Financial Planning for Puppy Ownership: Avoiding a Crisis

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:01.241 --> 00:00:10.711
I'm Dale Buchanan, and this is Puppy Talk, the podcast that offers free advice and tips for raising a happy, healthy and obedient puppy.

00:00:10.711 --> 00:00:16.931
For more information on this podcast, visit us online at puppytalkpodcastcom.

00:00:16.931 --> 00:00:22.149
Welcome to Puppy Talk, episode number 100.

00:00:22.149 --> 00:00:28.884
I know I said that I was going to end the podcast somewhat, retire from podcasting.

00:00:28.884 --> 00:00:33.253
I feel like Tom Brady I'm making a comeback and I really like it.

00:00:33.253 --> 00:00:34.523
I really feel good about this.

00:00:34.523 --> 00:00:42.905
The reason why I'm doing more podcast episodes is because I actually missed it and I have more information to share.

00:00:42.905 --> 00:00:46.353
I have unfinished business, so let's get started.

00:00:47.301 --> 00:00:52.856
In this episode, I want to talk about how much money do you need for a new puppy?

00:00:52.856 --> 00:01:02.103
The reason for doing this podcast today is because there are so many puppies being surrendered to shelters and shelters are overflowing.

00:01:02.103 --> 00:01:08.766
One of the main reasons why puppies are being dropped off at shelters is the owners can't afford the puppy.

00:01:08.766 --> 00:01:10.870
They can't afford the dog anymore.

00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:19.584
So you want to make sure that you have all of your financial resources available if you're going to adopt a dog, if you're going to purchase a dog.

00:01:19.584 --> 00:01:28.852
This is very, very important so that the dog doesn't end up in the shelter and eventually in multiple homes, which is just going to stress the dog out.

00:01:28.852 --> 00:01:34.772
It's going to create anxiety, possibly fear, and then all kinds of bad things can happen from there on out.

00:01:34.772 --> 00:01:42.953
This information in this podcast is to educate you, to prevent dogs from being left at shelters or rehomed.

00:01:42.953 --> 00:01:47.981
Dogs from being left at shelters or rehomed.

00:01:48.001 --> 00:01:51.890
The costs will vary greatly depending on your situation, where you get the puppy, what kind of puppy you get and so forth.

00:01:51.890 --> 00:01:55.424
Let's start with the initial cost.

00:01:55.424 --> 00:02:02.164
I always tell people to initially have about $10,000 saved in order to get a new puppy.

00:02:02.164 --> 00:02:11.573
Once I go through some of the initial costs and the monthly costs, you'll understand why I say $10,000 is the minimum you should have.

00:02:11.573 --> 00:02:20.134
When you purchase a puppy from a breeder, you're going to spend anywhere from around $2,000 to $10,000.

00:02:20.134 --> 00:02:37.855
Most of my clients for puppy training are people that get puppies from a reputable breeder and I have asked each one of them how much their puppy costs, whether it's a purebred golden retriever or it's a mixed breed like a Bernie Doodle.

00:02:37.855 --> 00:02:45.153
The costs vary from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on where you get it from and which breed you get.

00:02:45.153 --> 00:02:51.513
When you adopt a puppy from a shelter, it could be anywhere from fifty to five hundred dollars.

00:02:51.513 --> 00:02:57.532
Some shelters will waive the adoption fees periodically if they have an overflow of dogs.

00:02:57.532 --> 00:03:02.109
In Huntsville, where I live now, they're waiving the adoption fees.

00:03:02.109 --> 00:03:13.234
When I lived in Boca Raton, florida, the Tri-County Animal Shelter charged about $500, which included the spay or neutering fee for that puppy.

00:03:14.341 --> 00:03:20.032
The next thing you have to factor in for initial costs are the first vet visits and checkups.

00:03:20.032 --> 00:03:24.985
You want to make sure that your puppy goes right to the vet the second that you bring them home.

00:03:24.985 --> 00:03:28.209
You want to make sure that your puppy goes right to the vet the second that you bring them home they go right to the vet to get a checkup.

00:03:28.209 --> 00:03:29.431
Most puppies have worms.

00:03:29.431 --> 00:03:31.393
Most puppies need shots.

00:03:31.393 --> 00:03:33.756
They're going to maybe need some medication.

00:03:33.756 --> 00:03:44.837
So the initial cost for bringing a puppy to the vet and getting its second round of shots hopefully the breeder gave the first round of shots will be between $100 to $300.

