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Pet lover gifts for the dog or cat person, and nothing for the dog

Here is the thing I have to say first: there is nothing for the animal in any of these. No treats, no toys, no collar, no bowl. I do not pack a single pet item and I am not going to write this page as though I did. What I have is for the person holding the lead, and the card is where the dog's name goes. I pack every box myself here in Canada and write your message onto the card by hand before the lid goes on.

Nothing in these is for the animal. The boxes are for the person, the card is for the dog. I pack every box by hand here in Canada.

Eight boxes for the person on the other end of the lead, at $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes.

If the dog has a name, put it in the card. It is the whole trick.

The Premium Cozy Comfort Box, a gift box packed by hand in Canada
An example of the card, written in your words

Kwame. Nothing in here is for the dog. Sorry, Bruno.

Love, Ash

The Premium Cozy Comfort BoxOne size, $119.$119Buy now: The Premium Cozy Comfort Box, $119

The boxes I would send a dog or cat person

None of these mentions an animal anywhere. They are the boxes for somebody who is home a lot, cold a lot and sharing their furniture, which is what having one actually involves.

Showing all 8

Which one, then

Since nothing here is for the pet, choose for the person and let the card do the rest. What most dog and cat people have in common is a house full of hair, a lot of evenings at home and a blanket that is no longer theirs. If you want the money question instead, how much to spend on a gift in Canada handles it.

The washable one

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Cozy Comfort Box and the Warm Hug Box. Fleece over knit, because in a house with an animal in it everything soft is covered in hair by Friday and goes through a machine on Sunday. This is a more useful thing to think about than it sounds.

For the evenings at home

Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Premium Cozy Comfort Box, the Cozy Gratitude Box and the Cozy Retreat Box. Having a dog is mostly a commitment to being at home and a commitment to walking in bad weather. One of these is the fullest soft box I pack, one adds a cup to keep, and one is the evening after the wet walk.

For the house they share with it

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Cozy Date Night Box and the Sweet Scent Home Box. One of these is sized for two people on a couch that is already occupied, from $99. The other is the one box here aimed at the room rather than the person, which in a house with a dog in it is not nothing.

Two sizes on a box, and where the bigger ones are

The boxes on this page run $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes. The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. On this page the larger size is a heavier blanket or one more warm thing. No size of any of these contains anything for an animal.

Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead, and the luxury boxes at the top of it are the fullest things I pack. If you came here meaning to spend more than this page asks for, the links under this are the shortest way there.

Put the dog in the card. That is the gift.

You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters, and I write it out in pen on a real card. Nothing in the box is about their animal, so the card is doing all of that work, and a card that names the dog is the difference between a nice blanket and a gift that got it exactly right.

If you are stuck, people write things like:

"Nothing in here is for the dog.""Sorry to the cat.""For the human. For once."

If the box is decided and the card is the part you are stuck on, here are a few you can send as they are, or change at checkout.

  • Naming the dog"Nothing in here is for Bruno. He gets enough. This one is yours."
  • For a new dog"Congratulations on the dog. You will not sleep again. Something soft for the meantime."
  • For a cat person"The blanket is for you, although we both know how this ends."

The card, the tissue, the tape and the rest of what happens to a box before it leaves.

An example of the card, written in your words

Nothing in here is for Bruno. He gets enough. This one is yours.

Love, Ash

Other things they might be into

Since this page is really about a person who is home a lot, three other shelves say that more directly.

The whole staying-in shelf is the same idea with more boxes on it and no apology about the animal at the top.

If the evenings have something on the screen and something to eat, the page for a night in is closer to how it actually goes.

And if the walk ends with the kettle, the tea boxes are built around that cup and the mug that goes with it.

Questions people ask me

Is there anything in the box for the pet?

No. Not a treat, not a toy, not a collar, not a bowl, not a bandana. I do not pack pet items at all and there is nothing in my catalogue for an animal. If what you want is something the dog opens, this is the wrong shop and I would rather say so in the first line than take the order.

Then why is there a pet lover page?

Because the person buying is usually not looking for dog treats. They are looking for a gift that shows they know this person is a dog person, and that is a card problem more than a contents problem. The boxes here suit somebody who is home a lot and sharing their furniture, and the card is where the animal gets named.

Does it work for cat people as well as dog people?

Yes, because nothing in it refers to either. A blanket, warm socks and something hot is the same gift whichever animal is asleep on it. The card is the only part that has to know the difference, and you write that.

Is anything in here safe around animals?

Some of these have a scented candle in them, and a few have chocolate. Neither is a problem in a house where the person is sensible, but if the dog eats anything left at nose height, the box page for each one lists what is in it so you can pick a box without either.

What are the sizes and how does it ship?

The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. The boxes here run $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. There is a field at checkout where you pick the delivery date you would prefer. All sales are final, so check the address before you order.

The gift is not for the dog and that is usually correct

The instinct when buying for somebody who loves their animal is to buy for the animal, and it is a good instinct socially and a bad one practically. The dog does not know it was a gift. The cat will ignore it on principle. The person gets to watch something they did not choose get chewed, and the whole transaction lands about a foot to the left of where it was aimed.

What that person actually wants is to be seen as the sort of person whose whole life is arranged around an animal, because it is, and almost nobody acknowledges it. A card that names the dog does that in one line. The box underneath it can then be a blanket, which is what they wanted anyway, given how much of their life is now spent at home on a couch they no longer control.

Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. If none of these suits, every box on the site sits in one grid sorted by price.

While you are here

If you are not sure which box to send a dog or cat person, tell me who it is for and roughly what you want to spend and I will tell you what I would pack. I read every message myself, at team@swipegifts.com.