4 Things to Do with Your Dog's Puppy Stuff

5/3/2017

Will you take a look back with us?

First, came this little bow tie. I thought we had picked it out after Pierogi came home, but here he is wearing it on his car ride home. I remember now! Mike and I had gone to Target in the days leading up to picking up Pierogi, and stood in the dog collar aisle making weird hand gestures as we tried to guess puppy Pierogi's neck size. Even though we had known his age, we weren't able to fathom what size that would translate to when we held him in our arms. (For some reason, I also thought Pierogi would grow to be about 45 pounds...he's more than half of that today!) But we did finally decide on a collar size and it must have worked out okay!

Then, came this little quilted dog vest. We brought Pierogi home in mid-February and although that day was partly sunny, it was still a typical, brutally cold winter day. On the car ride home, Pierogi shivered without end (probably a combination of the weather and excitement) - even with a pile of blankets and the car heat blasting. So at my somewhat silly request, we stopped off at a pet store to give Pierogi a break from his first car ride and to get him something warm. This vest was the only warm weather thing we could find, but it had looked tiny enough and so we grabbed it. The vest had worked to stop his shivers, but he quickly outgrew his outerwear.

And finally, there was Mr. Froggy - one of Pierogi's first toys. He loved that toy, and dragged it through everything with him. But eventually, like with this toy, there wasn't much left to keep recovering.

Now, these things - the bowtie, vest and toy are too small and too worn, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them. You would think I was describing the first few sentimental items of a baby, but those things from our first puppy mean just as much to me. Don't you have items like that? For now, I have Pierogi's puppy stuff in a box, but here are four other ideas of things to do with your dog's puppy (or just special) stuff...

- Snap a flat lay of the special items or collect flashback photos of your dog with those items and include it in a photo book. After Pierogi's first birthday, I made a photo book of his first year. I didn't do a flat lay photo for the mini book, but I did include the photos above, which show Pierogi with all of those sweet puppy things.

- Create an artful piece or have an artist do a rendition of the special items. It could become a really sweet and unique piece to have around your home. There is so much talent on Etsy and I especially love all of the shops that offer custom watercolor pieces. Many of those shops create custom portraits of people, pets and homes and may also be able to capture your special items.

- Donate the special items that are still in good condition. We've donated other old puppy items and it just feels good to know other adorable pups will benefit.

- Keep a special item out. Pierogi's first bowtie would be sweet to keep on a jewelry dish, or to turn into a pin and showcase on a totebag.

How do you cherish special items? We'd love to hear below!