Handi To Have At Hand (Pet Crew Handi Drink)

Member Name: FourPaws

Product:	Pet Crew Handi Drink
Date:	30/05/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good design, well made, cheap, good capacity, portable

Disadvantages: It does leak a little bit

*What is the Pet Crew Handi Drink?*
This portable dog drinking device is produced by the American company Pet Crew, who make and produce a wide range of pet care items including grooming and feeding equipment, toys, travel equipment, treats and health care items for a variety of domestic kept pets.

*The product itself*
I don't know about where any of you lot are, but here, in Essex, it is absolutely boiling today. The sun is shining with barely a cloud in the sky and it's absolutely lovely. Well, it would be if I wasn't stuck in work- thankfully I'm only here for another hour or so, with nothing really to do, so I thought it was the perfect time to review an item which is absolutely priceless to me all year round, but in the summer months especially.

With the warm weather, I'm really quite paranoid about my dogs suffering heatstroke- I do everything I possibly can do to prevent it but it is always something I worry about, mainly because of Benson with his incredibly thick coat and the fact that I see many dogs each year coming into the surgery suffering with this potential fatal condition. We don't go out walking during the warmth of the day, I try to make sure the dogs are always chilling out and relaxing somewhere either inside or in the shade when the sun is shining, take them down to the lake for a swim often and lastly, I try to encourage them to drink plenty of water throughout the course of the day.

At home or here at work, it isn't so much of a problem as there is always a bowl of fresh, cool water for them whenever they want it, but when out and about- either in the car, on walks, at the beach or at agility and flyball classes, drinking water isn't always available, other than from streams and lakes which I am slightly cautious of them drinking from since Grace got ill after drinking from a stream last year. However, lugging around a big bottle of water and a bowl to drink for isn't the most practical solution ever either, so this is why compact, portable drinking bottles like this one are invaluable to me!

For many years, I had a pretty decent one that I got from the RAC- it leaked a little bit so always had to be kept upright, but other than that, it did the job. Benson clearly didn't like it however as he decided to chew it up last year, so a replacement was needed pretty quickly. Not wanting to wait for another RAC bottle to be delivered from online, I headed off to Pets At Home to see what was available and came across this specific one.

The Handi Drink is a small, lightweight (well, until filled with water!) and compact drinking bottle with incorporates both a bottle to hold the water and a dish for your dog to drink for, all in one easy to carry portable item which can be taken anywhere you please.

It consists of a clear plastic bottle with a sports cap type lid which you simply fill with fresh water before leaving your house, then you clip the bottle onto the coloured tray and hey presto- you're done. The tray folds up to cover the bottle when not in use and then you simply need to flip down the tray, pull the bottle up slightly to open the cap and then squeeze the desired amount of water into the tray for your dog to drink. A rubber seal is fitted around the cap to prevent, or minimise, leaks and there is a belt clip included to for easy of carrying.

*Packaging*
The Handi Drink has very minimal packaging, simply being attached to a small piece of cardboard which gives a small amount of information about the product such as filling and care instructions aswell as contact details for Pet Crew, should you have any questions or comments. This however is an American contact, so any problems may best be dealt with via the internet.

*Price & Availability*
The Handi Drink seems to be quite a popular product and is widely stocked in many pet shops, both on and offline. You have a choice of three colours- pink, purple or blue and the Handi Drink comes in three sizes. I purchased my Handi Drink from Pets At Home where the prices are as follows:

Mini (265 ml capacity)- £3.56
Regular (500 ml capacity) - £3.99
Jumbo (710 ml capacity) - £4.99

*My opinion*
As far as I'm concerned, these portable dog drinking bottles such as the Handi Drink are one of the most useful inventions ever produced and are one of few items that I use pretty much every single day. When Benson chewed up our old RAC bottle, I wanted a replacement pretty quickly and seeing as all Pets At Home had in stock was the Handi Drink, that is what I settled on!

I was initially going to go for the Jumbo size as that seemed the best size for Grace and Benson however they had none in the pink colour that I wanted, so I went for the Regular size, which I'm quite glad I did, as thinking about it now, the Jumbo would have been too heavy to carry around once filled with water. I was very impressed by the price, I paid nearly ten pounds I think for my old RAC bottle and these Handi Drinks were less than half the price but seemed of higher quality.

Back at home, Grace and Benson had a flyball class that evening so the bottle was put to use almost straight away. I did find that I had to give the bottle I good wash out with hot water and washing up liquid as there was quite a strong plastic smell coming from it and I didn't want it to taint the taste of the water, but once I'd done this and left to dry, no smell whatsoever remained.

The bottle was incredibly easy to fill. I simply needed to detach the bottle from the tray part, unscrew the lid, fill with water, pop the lid back on and attach to the tray and that was it- the bottle held an adequate amount of water and I gave it a little shake to see if it leaked, and much to my joy- it didn't. I then bundled the dogs and the bottle in the car and we set off to flyball. Our class isn't until half seven, so it's reasonably cool but even so, when the dogs are running about they get warm pretty quickly and it wasn't long until they wanted a drink.

I flipped down the tray and squeezed some water into it and it came out at a steady pace and enabled me to control how much water I wanted to dispense. It took around a quarter of the bottle to fill the tray, which was quite pleasing as there was plenty left for later and then I held it whilst the dogs drank. At this point, it starts to become a bit of a pain that the bottle isn't freestanding- you have to hold it whilst your dog drinks and if your dogs are anything like Grace and Benson, your hands get covered in a lovely mixture of drool, slobber and water but anyway, a full tray was enough to supply both Grace and Benson with a small drink each and they found it very easy to drink from, unlike the RAC bottle which had quite a narrow tray which Grace struggled to use. The small drops of water they had left in the tray were easy to chuck away and then I folded the bottle back up for later.

I found it kept the water pretty cool. It was around an hour from filling the bottle to the dogs having their first drink and it was still pleasantly cool for them. Admittedly, another hour or so later when the dogs had their final drink after they'd finished their flyball, the water had warmed up slightly, but it was still of a drinkable temperature and they really didn't seem all that bothered. They were both quite thirsty when they finished and they did drink the remainder of the bottle between them, and could have drank more, but even so, the Handi Drink provided them with enough water for the pair of them to hydrate until we got home and they could have a proper, long drink.

The belt clip is pretty flimsy, I have to say, and it broke within the first couple of weeks of having the bottle, but it doesn't affect to performance- it still held water well and the dogs could drink easily and the bottle is incredibly easy to clean. It just needs a quick wash with some warm water and washing up liquid, then rinsed and left to dry after each use and it keeps it in good condition. The bottle has been chucked around a fair bit, been dropped, covered in sand and mud and been left in the full sun with no ill effects to it, there are a few scratches to be seen but nothing major and the colour has remained a nice bright, vivid pink.

We've had the Handi Drink around a year now, and admittedly, it does leak a little bit now but nothing too problematic and it was probably caused by me not being that careful with it, but all in all, a fantastic product. It doesn't hold massive amounts of water, but holds enough for both of my dogs to have a quick refresh when out and about where drinking water isn't always available, such as at the beach or when we are in the car and it helps keep them healthy and hydrated and much safer in the warm weather.

Thoroughly recommended- they are incredibly cheap, extremely useful and a must have piece of equipment for all dog owners this summer.

Summary: Much easier than trying to lug a big bottle of water and a bowl around!