I subscribe to Birchbox, a mail-order service where I pay $10 a month and get a selection of beauty samples delivered to my door. It’s been working out well so far: it satisfies my beauty addiction at low cost, and I’ve been able to use most of the samples (I don’t as a rule enjoy getting scent samples, especially when they seem to be picked for a teenage girl). When I found out that a similar service catered to dogs, I couldn’t resist pampering my little guy. It’s fairly expensive ($100 for a 6-month subscription), but part of the sales go to helping shelter dogs, and I can easily spend that much money on my peanut in one trip to the pet store. My first, eagerly awaited Barkbox arrived today, and Gabranth and I unpacked it together.

A lot of little goodies are packed inside the cardboard shipping box, with not nearly as much packing waste as Birchbox, which is the first plus. We got five items, a discount towards wag.com, and a prescription discount card good at human pharmacies for dog prescriptions. Check out each of the items in the photos below.

The treats are Feelgood Trail Blazin’ Bitz, turkey liver recipe. They’re dry treats, like thick wafers cut into vaguely triangular chunks. Gabranth is notoriously picky about treats, preferring soft, wet treats to dry, but he chomped through one of these pretty eagerly. That may just be for the novelty, but hopefully he likes them. I keep trying to buy dry treats for him: cookies, Blue Buffalo Bites, Milkbones, and others, and he just turns his nose up at them after an initial bite. Right now I have Blue Buffalo Halloween treats (pumpkin and apple, I think; they smell delicious) scattered all over my house. Thanks, dog. I’m not feeding you until you eat those things. Or until I buy more dog food, whatever comes first.

We got a cute designer poop bag. I have to say, I’m a sucker for patterned waste bags. It’s such an unpleasant chore that I like having some aspect of the job be adorable. HomeGoods had super-cute bags that I bought up over the summer, and this little argyle pattern is also fantastic. It looks like a pair of my favorite socks that Gabs ate last year.

The mustache-ball toy is so hipster cute it’s goofy, but Gabranth took a couple of sniffs and turned his head. I guess my dog is too cool for hipster-chic, so maybe he’ll leave my new $450 rectangular plastic-frame glasses alone. I had to get new glasses because he ate my old pair. I’m working on my Dogshaming entry. Actually, Gabs just decided to try playing with the mustache. And by playing, I mean stalking and pouncing on it, even though it doesn’t move. My dog. So smart.

This Tropiclean no-brush cleaning gel looks like a great idea (and looks full-size, which is nice), but I can’t imagine actually using it every day. It just seems too much trouble. I think if the vet indicates that Gabranth has a ton of plaque next time he has a check-up, then I’ll go ahead and try this stuff out. Or if his breath becomes unbearable, which could be any day now.

This little guy is made from wool by artisans in Nepal, which makes it more frou-frou than most of my peanut’s toys. It’s firm, and the wool is perfect for him to catch his teeth in, which I guess will promote chewing on it. He liked this right away, and has been chewing on it for a little while now. We’ll call him Jörmungandr , or Jormy, because I’m a geek. Jormy may lose part of his tail before the evening is over.

So the first Barkbox is a success! Gabranth is happy, and I think it’s so far worth the price.

Gabranth checking out the Barkbox.

Battling Jormy, the mortal enemy of Thor.