Dog accessories don’t have to shrink your wallet. You can find things cheap especially if you shop at flea markets, online, and go to yard sales. You can also make your own dog accessories, which is a lot of fun for artists and “Do it Yourself” types. The choice is really yours, but get creative and don’t just go to the pet store and blow a bunch of money, unless you like that, then I guess go for it! I am not completely against pet stores. I love that they allow you to take your dog in with you. My dog and I always have a great time when we go. He gets to play with the other dogs and taste the yummy treats that the store employees give to him. But, most of the time we don’t buy anything or if we do it’s a single bone for a $1 or less. He has a great time and my wallet doesn’t suffer. What I like to do is go there and look around and get ideas for what I can make for my dog.
I love to make dog collars out of hemp. I’ll braid the hemp and different patterns and use different color hemp. I will make them different for each of my dogs, blue is common for boys, pink for girls, but I love to use other colors too. I sometimes put beads on them if I am feeling ultra creative and I always braid in a keychain size loop in the middle to attach a dog tag too. I have actually started making them for other people’s dogs too and have been able to sell some, so that has been a lot of fun. I encourage you to try making your own dog collars, especially if you can sew because you have a lot of options that way.
You can also make other dog accessories too. Dog toys aren’t really necessary. There are so many fun things outside that your dog can fun that he will love to play with. Sticks are awesome and of course bones are cool if you can find any of those in the wild. I always discourage people from using socks as dog toys, even if you use an old sock this could teach your dog that chewing socks is okay and he might chew the wrong sock one day and you don’t want that to happen.