All your dog needs to have fun is you.

Sometimes you need some basic stuff: a collar with an ID tag, a leash to keep you two together on the street or in the park. And of course, carrying poop bags is part of being a good citizen.

A treat/bait bag can help you be ready to reward your dog for a well-done sit, stay, or shake, or just to remind him to come back and check in.

It's fun to surprise a dog with a new toy, and toys can also be useful. Tennis balls are appreciated by dogs that fetch—or even dogs like Ichiro, who won’t fetch but likes to pick up a tennis ball, drop it, pick it up, drop it.... Stuffed toys, besides being fun, can channel your dog’s excess excitement into play.

And even if he sleeps on the couch or the foot of your bed, your dog might appreciate a comfy bed of his own.

All that said, dogs don't care about stuff, and dogs don't need stuff.

Dogs know that it’s you—and not the leash—who takes them on walks, and you're the one who lets them off the leash so they can really have fun. And a lot of dogs don't really care what the toy is—they just care that it came from you and that you're going to play with them.

It's we humans who need this stuff for our dogs because they live with us in our homes and in our cities and towns.

But that's okay. Our goal with Skookum Dog gear is to make the best designed, highest quality, most thoughtful versions of these basics we might need to hang out with our dogs.

If we're going to have stuff, let's make it stuff that's well-designed and thoughtfully made. Let's make it stuff we can appreciate. And then let's go out somewhere as wild as we can find and let our dogs — and ourselves — run off-leash.