00:03:44.837 --> 00:03:49.705
Or it could be more depending on the vet and your location, but that's the average price.

00:03:50.961 --> 00:03:52.026
You're going to need equipment.

00:03:52.026 --> 00:04:02.514
This could include a crate, leash, collar, dog bed, toys, chews, things like that.

00:04:02.514 --> 00:04:08.667
This is going to cost you between $100 and $500, depending on how big your dog is.

00:04:08.667 --> 00:04:11.548
If you have a Yorkie, that's three pounds.

00:04:11.548 --> 00:04:14.266
You're going to need a little crate, it won't be very expensive.

00:04:14.266 --> 00:04:22.351
If you're getting a dog that's going to be much bigger, like an Akita, you're going to need a much bigger crate and you're going to need to spend a lot more money on that.

00:04:23.697 --> 00:04:26.846
The next thing you're going to want to look into is dog training.

00:04:26.846 --> 00:04:28.942
How are you going to train this dog?

00:04:28.942 --> 00:04:32.225
How are you going to potty train, leash train, obedience train?

00:04:32.225 --> 00:04:34.642
These things are very important to think about.

00:04:34.642 --> 00:04:41.245
You can buy a book, like one of my books, the Complete Puppy Training Manual, for example, for $12.

00:04:41.245 --> 00:04:42.942
You can try to do it yourself.

00:04:42.942 --> 00:04:46.625
Or you can spend up to $5,000 for dog training.

00:04:46.625 --> 00:04:56.584
If you want to send your puppy away to a board and train for maybe two months and get them completely trained, off-lease trained everything that'll cost you around $5,000.

00:04:56.584 --> 00:05:02.944
If you have an in-home dog trainer, it could be a lot less, maybe around $2,000 to get your puppy trained.

00:05:02.944 --> 00:05:13.230
So you have to factor that in initially, total initial cost will be anywhere between $250,000 to $16,000.

00:05:13.230 --> 00:05:20.283
It really depends on where you get the puppy from, how much training you want, how much equipment you're going to get.

00:05:20.283 --> 00:05:22.483
You may already have some equipment at home.

00:05:22.483 --> 00:05:27.466
There's a lot of variables here, so anywhere from $250,000 to $16,000.

00:05:30.995 --> 00:05:31.857
Now we get into monthly costs.

00:05:31.857 --> 00:05:36.846
This is where the fees start to accumulate, because you have to factor in many, many things.

00:05:36.846 --> 00:05:44.968
These include, first of all, medications, including dewormers, heartworm prevention, flea and tick prevention.

00:05:44.968 --> 00:05:49.065
This can range anywhere from $25 to $100 per month.

00:05:49.065 --> 00:05:57.821
It's crucial to anticipate these potential costs in your budget because these are things that the puppy absolutely has to have to survive life.

00:05:57.821 --> 00:06:02.196
They have to have heartworm medication, flea and tick and dewormer.

00:06:02.656 --> 00:06:10.490
As a young puppy, food will be between $25 and $150 per month, depending on your dog's breed and size.

00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:15.084
Obviously, if you have a German Shepherd, they're going to eat a lot of food.

00:06:15.084 --> 00:06:19.240
As a four or five month old puppy, they're going to eat probably five cups of food.

00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:27.548
If you have a Cavapoo, which is a little five to eight pound dog, they may eat one cup of food per day.

00:06:27.548 --> 00:06:32.401
So you're going to have to factor in also what kind of food you're going to get them.

00:06:32.401 --> 00:06:44.281
Are you going to get a cheap brand of food because you want to save some money, or are you going to get a higher quality food that costs a little more but it's going to be healthier for your dog?

00:06:45.423 --> 00:06:51.557
The next thing you want to factor in every month are subscriptions such as BarkBox.

00:06:51.557 --> 00:06:58.538
I can tell you this every single client I go to has a BarkBox subscription every single one.

00:06:58.538 --> 00:07:08.559
If I was smart, I would have created that subscription service myself many years ago, but somebody else has already done it and a lot of people have done it with similar products.

00:07:08.559 --> 00:07:12.668
That's going to cost between $35 to $45 per month.

00:07:12.668 --> 00:07:16.459
You got to buy chew toys and treats for the puppy.

00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:26.497
That's going to cost between $25 to $75 per month, depending on, again, the size of your dog and what you want to feed them, what kind of things you're going to get them to chew on.

