Dogs – how much do they cost to run?

Missus wants to get a dog, I’ve always wanted one too but always felt they were too much of burden on my independence, but hey I live in the burbs and have kids now so not much of the old independence left.

Thinking about a mutt – medium sized.

Mutt is deffo a cheaper bet, break down less. Also you can get one more off death row rather than lining the pockets of blwdy breeders.

I genuinely don’t get the pedigree thing.

It’s good to bring up kids with a dog, it teaches them about animals and about responsibility. Make it “their” dog, with the responsibilities that go along with that.

Get a smaller one- Terrier. Less aggro (knocking furniture over etc), wont take as much room up in the car etc and if you get the right terrier…….no malting.

probably costs a £1 a day over the course of the year to run. Get one from “tha dogg pound” for £50/100

ive a big dog.
£40 a month on food
£15 insurance

then probably also factor in a further £300 a year for toys, bedding, treats, leads, collars, vets etc.

PS, if you MUST buy a pedigree please try and see both parents. Every westie Ive come across has common skin problems or some other genetic problem (ears etc) – inbred etc. ours thankfully has never had anything even though he is muddy/wet 5/6 times a week 🙂

sorry for the cut/paste, but the forum this is from is restricted.

“THE COST OF KEEPING A DOBERMANN“

A recent national survey showed that 40 percent of people drastically underestimate the cost of keeping a dog. The following figures were reached after a survey of members of this forum.

Feeding: Most people have a fairly good idea about the cost of food and with the wide range of choice available there is a food to suit most people’s budget. The average feeding costs of a Dobermann is between £40 and £50 per month, although depending where you live it can be as much as £80. Raw-feeding generally works out at the same price as good quality complete meal.

Insurance: The cost of veterinary cover varies dramatically. Supermarket insurance would certainly seem to be the much cheaper option than one of the big pet insurance companies, but will probably not give the best cover. Insurance quotes tend to be given individually according to age, history and your postcode. You should also remember that you would have to pay an excess on any claim which can vary from £30 to £90. Insuring a Dobermann on average seems to be £20 to £30 per month.

Routine Vet Costs: Many dog owners do not realise that insuring a pet does not cover the cost of routine treatments such as vaccinations, flea and worm treatment. The cost of a consultation varies countrywide but is generally in the region of £20. The cost of a six month course of a good “spot on” flea treatment is about £30 and worming tablets are about £1 each – the average Dobermann needing about 4 at a time.

Our survey showed most Dobermann owners allow £10 per month for vaccination, flea and worming costs.

Neutering Costs: Obviously a one-off cost but worth bearing in mind when budgeting for you Dobermann. Our survey shows that a male will cost around £120, and a bitch £160 to be neutered. These prices will vary depending on your location and the weight of your dog.

Training: While our survey showed that not everyone uses external training with their dog, those that do spend on average £20 per month.

Kennels: If you go on holiday and need to put your dog in kennels you should also be aware that kennels charge between £10 and £25 per day, depending on the area in which you live.

Treats and Toys: Once again not a necessity but worth bearing in mind that of those surveyed the monthly spend on these extras for their Dobermann ranged between £5 and £20 per month.

So, the results of our survey showed that the monthly cost of keeping a Dobermann works out at approximately £80 per month – WITHOUT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT NEUTERING, TRAINING OR KENNELS COSTS.

Initial costs:
Check over with the vet to make sure its healthy, buying bedding, food and water dishes, some people install a dog flap, or an outside run with a warm kennel. Making sure your garden is escape proof. Replaceing chewed items (furniture, carpet, shoes, wallpaper!) if you have a dog or puppy that is anxious and chews stuff, or that is teething. Lots of dog toys.

Longer costs:
Daily food. Vets bills or insurance. Annual vacinations. Kennel fees or ‘presents for a friend’ for looking after it if you have to go away and leave it behind. Dog training classes. Replacement dog toys as the old ones wear out. Extra charges if you rent a holiday cottage.

Effort:
Walk and ‘throwing things for it’ exercise, possibly multiple times per day, making sure if you go out you are home in time to feed it and let it go out to the loo – this means earlyish in the morning, middle of day, late at night. Time to teach your kids not to use the dog like its a toy or a doll instead of another living thing like us. Trying to avoid leaving the dog at home all day alone, so best if at least one person in the house works part time or works at home. Excepting your dog will want to be with your family a lot and not just shut in a room at the back of the house all day/evening cos you have got bored of it. Lots of additional cleaning as they bring in mud and shed hair.

Dogs are great and give so much back to people, but you have to see them really as another child joining the family – not as toy that can be just put away when everyone is bored or tired.

Hope it goes well.

Depends how often they go wrong!! Boosters are about £ 35 a year and i would say expect to go again in the year for a quick fix problem like a snapped claw or cut leg, usually about the same price. Long ear dogs need cleaning in ears to stop infection or its regular trips to the vets.

