# How much Does it really cost to Raise a Dog?



## tomatoboi (Jan 9, 2007)

hey guys, im gonna be getting a dog reall soon. (shih tzu) . How muc money do u guys spend on ur dogs each week, or month?


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## puppymom (Dec 18, 2006)

It all depends on what you are willing to spend I guess. Our first couple weeks with our pups was fairly expensive. We had to purchase crates (approx. $60.00 each), food ($35.00/20lb bag), treats and toys (approx. $40.000 and then there was the first round of shots, etc which was about $50.00 per pup.

We don't cheap out when it comes to our pups. We only buy good quality food, toys, etc. It's all in what you want to spend but hopefully you realize there are costs involved in owning a pet.

Good luck with your new pup.

PS. If you choose to take the pup to puppy classes, that is an added expense also.


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## FranMan (Jan 1, 2007)

tomatoboi said:


> hey guys, im gonna be getting a dog reall soon. (shih tzu) . How muc money do u guys spend on ur dogs each week, or month?


It depends on if you plan on the dog getting sick or not. A dog that never gets sick and you don't do much with them can be pretty cheap.


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## Snowshoe (Nov 17, 2006)

I've spent about $2,500 on my dog so far. 

That includes what I paid for her, puppy class, the food I carefully picked out for her to eat, grooming utensils, occasionally kenneling her if need be, collars, toys, bones, crate, doggy toothpaste, vet expenses (booster shots, microchipping, etc.) 

She's only 9 months old, too!! LOL!!!


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## georgygirl (Nov 28, 2006)

Well, I've spent almost $1000 on Joey and he's 6 months old. With crate, grooming, toys, food, and vet expenses it has added up I guess. But he's definitely worth it...... most of the time.


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## FranMan (Jan 1, 2007)

If I add up both dogs hmmm

Sabot was free and came with a crate and toys KC was 250

275 in vet bills
600 in fence
300 in the underground E fence
150ish in collars,chains, harnesses and leashes 
400 in training

50 a month in food

so 2000 with a free rottweiler.


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## britishbandit (Dec 11, 2006)

Oh I couldn't even count what I've spent on my dogs...LOL. A heck of a lot more than I spend on me that's for sure. I also put money away out of my paycheck every week for "emergency money", should anything happen to any of my pets.

Put it this way, I spend over $1500/year just on kibble....haha. That doesn't include the RAW I feed on occasion, toys, treats and chews, vet checks, training, shots, flea preventative, the numerous crates/xpen, collars, leashes, salmon oil pills........etc....

I'm not sure I really want to calculate all of it up into an approximate total, I'd probably have a heart attack! LOL


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

My Peke is about the size of a full-grown Shih Tzu (a larger one, anyway) and I don't spend any more than $20 a month on food (dry & canned) and treats. Flea/tick & heartworm preventative is about $15 a month. Basic vet care (vaccinations, checkup, stool check) would be about $75 a year, extra if any problems. The first year will be the most expensive, since you'll need to go through a series of vaccinations, neutering, buying all the supplies, etc.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

i read some where that dogs cost about 3500-5000 dollers a year to keep.

Dont skimp out on food. But expensive good food. It may seem like alot of money. but you wont need to feed to much of it as it wont be filled with all kinds of crap and wont make them as sick. Health check ups cost about 125 bucks here to get done (with shots). Toys I just buy at the dolelr store. I refuse to pay 15 dollers for a stuffed animal my dogo tears apart in a hour (They are supposed to be doggy proofed toys at the pet store. Pffftt dog proof my ass, I spent 20 somthing bucks on a large stuffed animal Blaze tore up with in a day). Puppy classes here run about 100 bucks for 6 weeks. Puppies cost alot, older dogs cost less as they wont need all the shots and check ups as puppies need.


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## DogAdvocat (Nov 30, 2006)

Except older dogs still need boosters, and they do need routine checkups, including dental care. It's so sad that people think that once they get a dog through the puppy stage, that they're done with vets until an illness or injury occurs. Routine vet checkups can help prevent those costly visits for illnesses.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

If you are talking abotu what i wrote about older dogs. offcourse they need yearly check ups and boosters. I just meant that puppies need more then the 3 year old dog ect. Puppies are more expensive then a older dog (offcourse a healthy older dog). You need yeraly check ups and such to make sure the dog is healthy. i hope I make myself clear now. Sorry.


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## DogAdvocat (Nov 30, 2006)

Tankstar said:


> If you are talking abotu what i wrote about older dogs. offcourse they need yearly check ups and boosters. I just meant that puppies need more then the 3 year old dog ect. Puppies are more expensive then a older dog (offcourse a healthy older dog). You need yeraly check ups and such to make sure the dog is healthy. i hope I make myself clear now. Sorry.


