Dog Carrier Review: Bark N Bag Monaco Tote

Huxtable tucked away laying in his "Hermes Birkin" inspired Monaco Bag

Huxtable is literally my co-pilot. He's my right hand man and since he only weighs 6-7 pounds and  is well-behaved there really is no reason why he can't come with me almost every where I go. 

As a 3.5lb puppy he fit my medium sized Louis Speedy with room to spare, at 5.5lb he fit perfectly, and now at 6/7lbs he can still ride along when needed, but his head definitely sticks out and his long lean poodle body can't quite "lay" in there like it used to.  I eventually moved him up to my larger LV Trevi (brown damier), but he (and I ) were putting too much wear on it so had to forgo that. 

Hux at about 4 months; Hux at about 1 year 2 months

So, for the past 6 months or so I've been planning to either get the LV dog carrier, sweet talk the BF into getting me a Birkin that I could use for both Hux and I -or- just purchase a carryall tote of whatever brand (LV, Michael Kors, Coach, etc) and just put a piece of cloth/fabric covered cardboard at the bottom to give him better balance and support. But I've been putting it off... and Huxtable has just been placed in whatever large purse I could get my hands on. 

You can imagine my happiness of running across an attractive stylish dog bag that looks JUST like a purse. Now I'll admit that I would like the purse even better if it was solid colored and didn't have tooled leather etchings on the front, but it's still an attractive bag all the same. 

 

The dog tote I discovered at TJMaxx HomeGoods

Huxtable fits in this bag perfectly! He can lay down, sit, and actually stand on all fours. I've been using it for a few days now and so far so good. I don't know how straps will hold up over time, but I'm hoping they can sustain his almost 7lb body for years to come. 

I've been thinking about changing my wardrobe to all black or maybe black and white for the summer (it's a minimalist creative type thing I may do), so I'll need a large black purse for my co-pilot Huxtable. I decided to search for the brand of my HomeGoods dog purse and low and behold they make this style dog tote in many different colors.... including black. 

The different shades of Bark-N-Bag

Bark'N'Bag is an affordable line of stylish dog carriers. All of their carriers are "inspired" by  many of the designer brands... this isn't on their website, but it's apparent in their design. And, I must day, I love them for it! I can't believe it's taken this long for someone to create a stylish affordable line of dog bags. I was actually make preliminary plans to create a line myself, but I can place that on the back burner now that I've discovered Bark'N'Bag.

DETAILED REVIEW:  So far my Bark-N-Bag seems right on par, if not better, for the price. It's a medium to light weight low sheen "leather". The mesh on the side is simple thick black mesh with large enough holes for your dog to breath, but not large enough for him to really tear, get his nose into, or even get his nails through. It zips on top, then snaps on the side-- allowing you more than enough room to comfortably get your pooch in. Pretty simple hardware on the front in keeping with the " Hermès Birkin" look. The bag is able to stand on its own because of the 4 bottom feet, but does have a slight lean because of the pliable "leather" and side panels-- this could be fixed by stuffing the bags with tissue during shipping to maintain the shape. There is one zipped pocket on the inside, so you could store small things (credit card/id/lip gloss/doggie poo bags/tissue). Overall the bag has a good weight, great style, quality construction from what I can tell, and could easily retail for $150. As long as your dog is 8lbs and under this bag should last awhile, if your pooch is pushing 15lbs then it might not stand the test of time. I'll definitely do an updated review within the coming months. 

FYI: "Bark 'N' Bag" is supposedly a play on the name "Birkin Bag", like, Birk-in-Bag hence the style of their main Monaco dog tote. 

Get the Monaco Pet Carrier Tote, HERE.

Get one of the other Bark'N'Bag styles and colors, HERE.

