Affiliate & Advertising Disclosure
Last updated: September 27, 2026
The short version
The First 90 Days is free to read, and keeping it free costs money. Some links on this site are affiliate links, and some pages show display ads. If you buy something through an affiliate link, we may earn a commission — at no extra cost to you. That commission is what keeps the lights on.
What affiliate links are
An affiliate link is a normal link with a tracking tag attached. When you click one and make a purchase, the retailer (for example, Amazon or a pet insurance company) pays us a small percentage or a flat fee as a thank-you for the referral. You pay exactly the same price you would have paid anyway.
We participate in programs including Amazon Associates and pet-brand and pet-insurance affiliate programs run through networks like ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, and Impact.com. Articles that contain affiliate links carry a notice near the top of the page.
What display ads are
Some pages on this site display advertising served by an ad network. We don't choose individual ads; the network matches them to the page topic and to you. We may also run our own promotions for our digital products (like budget spreadsheets and printable checklists), which are clearly our own.
How we keep recommendations honest
Three rules we hold ourselves to:
- We recommend what we'd buy for our own dogs. If a cheap option works fine, we say so — and we regularly tell readers what not to buy.
- Commissions don't change the verdict. We rank and review based on what actually works for first-time owners. A higher commission never moves a product up the list.
- When we're unsure, we say so. Health topics always end with "ask your vet" — we inform, we never prescribe or diagnose.
Questions?
If you ever want to know whether a specific link is an affiliate link, or you have a concern about how we make money, we'd genuinely like to hear from you, and we'll answer plainly.