Please don't be sorry. Your post was right on, but I think it's difficult to remember everything, and I just wanted to clear up that point in case the OP thought that when puppyhood was over, there wouldn't be any expense. No offense intended.


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

Plus, routine checkups and having a good relationship with your vet will make it a lot easier to get an appointment when you really do NEED one. You'll get in a lot quicker as a responsible owner in good standing than the person they saw once 5 years ago for puppy shots.


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## Elijah (Dec 30, 2006)

I sometimes wonder if the annual vaccinations and the booster shots do more harm than good. Could it be they eventually destroying the health and immune system? The routine vaccination. From what I've read vaccines only need to be given once or twice in a dogs lifetime. Think about it. the pet is injected with the actual disease the vaccine is trying to prevent like parvo or distemper...sort of like our flu shots. The flu shot is just to wake up the body into realizing what a given virus looks like and it remembers this-so, how many vaccinations are needed to imprint the memory of that disease in your dogs immune system? If the body has an immune system that is capable of remembering that virus/disease, how many vaccinations are needed? I would think only one or two. I think we sometimes vaccinate our pets to death. Just a thought. It's an old school thought that we all have kept. Why would a "booster shot" be needed to wake up your pet's immune system since it already has antibodies from previous injections? Food for thought.


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## DogAdvocat (Nov 30, 2006)

You raise a controversial subject that I see a lot of "doggy people" discuss, and I don't know the answer, but what a lot of people choose to do is have their vet run a titer to see if the dog is protected or not. So add this to the cost of having a dog instead of the shots.


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## LuigisMomma (Jan 11, 2007)

Although plenty of people have responded to this question, I'll throw in my two cents. We got out puppy on December 19th, this is what I've paid thus far. 
I got him from a shelter, his adoption fee was $75. This may or may not be an expense you need to worry about, depending on where and how you're getting your pup. 

--His crate, food and toys probably have totaled to around $80 - $100 thus far
(we were lucky enough to receive a free bag of Science Diet from the shelter and one from our Vet though) 
--1st vet appt was for dewormer (he had roundworms), Heartguard (just one dose) and his first distemper shot with the exam cost around $70
--"Emergency" vet appt cause he was sick, needed new medicine for a parasite issue was about $50
--Second distemper and heartguard was about $40
--Third distemper and exam should be about $40 or $50 again
--I got a quote for him to get neutered and that came to be around $250 and he has a hernia that is going to be fixed for $90. But in most counties I've seen where you can get vouchers and coupons to get your pet neutered or spayed at a cheaper rate. 

Basically, being fresh in puppy debt, I can tell you that in the beginning, it's not cheap. You have at least 3 sets of distemper shots you have to get and depending on the puppy's illness or if they have worms, it can cost even more. If you're willing to put in the money and time in the beginning then they will end up healthy and just need the once or twice a year check up and then food and updating the treats. As others stated, training classes are available, but I do not use them. They are too expensive for me. I'm only a college student living on my own, but if you can afford them, it'd be something to look at. That's my two cents and trying to help at all...Good Luck! Dogs are the greatest thing someone can ever have, they become family.


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## littlepugs25 (Jan 14, 2007)

*I can help...*

well my first dog that i bought was over 1,000 do not buy mixed breeds they are very hard to raise! so just trust me... !


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## DogAdvocat (Nov 30, 2006)

littlepugs25 said:


> well my first dog that i bought was over 1,000 do not buy mixed breeds they are very hard to raise! so just trust me... !


Sorry, can't do that (trust you), as I know that just isn't true. Mixed breeds aren't any harder to raise than purebreds. Some dogs are more difficult than others to train, usually because the dog is way too smart, but it has nothing to do with whether they are pure or mixed.

Could it have been because it was the first dog you had, and didn't know how to train it, and didn't seek help in training it?


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## nicole84 (Nov 28, 2006)

We have a 9 week old great dane puppy and we have already spent 1700.00.


1.cost of puppy

2.vet visit-shots,check-ups and microchipping

3.food

4.toys and so on.


but thats what it takes when you take on the responceablity of a puppy.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

littlepugs25 said:


> well my first dog that i bought was over 1,000 do not buy mixed breeds they are very hard to raise! so just trust me... !


That is just wrong. There really is no heakth differnce between them and a pure breed. Your name has pugs in it. Did you know pugs have alot more health problems then alot of breeds of dogs, becuase they have the squieshed in face ect? Mixed breeds are no more money then a purebreed.


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## nrhareiner (Dec 6, 2006)

There are many ways too keep the cost down. however for the first time dog owner I would not sugest them.

