Dog advent calendars have gone from novelty to mainstream in the space of about five years. They're now a genuinely popular category — which means the range of quality has also expanded significantly in both directions.
Here's how to choose a good one.
What Separates a Good Dog Advent Calendar from a Bad One
The Treats Inside
This is everything. The calendar itself — the cardboard box with numbered windows — is not the product. The product is what's inside those windows. A good dog advent calendar contains natural treats with clean ingredient lists. A bad one contains artificially coloured, heavily processed treats dressed up in festive packaging.
Check the back of the calendar for an ingredients list or a description of the treats inside. If you can't find an ingredients list, that's itself informative.
Appropriate for Your Dog's Size
Many advent calendars contain one-size treats that are either too small to be meaningful for a large dog or too large for a small breed. Our dog advent calendars are designed with this in mind — the treats are appropriate in portion size for different dog sizes.
Genuine Variety
Twenty-four days of the same treat is not a calendar — it's a bag divided into windows. A genuinely good advent calendar has variety: different treat types, different textures, different formats across the 24 days. This keeps the daily ritual genuinely exciting from window 1 to window 24.
The Unboxing Experience
A good advent calendar should feel like a proper occasion each morning. The ritual of opening a window together is part of what makes it valuable — not just the treat itself but the shared moment. A calendar that falls apart by day three or whose windows don't close properly undermines that.
When to Buy
Dog advent calendars sell out consistently every year from mid-October onwards. If you're reading this before October: buy now. If you're reading this in October: buy this week. If you're reading this in November: check stock immediately and order the same day.
The best calendars go first. The ones still available in late November are usually the ones nobody wanted.
The Advent Calendar as a Gift
A dog advent calendar makes a brilliant gift for a dog owner — arguably better than a one-off gift box, because it creates a daily ritual that lasts three and a half weeks. The recipient thinks of you every single morning in December.
👉 See our dog advent calendars — and order before they sell out
👉 Browse our full Christmas gifts for dogs range here
