BarkBox is a subscription box for dogs. It’s the most popular dog subscription box. You’ve seen the small dog version, but since they customize based on dog size, we thought you might like to see what you’d get if you have a large dog, so this is a review of the “Big & Bold” box for a 50+ pound dog. (My dog, Nyx, is a Rottweiler who currently weighs about 82-83 pounds.)
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
Here’s a look inside the box.
The Subscription Box: BarkBox
The Cost: $29 per month on a month-to-month plan, save with longer subscriptions!
The Products: Toys, treats, and grooming products selected for your dog based on size (choose “Small and Cute” for 0-20 pounds, “Just Right” for 20-50 pounds, and “Big & Bold” for dogs 50+ pounds).
Ships to: US and Canada
Good to Know: BarkBox offers a heavy chewer option. After you sign up, you can email them to request this. We were too late this month to get the heavy chewer option for Nyx, but starting in January, you should be able to see the heavy chewer toys.
Check out lots of great boxes for dogs in the Pet Subscription Box Directory! And see Liz’s and Eric’s reviews of the small dog version of BarkBox here!
The theme this month was New York, which is the city where BarkBox has its headquarters! On the other side of the card was a list of the items included this month.
BarkMade Pretzel – Value $12
This is a BarkBox exclusive. Nyx thought it was great. (More below…) And there was no stuffing to pull out, which is a big plus.
BarkMade Lady Liberty Ball – Value $12
Your dog would need a pretty big mouth to chew on this. I appreciate how size-appropriate it was. It had one of the more durable squeakers of any dog toy we’ve tried out lately.
Butcher’s Block LLC Bully Stick – Value $4
Back before Nyx’s dietary issues, I’d given her a few treats from Butcher’s Block. They’re made in the USA and she loved them. (For those of you in the Southeast, I’ve seen a few of their products in the local Publix.)
Nootie Pepperoni Treats (5 oz) – Value $10
These are grain free, which is wonderful. It looks like they have recently undergone a packaging change, or maybe this is special packaging for this month’s BarkBox? Nootie brand treats are made in the USA.
Feel Good Treat Company Pawstrami and Rye (114g) – Value $9
This value is from the information card since this company doesn’t have its own online shop. I think these were also made exclusively for BarkBox! This is a Canadian company and it looks like all their products are made in Canada and sourced from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Italy (so nothing from China).
Obligatory picture of Nyx. This toy lasted longer than many, and the squeaker kept going long after the toy was damaged.
I say in a lot of these reviews that toys don’t last Nyx very long. I thought I would show some photographic evidence this time. The piece of the crown that is missing, well, she swallowed. (Don’t worry. Stuff like this happens with Nyx a lot. It always passes through. She once ate an entire Gentle Leader harness, plastic parts included.) There were more punctures on the other side.
And here is the pretzel. The weak points were clearly the stitches holding it into a pretzel shape. Nyx wanted to play tug with this and you can see what happened. There was a squeaker in the pretzel, which no longer works. Also, the cloth on this was pretty tough, she didn’t manage to rip it open at all. I think toy companies should hire us to find weaknesses in their products…
Verdict: I calculated a value of $47 for the December 2015 BarkBox (large dog version). This is well over the cost of the subscription, and the toys lasted longer than many others we’ve tried lately, so that’s nice. I thought they did a good job sticking to a theme, but am kind of wondering if this is an introductory box since the small dog box this month had a completely different theme?
What do you think of the December 2015 BarkBox dog subscription box? Do you subscribe to any dog or cat boxes?
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