huge amounts of money to charity, and their extra goods are donated to rescues and shelters locally. Their customer service is outstanding. They will replace things, let you adjust your order, suspend your subscription if you need to (and will often send you a box on the house if you can’t afford it). They also treat their employees well and pay a living wage. They let me use their space to teach dogs classes and host seminars for rescues.
Obviously, the gift-box subscription services mentioned in these comments are doing a good job, and many other options are out there as well, including local businesses in your own community that deliver to your home. Dogs are the primary pets to receive curated subscription gift boxes, but cats and birds are covered, too. You can find subscription pet gift boxes easily online.
Here’s a summary of what five leading dog gift box subscriptions offer:
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/5-subscription-box-gifts-for-your-dog-or-dog-owning-friends/
Dogs, cats, and birds are served by these gift box subscription services:
Have you had a good experience with a “curated” gift-box subscription service for your dog or cat or bird? What did you like most about the boxes you got? Did you have a problem with delivery or need to exchange an item? How did customer service handle your questions? Would you recommend the service to your friends and family?
