Also great
The selection changes as your puppy grows, and there’s less chance of receiving repeat items each month than with other options.
Get PupBox if you have a puppy or you prefer a service that rarely repeats itself. The selection of goods matures as your puppy grows, and there were fewer instances of duplicate items than with PupJoy Box. But the number of items in PupBox can vary from box to box, deliveries are slower, shipping cadences can’t be changed, and the company has a limited return policy.
We like PupBox for its high-quality dog gear that keeps puppies in mind. Pet owners tailor their boxes based on a dog’s age, biological sex, weight class, coat length, and food allergies. And each box designed for puppies ships with a training insert and a corresponding accessory. The box assembled for our 4-month-old puppy offered socialization and teething advice, and included a Petstages Cutie Chewies Hedgehog rubber dental toy and N-Bone Puppy Teething Rings treats.
We liked the included age-specific advice and accessories, but experienced dog owners may have little use for them. “This was a close second in terms of the boxes. I really did like the extra info on raising a puppy, and it would’ve been more useful for me if I didn’t have that sort of knowledge,” Kim said. “If it’s been a long time since you’ve had a puppy or never had one before, this would definitely be my first choice.”
The toys were free of defects. Most of the treats had an expiration date of about a year and were made in the United States or Canada. PupBox never shipped identical toys or treats, unlike PupJoy, whose boxes occasionally had duplicates during our tests. (Overall, we still prefer PupJoy over PupBox because it’s $6.50 less, on average, each month, and the net value is about $8 higher, too.)
Shipping is included in the United States; there’s a $5 surcharge to ship to Canada. Initial boxes arrived eight days after ordering, and new boxes arrived every 30 days.
PupBox disappointed us by varying the number of items received each month, so the corresponding value varied each month, too. (For example, we valued an April 2019 box for a small dog at $28 and a May 2019 box for a small dog at $50.) Every box included five to seven items, but the breakdown among toys, treats, and chews fluctuated more than with other services we reviewed. If dogs are partial to toys rather than treats (or vice versa), they may be occasionally shortchanged. BarkBox, Bullymake Box, and PupJoy boxes were more consistent in their allotments, and they always included two toys.
This was another dog subscription box that didn’t consistently curate boxes based on a theme. PupBox carries your pet from puppyhood to doghood, so boxes for puppies arrive with an extra accessory relevant to your dog’s age (like a leash-walking leaflet and a 6-foot-long leash). Adult dogs, though, don’t receive any special treatment, even though the puppy and adult boxes cost the same. Our adult-dog panelists did receive, in one box, a jar of discontinued, pet-friendly Burt’s Bees soothing skin cream. Does a discontinued item really count as a special extra?
Deliveries are slower, too. Shipments arrived every 30 days, four days slower than with PupJoy. And like most of the dog subscription boxes we tested, PupBox ships only monthly. Pet owners may email customer service to skip a month or switch to every-two-month delivery, but our testers preferred PupJoy’s process, which lets you manage your subscription yourself via the website.
Finally, PupBox’s return policy isn’t as generous as those of our other picks. PupBox doesn’t offer refunds and doesn’t accept returns. But it does consider problems on a case-by-case basis for “extenuating circumstances.” (PupJoy says user satisfaction is guaranteed, and BarkBox and Bullymake offer replacements for defective items.) Pet owners may have better luck contacting the pet toy or treat manufacturer directly if an item is defective. Darren Silverman, vice president of national sales at Petmate, one of PupBox’s suppliers, said: “We encourage customers to call 1-800-Petmate, and our consumer services team will try to resolve any issues with our products.”
Price: $29 to $39, depending on the plan
Items per box: five to seven
Shipping frequency: monthly
Ships to: United States; Canada ($5 surcharge)
Return policy: Case-by-case only
