Very frightening I was putting off working this out but OH is at the gym he won't see the total. Monthly costs Food /treats-£60 Food supplements £30 Pet insurance (life cover) £42 Training class £25 Petrol for my car £40 There is no way I use an extra tank full if I didn't have a dog as Im always off somewhere different. Car parking/ coffee £20 Hydrotherapy £70 Other outgoings Toys over the last two years £200. She has all sorts of brain games which I've included. Plus bits and pieces I have bought for training. Beds £150 Collar, leads, harnesses etc £300 Blankets £80 Ruff and tumble dressing gown and sofa throw £110 Car sear covers and bot tidy £80 Towels £30 Crate x 2 £180 (she chewed the first very fancy one!) Replacements of boots and coats (£500) I'm sure if I didn't walk my dog twice a day every day I would still be wearing my original outdoor clothing from a few years ago. Books, I love reading dog training books £80 Visit to Crufts £100ish Holidays are more expensive in the UK but there is no way I would leave her at home. Holidays4Dogs £18.50 a day. This year that comes to £425 as I'm visiting my baby granddaughter in Sydney. There is no way I could send her anywhere else the lady who looks after her absolutely adores her and I would pay double. Expenses associated with her Elbow Dysplasia Reconfiguration of the garden to remove steps £2,000 Suitable flooring in family room/kitchen £1,000 I'm sure there is more I could add. Without a doubt Mabel costs a fortune, we needed the garden doing anyway probably but would have just done things a little different and cheaper. My neighbour on the other hand is still using the same lead she bought 4 years ago, buys one bag of treats a week and cheap food and her dog sleeps on blankets from the charity shop. She seems a happy little dog, but for me that's not how I like to do things. I like buying things for her, OH rolled his eyes this morning as I had bought a sparkling tag to go with her pink collar. Some girls can never get enough pink bling.
I CAN'T HEAR/READ ANY OF THIS lalalalalala. In complete denial about the costs associated with owning dogs.
I don't think I spend nearly as much as most of you guys, though I don't have dog walkers/day care to fork out for. Food is £45 every 6 weeks or so. Insurance £58.80 per month. Treats no more than £10. Hydrotherapy for fun £40. Toys new collars etc are Christmas and birthdays and amount to no more than £50 a year. Joint supplements £25 every 3 months. Extra fuel maybe £30 a month When she was taking Previcox it was around a £1 a day for this but only used sometimes now. (probably £1000 so far) Wormers and tick/flea treatments £200 maybe so far - its the Bravecto. Beds and bedding £150 and crate £60 over the almost 7 years we have had her. No boarding costs (odd bottle of wine here and there for my SIL) Dog classes/agility over the years maybe £750. New mobile phone (chewed) £150 2 new hoovers around £300 I'm sure there is more that I will think of........ I have developed an expensive taste in wellies and walking boots but already had the thermals from kids football! Lilly thinks she is deprived and I should just get ordering that nice leather collar and big box of treats for her birthday.....
Oh my word! I didn't factor in the cost of the dog beds.... Just as well really, as we probably are on bed No: 31.....
I daren't write it down for Charlie as he has cost us more money than the cost of a litter of pure breed Labradors! Hattie hasn't!! xx
I'm pretty sure my dogs don't cost a penny. Nope, they can't. Definitely not. It's got to be cheaper than the gym membership, Slimming World and therapy sessions I'd need without them
Absolutely. Think how much money we would spend, swanning about shops buying expensive clothes, meals out, the ones you mentioned about and counselling for depression! Having dogs is definitely a cheap option
My budget is in South African Rands so it would depend on where you are to convert it to your currency. Dry food every 6-8 weeks: R 900.00 Tinned food: R 120.00/ month Treats: R 300.00/ month Dewormer at the moment as a puppy: R 150.00/ 6 weeks Flea and Tick protection: R 150.00 / month Toys - the worst is over now: R 300.00/ month Puppy classes: R 450.00 for 6 weeks Petrol for play dates and puppy classes: R 150.00 / month (I drive a very economical vehicle) Vaccinations: R 500.00 / year Initial puppy vaccinations and deworming etc: R 2 000.00 Vet bill thus far for other requirements: R 1 500.00 So initially Harls cost R 1 000.00 to buy. Initial set up for harness, food, Kong toys and other toys: R 3 000.00 First socialization puppy class was free from our vet practice. Monthly total/estimate so far: about R 1 500.00 - R 2 000.00 without vet bills
Hmm. I didn't pay for Jess, as she came from my parents' dog. So that bit was a bargain. Everything else.... Initial outlay: Crates (car and house), vet bed - £120 Collars, leads, harnesses - 4 harnesses to date, that's about £100. Leads and collars maybe another £50. Dog beds (x2) = £70 Training - probably about £250 to date Toys- probably about £100 Vaccinations/flea/tick/deworming/vet bills/special food- about £300 so far? Wellies, outdoor jacket - £150 Training books - £50 Training dummies, whistle, gundog gear - £60 Running costs: Food /treats- about £50 a month Pet insurance - £20 (though wondering why my policy seems much cheaper than everyone else's!) Extra petrol - about £40 a month? Probably more. Dog walking - about £150 a month = 260 a month That's probably not everything but it's still considerably more than I realised.... But worth it, of course...... And if I do manage to make progress with her training I will eventually be able to offset my beaters' pay of £25 a day during the pheasant shooting season!