00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:32.112
After they get spayed or neutered and after they've had all their vaccines, including rabies.

00:07:32.112 --> 00:07:40.995
You're going to want to look into a daycare or a dog walker to help you manage this dog, because you don't want the dog staying inside the home while you're at work all day.

00:07:40.995 --> 00:07:42.879
That's going to destroy the dog.

00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:52.461
The dog will not have a good life sitting around in the home destroying things or being in the crate all day long, so you've got to look into a daycare and or dog walker.

00:07:52.461 --> 00:07:56.774
These fees will cost you between $50 to $400 per month.

00:07:57.697 --> 00:07:58.680
I'll give you an example.

00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:01.778
I bring Dixie to daycare 12 times per month.

00:08:01.778 --> 00:08:03.535
I have a subscription there.

00:08:03.535 --> 00:08:04.920
It's $300.

00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:08.519
She also has dog walks twice a week on weekends.

00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:10.637
It's $18 each walk.

00:08:10.637 --> 00:08:15.201
Her total cost for daycare and dog walking is $444.

00:08:15.201 --> 00:08:17.531
You need to factor this into your budget.

00:08:17.531 --> 00:08:21.697
Grooming will cost between $80 to $150.

00:08:21.697 --> 00:08:25.942
For Dixie it's $95, plus I give a $20 tip.

00:08:25.942 --> 00:08:42.394
So it's $115 every month to get Dixie groomed, shampooed, nails cut, teeth brushed those types of things.

00:08:42.414 --> 00:08:43.779
You have to factor in unexpected bills from the vet, such as Giardia.

00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:47.212
When they get a parasite or they get worms or maybe they swallow something that they shouldn't have and they get diarrhea.

00:08:47.212 --> 00:08:52.951
For Dixie, when she was a young puppy, she had Giardia nine times within her first year of life.

00:08:52.951 --> 00:08:59.583
This costs me about $250 per month for special food, medications, vet visits.

00:08:59.583 --> 00:09:02.479
It can be very hard to continue those fees.

00:09:02.479 --> 00:09:05.418
Thankfully, dixie got better as she grew older.

00:09:06.590 --> 00:09:11.322
Total monthly costs are going to be between $200 to $1,200 per month.

00:09:11.322 --> 00:09:13.256
$200 is on the very low end.

00:09:13.256 --> 00:09:15.397
You have a healthy dog that has no problems.

00:09:15.397 --> 00:09:16.519
They're very small.

00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:18.134
You don't need much food for them.

00:09:18.134 --> 00:09:19.460
That's the $200.

00:09:19.460 --> 00:09:29.581
Very rarely or ever have I seen anybody raise a puppy for $200 a month, but I'm throwing that in there just in case there's somebody out there that can do it.

00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:36.764
The $1,200 per month monthly fee is going to be extreme for a big dog that you're doing a lot with.

00:09:36.764 --> 00:09:41.331
My dog is a 20-pound mini Australian Shepherd.

00:09:41.331 --> 00:09:49.034
She's four and a half years old, so all of her fees for everything for her is about $750 per month.

00:09:49.034 --> 00:09:51.940
This does not include unexpected vet bills.

00:09:51.940 --> 00:09:56.198
Another thing you have to factor in is if you have multiple dogs.

00:09:56.198 --> 00:10:08.116
A lot of people get multiple dogs and they run into financial problems because they have to feed all the dogs, take the dogs to the vet, get all of the shots, buy extra equipment.

00:10:08.116 --> 00:10:13.296
Just plan on doubling the fees for each dog that you get in addition to what I'm giving you here.

00:10:14.359 --> 00:10:22.519
Again, the reason why I'm giving you this information is to prevent dogs from ending up in shelters, because there's too many dogs in shelters right now.

00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:32.397
All across the country, a lot of people are surrendering dogs mainly because they can't afford them with inflation and all other things that are going on in the world.

00:10:32.397 --> 00:10:34.557
So you don't want to run into this.

00:10:34.557 --> 00:10:36.977
Don't get a dog unless you can afford it.

00:10:36.977 --> 00:10:39.773
I hope this information was helpful to you.

00:10:39.773 --> 00:10:48.062
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through my website at puppytalkpodcastcom.

00:10:48.062 --> 00:10:49.928
Thank you and have a great day.

Financial Planning for Puppy Ownership: Avoiding a Crisis

Listen On

Featured Episodes

Recent Episodes