Dogs And Their Stuff: Tips For Organizing Your Dog’s Cupboard

We try to contain our dog’s stuff, we really do. But, a big dog usually equals big stuff. At our last house, she had a cupboard to herself, a basket of toys, a deep-height drawer for her food bin, and several beds around the house.

When we moved, we tried to whittle her storage footprint down. We’ve been somewhat successful; now all she has is a smaller cupboard, a basket of toys, and two beds around the house. That’s progress! Come on, give me that?

But, while the whittling has led to slightly more containment, and a slightly smaller storage footprint around the house, it has also led to more chaos behind those tinier, fewer doors.

So, we had to do something. I opened the cupboard door and started clearing out.

Here’s the before:

Now I know, it doesn’t look that bad.

But, let’s take a peek at that basket:

Yikes. What’s even in there? It’s 18″ tall. Buried treasures?

I took everything out, wiped the cupboard down with a clean cloth and then sorted through baskets and piles.

I pitched a few things that weren’t being used (old dog food promotional pamphlets, directions to dog parks we now know, and an instruction manual for the Furminator brush) and then shopped our house for baskets and containers that I could use to store loose items.

And here’s the after:

On the top shelf is her airtight food container and a metal tin (from an old floral delivery) for the bags of treats we’re working on.

On the bottom shelf is a basket with bigger, more outdoor toys and accessories like floaties, waterproof retrieving toys, and a sip-tray dog water bottle. To the side of that (not shown) is an assortment of cloth and disposable wipes and an extra package of poop bags. We explain those methods back here and here.

In the front is a box (meant for tree ornaments) with flea and tick medication, dog shampoo, ear cleanser, brushes, and nail clippers. We outlined our method for getting your dog to love having their nails clipped at home back here.

Beside that is a box of gauze pads that we use to clean Juno’s floppy, deep, Labrador ears, a bottle of Nature’s Miracle enzymatic cleanser for those inevitable stain-making episodes of doggy vomiting or…, and a metal tin (from Christmas candy) with a tube of Dr. Maggie doggy antiseptic cream, styptic pens that come with nail clippers to stop the bleeding in case of nicks to the quick, and a nail file that also came with the clippers.

Front and centre on the bottom shelf are Juno’s beloved rawhides. A bulk-sized bag from Costco. It has a handle – a serious bag of bones, folks. Check out why we give Juno rawhides here.

So that’s it! Total spent was zero dollars, thanks to shopping our house. And about 20 minutes of time. Now we’re going to work at keeping the cupboard looking like this.

Oh, and here’s my tired partner-in-crime. She got pretty worked up seeing all of her belongings out on the floor at once. A good time for a nap.

With her favourite Kong Wubba of course. She plucked that one out of the pile when I wasn’t looking.

But this kind of project gets my Tetris-loving brain going. It’s my idea of a good time.

What about you? How much square footage of your home is occupied by your dog’s stuff? How do you keep it organized? Does it stay that way?