TJ Maxx HomeGoods Happy: Poodle Decor & Dog Accessory Finds

I've been redecorating my front room area-- I went from a classic/traditional ivy/preppy native-inspired type den to a softer luxe peachy feminine oasis. Parts of the room are finished and all the main pieces are there (sofa, tables, chairs, large rug, etc), but I'm still in the process of switching out the accessories and adding those last touches.  With my last decor style my bookcases were filled with items like-- vintage trophy, basketball, great grand father's first camera, vintage college paraphernalia, etc. But now with my more airy, soft and feminine decor I have to switch it up. One of the things I knew I wanted to put on my bookcase were poodles. I was able to order a bronze vintage poodle from online, and I found a ceramic one that matched perfectly, but it broke in the mail :-(. So I've been on the lookout for items to stylishly fill my shelves ever since. 

Well on a recent trip to HomeGoods some of my prayers were answered. I went in search for pillows, but ended up with 2, technically 3 good unexpected finds.  Next to the pillow aisle was a pet aisle. Not only was it filled with bowls and beds, but also a few handsome in-trend pet decor items. As my eyes glanced up and down the shelves I spotted not one, but two matching white ceramic poodles! They sat their poised and ready for the taking! I honestly felt like they would perhaps be too tall for my bookcase, but I couldn't pass them up. I also ended up finding a purse dog carrier, something I rarely ever see in Ross or TJ Maxx. It looked just like a regular purse and was the exact color of the purse I was wearing so I knew it was meant for me. 

Huxtable is in the bag above, he fits perfectly

Long story short-- I went in for pillows to match my new sofa and came out with two ceramic poodles and a stylish cognac colored bag for Huxtable. Did I mention Huxtable was in the store with me too? Well, he was and I'm thinking he might have been my good luck charm. As usual he caught the attention of many, and I had about five 5-minute conversations that took what should have been a 30 minute shopping trip to an hour... but it was okay especially because of our great finds.

Like the commercial, I certainly walked away HomeGoods Happy :-)

Two more posts about the items above to follow.

American Apparel Dog Clothes: Hoodies and Shirts for Pets

Huxtable, the hipster poodle 

I lucked up and got a Groupon for American Apparel. I believe it was $20 for $40 worth of items or something of the like. When I saw the deal I immediately purchased it because I had been eyeing a few of their dog items for Huxtable. 

Ater searching American Apparel's website, seeing the instock and out of stock items, I finally decided to purchase 2 hoodies and 2 shirts.

 The Package

The Goods 

- Gray American Apparel Dog Hoodie

- Navy American Apparel Dog Hoodie

- Navy Blue and Red American Apparel Dog Jersey/ Raglan/ Baseball Tee

- Black and Red American Apparel Ringer/ Rib T-shirt

 

The Rockstar Dog

 

Huxtable's Review: I love my american apparel clothes, they're so comfy! I love to snuggle up in my hoodie during cold fall and winter days. 

Huxtable's Mom Review: My little poodle has alot of dog clothing, and the pet clothing from American Apparel are amongst my favorite. The material for both hoodies and shirts are very soft, they fit well, easy to put on, and they are great basics that easily coordinate with a dog's wardrobe, lol. But best of all, Huxtable seems to really like AA jackets and tees. He'll curl up tight sometimes in a ball, then cock his head forward to put the hoodie up... poodles, lol, they're so smart.

Size: Huxtable was about 6lbs pounds in the photos above, he's about 7lbs now. While toy poodles usually wear smalls, I decided to get him a medium so that he would be comfortable fur and all. They fit perfectly! Poodles are slim, but they have long bodies so it's important to compensate for that by maybe going up one size, especially if they are very fluffy and furry.

When fur filled and wearing a continental clip, AA pet size medium fit best. After Huxtable got his short clip, a small would have definitely worked better. So make the decision based off the predominate clip/cut your pooch sports. 

You can get your dog American Apparel Pet Clothing, Here -or- Here. 

"Mom said she put my hair like this too keep it out my face and to keep my ears  from being chewed on while I ate my bone, but I hope she stops because it's embarrassing"...