Get a dog from the pound, feels better to have saved a dog rather than just got one from someone that just breads any time they can!! And as hora says, get one that doesn’t malt, ours sheds loads all the time!! Hes not popular with mrs skip when shes wearing black ready to go out!!

Ok. I’m tight. Which in a way is a good thing for our dog. He always gets the same food religiously and the same sized portion at the sametime everyday- Organic Duck and Kibble dry food from Petsathome. Comes in a huge bag and he gets a coffeecup full twice a day. Everyday he might also have a dribble of cod liver oil over the top as well. Half a Pear three times a week. Otherwise NOTHING else.

Dog problems (like humans) start when you chuck in processed food and treats (all treats contain utter crap- I dont care what the labels promise you).

Our dogs weight stays the same 10.4kg year in year out and the only visit he has to the Vet is for his annual jab (£25).

He once had an upset stomach (crushed Rennie in his feed) and I treated a few dog bites with Savlon.

Owning a dog can be cheap but deviate from their diet and thats when the problems start IMO- you confuse their digestion, they become irregular.

Oh ps. Ive never had to trim his nails- Exercise trims his nails 🙂

Ok food wise…. You’re probably looking at about £2 a day, then if you’re not going to be at home during the day to walk it you’ll need to consider dog walking services, I believe these cost about £14 an hour (depending on the size and energy level you may have to do two walks a day) , You need to consider having him/her neutered/spayed which costs about £60, then you’ll need your annual jabs, based on cat costs you’re looking at about £35 and then about £20 p.a. You also need to include insurance costs, I believe dogs are about £10 a month. And then you have kennel fees when you go away on holiday, those are about £20 a day (so if you work on a 2 week holiday once a year).

So all in all you’re looking at ….

£2 x 365 (food each day)
£14 x 5 x 50 (dog walking Mon- Fri)
£20 x 14 (two weeks holiday boarding)
£10 x 12 (Insurance)
£35 + (£20 x12) (Vacination)

First year just under £5K – obviously if you plan to be at home and walk your own dog it drops the costs significantly.

And don’t forget the doggy bed/kennel and toys….

I’ve upped my estimate, but only a bit-£500 a year all in. Even when he goes on his holidays, it only costs £5 a day

As Hora says no treats, no feeding from the table just consistent diet.
Mines a good training partner, she runs anywhere between 5 and 15 miles with me (all off road)
Terriers are a good choice for size but they cant be relied upon to do as they are told and often want to do their own thing which is a worry near roads etc.
Mine is good with my kids (12 and 10) and friendly with other people and dogs, sometimes excitable but so far always a real softie and a good housedog/pet.

Ps. Other costs- we dont do Kennels. I couldnt relax on holiday. He goes to the In-Laws quite often who are smitten by him. Plus no insurance or dog walking.

My wifes dog costs me my sanity, (Pampered Pooch)

So long as its a mongrel there is probably less chance of having to need deep pockets for vets bills,
If poss get dodgy Insurance (I mean doggy insurance) but read the small print as it will often be the case that certain illnesses will only be covered once !

We avoid Kennels also, its personal choice of course and we are fortunate enough to have relatives that would “keep” our dog also!

My mutt is very active but 2 walks a day is normally enough and at weekends and light evenings she is run ragged with walks and runs (sometimes more than one!). When I work from home she tends to laze around anyway.

I know someone whos just forked out about £4,000 for ligament surgery to one knee on a rotweiler and is now looking at another £4,000 bill for the other knee. Lukiley it is all covered by insurance but they have had a few battles with the insurance company and have had to cover the vet bills up front.

Bert- The office dog has on the whole been troublefree except for occasional Vet bills fo phantom illnesses and one major op when he was about 12.

I think if your asking about the costs though a reasonable thing to ask, maybe you shouldn’t get a dog, the reasons for having them so outway the fiscal implications , that if you need to ask about them you probably don’t want one .

WHO CARES HOW MUCH HE COSTS! ;P

Dogs have knees?

Dogs rock 8)

Seriously though. Depending on your circumstances (work etc etc) – what about a Cat?

I got my dog from a friend of my dad’s when I was in primary 5 so thats what… 9 years old.

Lived on the same food from day 1 and lived a happy, very exercised life on the farm till last year when I had him put down because he was suffering and was on his way out, and that was the first time he’d been to a vet. 16 years old.

Cracking dog, now have one of the many pups he fathered.

from my missus who is a vet

big dogs cost more

get insurance

food + sundries like leads

fencing your garden

insurance

get insurance

vaccinations are not covered by pet insurance

some bigger dogs are better to look after than small yappie f***ers

pure bred are more but could be better or worse

So you see it’s very subjective we had a great staffie, though I only got to meet her in later life apparently up to 6 yrs she was a right bit*h. had a knee surgery for £1500 then broke leg at the end for £2000 so insurance – did I mention that.

