In recent years, I have tried giving gifts from small or local businesses only. I love supporting small businesses and I’ve found when it comes to dogs, there are SO many amazing companies popping up all the time with innovative gear. I’ve put together a list of my favorite items in this gift guide for adventure dogs, many of which have graciously provided discount codes for my readers.
Need other gift ideas? Check out some of our favorite adventure gear:
9 Dog Camping Gear Items we Can’t Live without
Flying with a Dog Gear Guide
Travel with a Dog Gear Guide
12 Gift Ideas for the Adventure Dog and their Person
RexSpecs
If you spend time outdoors often with your dog, especially at altitude, on the water, in the snow, or if your dog has light eyes, then you should look into purchasing a pair of RexSpecs. Certain breeds and dogs with light-colored eyes are prone to eye diseases caused by the sun. Just like humans, dogs need sun protection as well.
Read more about the importance of eye protection for dogs at Why You Need to Think about Sun Protection for Your Dog.
Use code LongHaulFREESHIP to receive free shipping with your order.
Burley Design Tail Wagon
Our Tail Wagon has benefited us for so much more than just enabling us to bring Sora around the world on our bike tour. We use it to run errands around town, take her to friends’ homes, and provide a safe space when she felt scared. When she couldn’t walk after her cancer surgeries, we pushed her around in it as a way to keep her engaged in our outdoor activities.
You don’t have to go on a massive adventure to use the Tail Wagon. It’s great for using on shorter trips. It’s insanely sturdy and well-built. We put it through the test for nearly a year in Europe and it hardly showed any wear.
If you want to learn more about the Tail Wagon, see our detailed review here.
Wear, Wag, Repeat Gift Shop
My pal Tori Mistick of Wear, Wag, Repeat recently launched her online shop featuring an assortment of gifts for dog lovers like candles, shirts, and “chocolate chunk” accessories in honor of her two chocolate labs, Lucy and Burt. My favorite thing about Tori’s shop is that everything is made by dog moms. Tori loves engaging her community in her work and let her Instagram audience weigh in on choosing the names and wording for a few products like the “Fir Baby” winter candle and the saying on her poop bag holder (Poop, Scoop, Repeat).
Kurgo
Ever since we won the Kurgo Live Your Adventure contest at the start of our bicycle tour in 2015, we have been fans of their products. We have traveled all over the world with several items, and they have held up great over long term use. A couple favorites include:
Loft Jacket: The Loft Jacket is reversible, water resistant, and has a reflective trim. It’s great for Laila who tends to get cold more easily with her short coat.
Muck Collar: This collar is so great. It gets muddy, you wipe it clean. Dog goes swimming? It dries with no funky smell. You can also see just how much dirt accumulates on a collar after regular wear…
Use code LHT4KURGO for 20% off your order.
Mutt Cloth
I won a contest last winter and earned Sora one of these gorgeous, handmade bandanas, made by another Instagram friend of mine. Mutt Cloth fabrics are top quality vintage fabrics curated from around the world. Because many of the fabrics come from local markets discovered during travels, most of the bandanas are handmade in small batches in their New York studio. Once they’re gone, they’re gone (but new ones are release regularly!). I’m loving the new kaleidoscope series that just launched.
Rita Hendricks Pet Portraits
I discovered Rita and her amazing art after Sora died. She created a beautiful, colorful painting that honored her legacy and captured her personality perfectly. She buries a heart in her paintings as her way of sending love with each piece.
Her love for animals comes out in her work, as her business serves a reminder to put life before work. Rita’s portraits make a wonderful gift for any pet lover, especially those who have recently lost their pet.
Woolly Bugger
The first Instagram contest I won included this piece from Woolly Bugger. I fell hard for her artwork and think she is just supremely creative with her designs. From Spokane, WA, her passion for the outdoors and the mountains shines in her work. While she has expanded her offerings to plates and mugs, she is most well-known for her string art depicting mountain scenes. Some feature bottle openers, but my favorite pieces include hangers for dog leashes. Her use of bright colors on wood gives her pieces a rustic feel.
See more of her work on Instagram @thewoollybugger.
HempMy Pet CBD Oil
I’ve mentioned HempMy Pet CBD oil quite a lot lately here on the blog. It’s quite a remarkable product for dogs with any number of ailments or behavioral issues, including anxiety, seizures, cancer, and more. What I love most about HempMy Pet is that is is organically grown in Colorado from a single strain. This means that you get the same product every time you order.
We used the infused oil and coconut oil regularly with Sora as she healed from her cancer therapies and to help manage her pain toward the end. The biscuits also work great with Laila La Loca when we need her to be on her best behavior.
To learn more, see our review and uses here.
Use this link or code LONGHAUL10 at check out to receive 10% off your order.
Whyld River Doggy Bag
At the time of this writing our Whyld River doggy bag is en route to us in Spain and I cannot wait to have Laila test it out on our next adventure. We never really had to worry about the cold with Sora, but Laila has shorter and thinner fur, so we need to be more mindful when we go out in the cold.
After a scary trip to Mt. Hood, when Rachel’s pup River couldn’t stop shivering, she went in search to find a doggy sleeping bag. When she couldn’t find one, she took it upon herself to create her own. Paying attention to every single detail, from using snaps instead of zippers so fur doesn’t catch, to including a stuff sack so it can truly go anywhere, this bag is a no brainer if you have a dog who tends to feel cold easily.
MyRadDog
I love, love, love the ingenious Release N Run collars from MyRadDog. They market it for the “mostly off-leash dog,” but we’ve used them with our “mostly on-leash dogs” and they are great. The Release N Run are collars with a built-in 4ft leash. I loved being able to have Sora off leash and then have easy access to restraining if if necessary.
Ruffwear Running Gear
Having run hundreds, if not thousands of miles with Sora, and now that I run with Laila, I have my running system down. Sora was never great off leash on trails if I was alone with her, so I almost always ran with her on leash. Ruffwear makes two of my favorite leash systems for hands-free running with a dog:
Slackline Leash: This is very nearly my perfect leash. It clips around my waist, the slider adjusts to different sizes, and I can attach it to just about anything if I need both hands to do something like put up the tent. It’s often my go-to for trail running.
See our review for the Slackline Leash here.
Trail Runner System: I love, love, love this running belt. The pocket is big enough to hold my phone, another side pocket holds treats and is easy to reach mid-run, and comes with a 21-oz BPA-free water bottle that fits in the holder. It doesn’t bounce all, so there’s no worry of chafing.
Dexas Collapsible Bowls
Since we’re on the go so often, in a variety of different modes (road trips, hiking/trail running, camping), we have several different portable water and food dishes. Dexas makes some of our favorite collapsible travel bowls. I have the small one clipped to my purse for city walking and another to my backpack for hiking and trail running. We use the larger three-cup capacity bowl for car trips or camping. We love that they are lightweight and clip easily to just about anywhere.
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