I know I pay nothing near what anyone here has listed to keep any animil here not even my horses.

Heidi


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## Poodlemaniac (Nov 23, 2006)

This week I spent about $400. $380 for the vet bill and $20 for a bag of food and I have a toy poodle so you know the bag wasn't very big! I once had a very large yellow lab...about 130 lbs. He ate like a horse, had hundreds of dollars worth of toys and was always going to the vet for one thing or another. I probably spent $200 a month on him easily...but he sure gave us some great memories. He was one dog that couldn't do anything wrong and when he did...hey, you just couldn't scold him!


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## babydolwv (Dec 5, 2006)

i havent spent quite as much on my pup as a few here mention as the food i buy is a bit cheaper and my pup came with a certificate to be spayed and the first vet check...all paid as well as her first set of shots which she got before she left the shelter... i also get a flea perventive from walmart as the vet said it was ok as long as is worked... and her heartworm med... and i also get most of her toys from the dollar store... except for her chew bones i get those at walmart as she seems to like them better since they have beef flavoring..lol




Elijah said:


> I sometimes wonder if the annual vaccinations and the booster shots do more harm than good. Could it be they eventually destroying the health and immune system? The routine vaccination. From what I've read vaccines only need to be given once or twice in a dogs lifetime. Think about it. the pet is injected with the actual disease the vaccine is trying to prevent like parvo or distemper...sort of like our flu shots. The flu shot is just to wake up the body into realizing what a given virus looks like and it remembers this-so, how many vaccinations are needed to imprint the memory of that disease in your dogs immune system? If the body has an immune system that is capable of remembering that virus/disease, how many vaccinations are needed? I would think only one or two. I think we sometimes vaccinate our pets to death. Just a thought. It's an old school thought that we all have kept. Why would a "booster shot" be needed to wake up your pet's immune system since it already has antibodies from previous injections? Food for thought.



well i would think part of the reason they need 3 of certain ones would be cause they are only puppies and the dosage would be smaller than an older dog as there system is more tolerable, but that would be just a guess... and u mention flu shots... dont people get a flu shot every year as do dogs with there shots once they pass the puppy stage. i got my pup almost 2 months ago and am proud to say she only has 1 set of shots left to go and has been spayed as of 12 days ago... 




littlepugs25 said:


> well my first dog that i bought was over 1,000 do not buy mixed breeds they are very hard to raise! so just trust me... !


i would have to completely disagree as just about every one of my dogs have been mix breed and the current pup i have is a mixed breed...but from what i have learned from coming here is when its comes to training the pup is not at fault...the fault only falls in the hands of the owner... the hardest part i have found in training a pup is finding the best technique that fits your dog... as a few have said some dogs are smarter than others and can out wit u faster than u can think... altho mine is pretty smart and knows how to play the "oh look but mommy i am soo pittyful" look...i will give her that, but i out wit her....lol she is a completely great dog and i love her to death....


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## rottielover (Jan 15, 2007)

Cost of dog 1200 cdn
food per month 65$ kibble 50$ raw so far 2760$
neuter 250$
xray for hips 85$
toys, crate, more toys ????? lots
Training 800$ and still doing.
vet bills sinse I had him 2500$
the vet bills has been his toe amputation, an obstruction, many illnesses, so on
so the cost to raise a dog = unknown.
you never know what may happen. Accidents happen all the time, illnesses happen. so without toys and such I have spent approx 7000$ to date
But all worth it. I have made many friends... BB you know who you are


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## Stormy Malaise (Jan 19, 2007)

If you have a healthy dog that never has problems, it's not that bad. My Chocolate lab only cost $250 from a reputable breeder, which specializes in breeding "companion" dogs. I got lucky, it was Christmas and they were in the seasonal spirit. The other one I paid $60 at local shelter. I only pay $160 per year for annual shots for the 2 of them and so far no extra for health issues. And about $60 per month for food, and maybe $200 per year in replacement collars leashes, and toys/treats. I spoil my dogs with trips to the groomer about once a month, which only cost me $64 for a wash and dry, a complete brushing to remove shedding hair, and cute little bandana they can chew on when they get home.

The week before Christmas, I spent $450 on a Siberian Husky. I have her on a puppy wellness plan which covers EVERYTHING for the first year, and it cost me $40 per month. This includes having her "fixed" which alone would cost $250 +.
However, she's got a slight overbite, so I have to shell out $350 to have her lower "Baby" canines removed.


But be prepared!!!! Any treatments needed outside of basic care is most likely going to be expensive. But if you love your pet, taking good care of it can make you feel really good..and your pet too


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