Puppy Talk
Puppy Talk offers advice and training tips for new puppy owners. We cover topics such as potty training, play biting, basic commands, behavior problems, and leash training. Dale has trained thousands of puppies, as well as raising several of his own own. If you enjoy this podcast, please follow. Be sure to check out our website at http://puppytalkpodcast.com. This podcast is sponsored by http://www.topgundogtraining.com
Puppy Talk
Financial Planning for Puppy Ownership: Avoiding a Crisis
What if bringing home a new puppy could turn into a financial disaster? This episode of Puppy Talk is a must-listen for anyone considering adding a furry friend to their family. I'll guide you through the often-overlooked financial aspects of raising a puppy, from the initial adoption or breeder fees to the ongoing costs of vet visits, food, and training. With a recommended savings of at least $10,000, I break down every expense to ensure you're fully prepared to provide a happy and stable home for your new companion.
The alarming number of dogs ending up in shelters due to their owners' financial struggles is a crisis we need to address. This episode highlights the impact of inflation and global challenges on pet ownership, urging you to think twice before making such a significant commitment. By equipping you with the knowledge and financial planning tips needed to raise a puppy responsibly, I aim to reduce the number of dogs surrendered to shelters. For personalized advice or further questions, visit puppytalkpodcast.com. Join me in making a difference—one puppy at a time.
RESOURCES:
Podcast Website: http://puppytalkpodcast.com
Sponsor Website: http://www.topgundogtraining.com
Dale's books: https://www.amazon.com/author/dalebuchanan
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. For more information on this podcast, visit us online at puppytalkpodcastcom. Welcome to Puppy Talk, episode number 100. I know I said that I was going to end the podcast somewhat, retire from podcasting. I feel like Tom Brady I'm making a comeback and I really like it. I really feel good about this. The reason why I'm doing more podcast episodes is because I actually missed it and I have more information to share. I have unfinished business, so let's get started.
Dale:In this episode, I want to talk about how much money do you need for a new puppy? The reason for doing this podcast today is because there are so many puppies being surrendered to shelters and shelters are overflowing. One of the main reasons why puppies are being dropped off at shelters is the owners can't afford the puppy. They can't afford the dog anymore. 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. 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. It's going to create anxiety, possibly fear, and then all kinds of bad things can happen from there on out. This information in this podcast is to educate you, to prevent dogs from being left at shelters or rehomed. Dogs from being left at shelters or rehomed.
Dale:The costs will vary greatly depending on your situation, where you get the puppy, what kind of puppy you get and so forth. Let's start with the initial cost. I always tell people to initially have about $10,000 saved in order to get a new puppy. 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. When you purchase a puppy from a breeder, you're going to spend anywhere from around $2,000 to $10,000. 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. The costs vary from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on where you get it from and which breed you get. When you adopt a puppy from a shelter, it could be anywhere from fifty to five hundred dollars. Some shelters will waive the adoption fees periodically if they have an overflow of dogs. In Huntsville, where I live now, they're waiving the adoption fees. 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.
Dale:The next thing you have to factor in for initial costs are the first vet visits and checkups. You want to make sure that your puppy goes right to the vet the second that you bring them home. 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. Most puppies have worms. Most puppies need shots. They're going to maybe need some medication. 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. Or it could be more depending on the vet and your location, but that's the average price.
Dale:You're going to need equipment. This could include a crate, leash, collar, dog bed, toys, chews, things like that. This is going to cost you between $100 and $500, depending on how big your dog is. If you have a Yorkie, that's three pounds. You're going to need a little crate, it won't be very expensive. 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.
Dale:The next thing you're going to want to look into is dog training. How are you going to train this dog? How are you going to potty train, leash train, obedience train? These things are very important to think about. You can buy a book, like one of my books, the Complete Puppy Training Manual, for example, for $12. You can try to do it yourself. Or you can spend up to $5,000 for dog training. 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. If you have an in-home dog trainer, it could be a lot less, maybe around $2,000 to get your puppy trained. So you have to factor that in initially, total initial cost will be anywhere between $250,000 to $16,000. It really depends on where you get the puppy from, how much training you want, how much equipment you're going to get. You may already have some equipment at home. There's a lot of variables here, so anywhere from $250,000 to $16,000.
Dale:Now we get into monthly costs. This is where the fees start to accumulate, because you have to factor in many, many things. These include, first of all, medications, including dewormers, heartworm prevention, flea and tick prevention. This can range anywhere from $25 to $100 per month. 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. They have to have heartworm medication, flea and tick and dewormer.
Dale:As a young puppy, food will be between $25 and $150 per month, depending on your dog's breed and size. Obviously, if you have a German Shepherd, they're going to eat a lot of food. As a four or five month old puppy, they're going to eat probably five cups of food. If you have a Cavapoo, which is a little five to eight pound dog, they may eat one cup of food per day. So you're going to have to factor in also what kind of food you're going to get them. 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?
Dale:The next thing you want to factor in every month are subscriptions such as BarkBox. I can tell you this every single client I go to has a BarkBox subscription every single one. 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. That's going to cost between $35 to $45 per month. You got to buy chew toys and treats for the puppy. 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.
Dale:After they get spayed or neutered and after they've had all their vaccines, including rabies. 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. That's going to destroy the dog. 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. These fees will cost you between $50 to $400 per month.
Dale:I'll give you an example. I bring Dixie to daycare 12 times per month. I have a subscription there. It's $300. She also has dog walks twice a week on weekends. It's $18 each walk. Her total cost for daycare and dog walking is $444. You need to factor this into your budget. Grooming will cost between $80 to $150. For Dixie it's $95, plus I give a $20 tip. So it's $115 every month to get Dixie groomed, shampooed, nails cut, teeth brushed those types of things.
Dale:You have to factor in unexpected bills from the vet, such as Giardia. When they get a parasite or they get worms or maybe they swallow something that they shouldn't have and they get diarrhea. For Dixie, when she was a young puppy, she had Giardia nine times within her first year of life. This costs me about $250 per month for special food, medications, vet visits. It can be very hard to continue those fees. Thankfully, dixie got better as she grew older.
Dale:Total monthly costs are going to be between $200 to $1,200 per month. $200 is on the very low end. You have a healthy dog that has no problems. They're very small. You don't need much food for them. That's the $200. 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.
Dale:The $1,200 per month monthly fee is going to be extreme for a big dog that you're doing a lot with. My dog is a 20-pound mini Australian Shepherd. She's four and a half years old, so all of her fees for everything for her is about $750 per month. This does not include unexpected vet bills. Another thing you have to factor in is if you have multiple dogs. 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. Just plan on doubling the fees for each dog that you get in addition to what I'm giving you here.
Dale: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. 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. So you don't want to run into this. Don't get a dog unless you can afford it. I hope this information was helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through my website at puppytalkpodcastcom. Thank you and have a great day.