Most useless dog thing you've bought?

[Torin]

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On the other hand, I've had stuff that I thought would be useful but was decidedly not!

I think you need to open a thread on that !

Okay I'll bite, what's the most 'thought this would be good but actually it's not' dog thing people have bought?

For Trisk it's probably various longlines as his ability to stay on the path and to recall around distractions progresses. I know what you're thinking, those are useful, how can they be useless. It's probably more my timing that's useless? I tend to be too slow to buy and by the time it arrives he's already progressed to the next stage.
We started with a 10m rope line, but he was pulling HARD at the start after wildlife and I needed something with more grip.
So I bought a rubberised 10m line for the grip and a 5m one for him to progress down to (think it was an offer, not like me to plan ahead).
Except we live in clay country and last year was so wet that he ended up dragging an anchor around.
So I bought a 10m pvc line (offbrand biothane) except it was slooooow to get here and he suddenly clicked with the training and was basically down to 5m dragline within the month
I got some cheap 6m 2nd hand biothane for that stage and actually we've been using that for about 5 months now...
That's good quality so I don't want to physically chop it shorter so a couple of weeks ago I bought a couple of options for 2-3m lines, as his normal lead isn't suitable....
And then last week before they'd arrived he was offlead for the entirity of a woodland walk and was an extremely good boy and we can probably skip that last stage out.

So now I have a collection of various lines to sell! After I figure out which are worth keeping...

For Cad, the most useless was an Equafleece. I spent so long trying to wrap my head around their measuring system and getting him okay with me putting his front legs through the sleeves... And then it turned out that polar fleece gives him static shocks and he cannot.

 

[JoanneF]

His Joules coat. I really like Joules clothing but the dog coat is so firm it's almost rigid and the hole for the lead to attach to the harness is in the wrong place and I don't even like it very much!

Or maybe the 2 kilos of chicken and turmeric sausages that he used to like but has now decided aren't so good, with the pack barely started ...

 

[JudyN]

A couple spring to mind... a supposedly calming band that wrapped firmly around his head to give gentle pressure and cut down on noise, and a boot for when he had a corn. This is a dog who hated to be manhandled, easily convinced that you were up to something suspicious, and ready to do anything to stop it happening, and I mean anything We managed to accustom him to several potentially sccary things - a muzzle, coat, having ticks removed, and even eye and ear drops, but the calming band and boot were not going to happen.

 

[magpi]

Long line here too. It gets tangled in his legs. When I mentioned it to the lady at the trust where I walk the greyhounds, she doesn't recommend them for that reason. Also a soft harness I bought, he can escape from it. Loads of waterproof coats for summer. They last a few months then let in. I've given up putting one on unless it's a downpour, then he has one handmade one that's lasted since last year.

 

[KarenMc]

When Luna was young we bought a Canophera coffee wood stick from Pets at home which was supposed to be gentle on their mouth etc. I t was about £10 and she took it outside and promptly lost, dropped or buried it somewhere. Never to be seen again!!

 

[BaileyAndLila]

Lol, sorry to @JoanneF for not taking the hint to start the thread. I'm useless But yeah, definitely those packs. Additionally, long lines like other people have said. Back when Bailey was young around 2013/14 I got a long line for him. I was that bad with managing it my neighbour took pity on me and bought me a flexi lead

The most annoying thing is that before I got Lila, I wasted a fortune on all sorts of chews for Bailey that he inevitably didn't like. Since we got Lila, he's decided that he loves chews and will happily eat them So now I have to buy two lots of chews when he never used to bother. Same with dry food. For 12 years, Bailey did not like dry dog food. Guess what he eats now because Lila does?

 

[SuzyJay]

Dog seat/beds for the car! The dogs seem to think they need to be under them, not in them !

 

[Laco]

Our house is so full of things for our dog. I guess the most useless item would be a crate, which we were told we had to have, both for our last dog as well as our current girl. Both dogs hated being in it, and frankly they do just fine having the run of the house, when we are home and when we are not. So the crate exists in its box and is stored out of sight. I guess that's pretty useless.

 

[LindaWeasel]

Recently (because the boy is getting weaker hind legs) and is finding it difficult to get into the car…

A ramp. Useless, unstable, slippery. Tod can do an agility dog walk but refused this; don’t blame him either.

A step stool so he could use it to hop up easier. Despite training indoors he refused to do anything but try to leap over it once it was in situ next to the car. Another fail.

 

[O2.0]

For Penny it would have to be a pair of doggy pajamas with legs. She gets so cold so easily but any dog clothes with legs renders her completely immobile and droopy faced. I'm sure she would eventually get used to them but she hates them so much it didn't seem worth it to me. I gave them away and just tuck her under extra blankets. Oh speaking of tucking into things, I thought she would love a bed that you can tunnel into, nope, laid on top of it, and was horrified when I showed her how it's supposed to work. So I gave that away too.

 

[Flobo]

That reminds me of the 'slipper bed' I bought for my ferrets. I spent ages looking for a new suitable bed for them, baring in mind ferrets love snug spaces and the dark... found said bed, thought woohoo they'd love that, but no... not one of them even tried it, didn't even bother investigating nor laying on it, in it or near it, absolutely nothing!! (I donated it to the ferrets at the rspca, hoping they'd be more grateful!)

 

[SuzyJay]

For Penny it would have to be a pair of doggy pajamas with legs. She gets so cold so easily but any dog clothes with legs renders her completely immobile and droopy faced. I'm sure she would eventually get used to them but she hates them so much it didn't seem worth it to me. I gave them away and just tuck her under extra blankets. Oh speaking of tucking into things, I thought she would love a bed that you can tunnel into, nope, laid on top of it, and was horrified when I showed her how it's supposed to work. So I gave that away too.

I bought Tango a hand-made snuggle sack, it even had her name on it. She looked at it like it was an old rag, and pointedly went to sleep on the floor.
Reena, however. loved it.

 

[JudyN]

A hammock for my rats. They loved it, then chewed through the four attachments it hung from, with inevitable consequences. Then did the same to the replacement I bought.