Dogs are expensive but the companionship is good and they are cheaper than children – if you want some more specifics drop me a mail smith.michael at gmail dot com

nothing prepares you for the last day, my gf’s dog got my biggest ever posting on here with her obituary and my biggest ever flickr pic viewing.

Get a cat. Cheaper, more independant, less walking needed.

Factor in the cost of this book. Bloody brilliant.

Depends how many Parrots they get through in a year!

Don’t get a cat. They give nothing back, teach the kids nothing about living with animals, and they are the biggest single contributor to the decline of the songbird population. Best estimate is that across the UK cats kill 15 million birds a year

Can I hop in here and recommend an ex-racing greyhound. Lovely temprament, sleep most of the time, don’t need nearly as much exercise as people think, make you laugh and can run at 45mph when they can be arsed. Brilliant dogs. We’ve got 3!

the most important factor is will the dog be left alone all day?

personally I would get a rescue dog, rather than a pedigree. If you are after a specific breed, you can normally find the breed owners club on the web and they usually have some dogs that need rehoming for various reasons.

Oh and regardless of what the muppet says I would avoid terriers, they are bred to kill things (as Hora has commented on in previous threads) so wouldn’t be ideal with kids, plus do you really want to look like a hairdresser when you have to walk it.

My SO parents have a rescue one of these (Large Munsterlander)

and its a lovely dog, will run all day (great trail dog) and loves the company of people and children.

Richc. All dogs are bred for a purpose, most of those purposes involve killing other animals. Terriers include Dobermans’, bull terriers and staffordshire bull terriers. You are making an ill informed generalisation. Is it based on experience?
There’s a lot of rubbish talked about dogs and kids, you should never take chances as all dogs can cause a lot of damage if they are of the mind. In my experience terriers are no worse or better than any other dogs and with the bulk of them being small it reduces the risk somewhat.
The biggest factor is knowing the dogs history (which sadly rules out some rescue dogs IMO where kids are involved) and they way they are socialised and treated.

By the way the Musterlander is a hunting dog in case you werent aware.

D***head!

Rescue all the way Dogs Trust[/url] if you want a Heinz 57 (RSPCA have stringent conditions for having one of THEIR dogs, it remains THEIR dog for the rest of it’s life).
Wood Green
and Battersea Dogs Home[/url] are also good sources of mutts and pedigrees.
Costings are difficult as it does depend on size and activity levels, Cookie could make a 15kg sack last 80 days Mac finished one a month. (Both Dalmatians)

Some dogs are worse than other though. Worst dogs I had growing up (and friends did) were terriers, most were great, but some were bipolar little bastards.

As for recommending as Westie, Hora has commented numerous times about how his has attacked other dogs, and gone for things at the drop of a hat/without warning.

Oh yeah I can search the internet for breed information too, w**kstain.

Sandwich no offence to RSPCA but I wouldnt want their conditions or really much to do with them. After seeing two nesting Swan’s mauled and killed by a Staff after repeated warnings from many people. Their response was that they dont cover that scenario. That of course and my own experience with a large African Parrot that they wouldnt come out to.

Sorry rant over.

I dunno what the hell some of you are feeding your dogs on, but our collie cross only costs us about £60 in feed a year, if that… we buy the 15kg sacks of working dog mix like Gilpa, which seem to last around 3 months. Had no problems with it so far…

Thanks for all the advice people.

I hate cats, I hate their sneaky feline ways, I hate the sh1t they leave in my garden and the corpses of all the birds that they kill 🙁 Plus I’m allergic to the rapacious little buggers

The SO was seriously thinking about greyhounds but I don’t really like them that much so that’s out. In terms of breeds I really like Springers but I know they’re pretty crazy, so I think we’re going the mutt route. At the mo the Missus is a stay at home mum so there’ll be somebody around and they’ll get a good walk on the way to school in the morning/lunchtime/afternoon

Your making some incorrect comments based on a limited sample and maybe a selective memory. You mentioned terriers which is rather a large subset encompassing the breeds I mentioned. You shouldnt generalise about things you clearly know so little about.

OK I put my hand up, and admit, that I should have put Westie rather than terrier, in the 2nd paragraph of my 1st post.

So how big is your sample of terriers then? just to prove that your not generalising also.

Over 44 years 3 jack Russells, 1 Irish terrier and the last 3 years a Lakeland. All individuals but every one a good housedog and pet. One of the Jack russells was er a bit of a handful with other dogs, great in every other way. I put this down to the fact he was raised on a farm and we didnt get him until he was a year old.

My dog’s at home all day on his own, doesn’t seem to bother him. He gets a twenty minute walk in the morning and a three-quarters to an hour walk and lots of fuss in the evening.

As for food, about £15 a month but he’s only little. I could do it cheaper by buying a bigger bag.