I just can't face writing down the costs! Vet bills are the highest altho thankfully we have pet insurance. But I never think about money when it comes to Snowie - if I must pay, I just do. As for myself, well, have to save somewhere! As a puppy I could not resist buying a toy or treat every other day. Now he's older and I buy the odd treat. That's not to say he doesn't get loads of treats - they're the human food kind so I'm not specifically buying them at the pet shop. But I don't buy toys anymore and he has enough balls now to last a life time! We do save on holidays - they're mostly with him, which means renting a house on a beach, and that's a lot cheaper than a hotel! And of course we hardly eat out on holiday cos few places are dog friendly. And when not on holiday we stay home a lot more because of him. Hey - a dog is huge savings!!!!
Not sure this is quite right, but tried a currency converter to work this out https://themoneyconverter.com/ZAR/GBP.aspx R 1000.00 is around £62 GB ? Not sure what the average labrador costs in the UK but £600 plus for bog standard pedigree which is not much change out of R 10.000 ???
Snowie cost R6000 5 years ago. I'm told a pedigree Labrador costs R8000 now. So much for pedigree and all the health screening tests... It didn't save on all the health issues he's ended up with and that we didn't think to ask about!
Yes, R 8000.00 is about average for a pedigree dog. Harls just looks like a lab, that is as far as her pedigree goes We met her canine mother, who was really a lovely dog but we just trusted that her father was mostly labrador
Just remembered I didn't factor in the new clothes I had to buy as she ripped endless knitted dresses and jumpers. At six months old I decided she needed to be on a harness on the back sear of the car, so she bit through the seat belt in OH's new two week old Range Rover No laughing matter really but she has never sunk her teeth into anything in my 10 year old Fiesta. I'd forgotten about the endless beds she demolished before she was six months old. Looking back what was I thinking of, buying gorgeous beds to compliment my furniture in the lounge!! On a massive plus side I sold all my vintage handbags and loads of lovely Boden dresses etc on eBay making about £250. Sort of evens things out a bit. Also I don't have weekly manicures and pedicures anymore so I'm saving a fortune.
I would agree it probably cancels itself out as I've made big savings elsewhere. My gym membership has gone since I never get time to go (although My jeans are significantly tighter now ). I never buy new clothes as we don't really go out very much and just tend to walk the dog. Definitely spend less on alcohol/meals out. I seem to spend a large amount in lint rollers though..
I'm with @Pilatelover and @JenBainbridge on all the savings -- I generally spend my time in dog walking clothes (denim shorts and a T-shirt). Hardly buy clothes anymore because I have minimum use for nice new things, and work attire is jeans and a company T-shirt, which if I am to honest, doubles as my dog walking clothes! As a friend with a Lab, who happens to work in the same company as me, said: I will only buy an item of clothing if I can use it to wear to work, wear socially, and for walking the dog! I often think to myself: THANK GOODNESS Snowie doesn't care what I look like; he loves me just the way I am! Haven't been to the beautician in years, it makes no difference to him if my legs are furry or not! (Thankfully it doesn't make any difference to my husband either!) Walking a dog saves on so many levels!
@MF you and Snowiest with matching furry legs, that image has made my day. . I had laser hair removal many years ago so no matching furry legs for me and Mabel unfortunately.
Come on, you can do it! Actually you are not alone at all - my friend has a faun chihuahua with clear nails that would take all of one minute to clip with no danger at all of hitting the quick because you can see precisely where it is. Plus she's perpetually broke (the friend, not the dog), but she still forks out EUR15 every few weeks for nail cutting. I've told her I'd do it for her when I dog sit (I'm a full service doggie auntie!) but she won't take me up on it and I won't do it (of course) without her permission. Maybe she thinks that the only reason I didn't accidentally cut Brogan's leg off when I did his nails for 13 years was because it was too big to fit inside the clippers? Of course, this also the same friend who took her dog to an emergency vet because she THOUGHT she saw a flea (SPOILER: she didn't). So not a real "do it yourself-er.
