I have small dogs, one was a rescue, one is from a breeder.
I spent $60 on food for the 2 of them, grainfree dry food. They are 30lbs together so that is much much lower than I would expect for a german shepard. $35 on treats (greenies) and toys.
Cooky (from rescue) Age 3- Spent $2500 on emergency eye issues 2 weeks after we got her (she was 13 weeks old). Spent $3000 on hip surgery (unknown accident while staying with a friend). $150/year on vaccines.
Karmel (from breeder) Age 2- Will spend $300 on teeth cleaning this year. $150/year on vaccines.
We spend $40/night to board them at our dog sitters home. It's $56 at our other boarder if she is unavailable.
Dogs are not cheap, and they do get sick and/or injured and you need to be prepared to pay for that.
Cost of dog? Not sure here, we adopted from a rescue. I believe the adoption fee was around $300, but our doggy already had his shots and had been neutered. I suggest looking at rescues and other adoption options. They usually have lots of puppies that are adoptable, if you are set on getting a puppy. Obedience Training? we just went through Petsmart for obedience training. The classes are 6-8 weeks in length and the have beginner through advanced. It was around $100 for each session (i.e. 8 weeks of beginner classes was $100). I was happy with it, but you get out of training what you put into it. They give you good tools, but you just have to constantly work on them.
Food? we feed Natures Domain (grain free) from Costco. It is around $32 for a 35 lb bag. Our 40 lb lab mix eats one cup twice a day and the bag lasts around 2 months. However, if your dog has digestion, skin or other issues, you may need to feed special food which can be a lot more expensive.
Shots/Vet bills? We never get out of the vet without at least $100 bill. After the first round of immunizations, most of them are a 3-year cycle, so it starts to get better as they get older. But in the 16 months we have had our dog, we have had a few unexpected vet visits. They get expensive.
Other? our dog had severe separation anxiety and we needed meds to help @ $30/month. Thankfully we have been able to work with him and meds are no longer necessary but def. something to think about. He takes monthly heatworm medicine and is currently on Trifexis which is $15/month. Flea/tick prevention is another $10-15 a month. We have to board him when we go out of town at $40 a night and occaisionally use day-care which is $25/day. It adds up. He is not cheap, but def. a welcome addition to the family!
You are questioning whether or not you can afford a dog yet you want to TTC soon? A dog is a lot cheaper than a baby!
We can *afford* it easily, even if there were major medical bills. I just don't know if we want a dog to be a spending priority right now. I am hesitant to spend that much on a pet even if the money is in the bank. I like people more. It's my husband who wants the dog.
Thats good to look at all the costs upfront. I have had to rehome a few dogs for friends, since people had kids and suddenly couldnt do both. If you know you can't do both, don't get a dog right now, its really not fair. to the animal.
Cost of dog? Varies by breed, but the cheapest one is not always the best choice. See vet bills.
Obedience Training? We spent ~$300 on PetSmart courses before realizing them didn't work. Then another $350 on BarkBusters which did work. There are also places you can send your dog for a week and they come back trained. That runs around $1,500+
Food? It depends on fancy you want to get. Decent food is probably around $100 a month for a shepherd. If you get a special snowflake who happens to have rampant allergies, double that.
Shots/Vet bills? If you have a Banford (the clinic inside PetSmart) near you, their puppy plan is great for the first year because it covers all the expected shots and there is a discount for spaying/neutering. Our vet bills have been pretty crazy since we bought a puppy mill purebred Bernese Mountain Dog from a pet store. She was a bargain at $1,200, but we've made up for that with her health issues. She's the sweetest dog and we love her to pieces, but she's allergic to pretty much everything. We had her tested ($800) and she's allergic to chicken, grass, oak trees, elm trees, cats, sheep (wool), several types of garden weeds, it's a long list. It gets worse as they get older, so she has to get allergy shots now ($1,200). She also came down with a fever of unknown orgin and needed an MRI and loads of tests. The bill for all of that was $2K+
Other? Will you need to fence the yard? Hire a dog walker? How often do you travel and who will take care of the dog when you do?
If you're not completely set on a german shepherd, I would consider a mixed breed. Their health issues tend to be fewer.
I think you've gotten most of your questions answered. Here are our costs for our healthy 3 year old hound (2 when we adopted him)
-$325 adoption fee -$300ish for microchipping, leash, collar, bed, crate, bowls, seatbelt, etc -$350 for 6 week obedience class -$40 a month on food and treats -$250 this year on vet bills (vaccines and wellness exam/blood work) -$240 for heartworm meds and flea and tick prevention -$20 a month for doggie gym/dog walker
We also take at least a week vacation a year. The boarding fee is $40/day.
Also, since your renting you will need some form of liability insurance. Not sure if rental insurance has it included, I know home owners its included for certain breeds.
Wow, everything is so expensive! I think if I show my husband these numbers he will decide to wait (thankfully!)...
We are concerned about getting a full grown dog that may have an aversion to children. Is this a valid or completely dumb concern? My thought was that a puppy who grew up around kids/babies would be more inclined to act properly around them. If we looked into adoption, how would we learn these things?
I think this is even more of a reason to go w/ an dog from a shelter/rescue that does fostering. The rescue we used was able to give us specific info on regarding the type of home that a dog would do well in.
Post by SusanBAnthony on Jan 21, 2013 16:01:18 GMT -5
We got our golden retriever from a rescue, and he was six years old, and given up by a family with young kids, who didn't have time for him, but no issues with the kids. So we felt very confident, probably more so than with a puppy in fact, that he was good with kids.
We used about one bag of Costco dog food a month, which when he died was about 20$ a month iirc. I don't remember the rest of the numbers.
We put him down at age 11 due to an illness that a few vet appts could not sort out. Likely a blockage (he ate everything that had a trace of food on it, I am guessing he ate a sock from the laundry or something. But at age 11, with some noticeable declines already, we weren't willing to spend the money on surgery. People on GBCN seem to be willing to spend thousands on their pets for medical expenses, but we aren't, and I think that's fine, we are still giving an animal a home that otherwise might have been put down. This is an unpopular, and probably flammable, opinion here, but a dog is a dog, not a person, and I am not spending thousands of dollars on it, the end.
I have 2 GSD's and I'm going to tell you before you consider cost, consider time. If you don't plan on regularly walking, training and feeding your dog a high quality food, a GSD is not for you. ETA: I should answer your question too, and feel free to PM me if you have other specific GSD questions. We spend about $200 a month on food/treats for 2 dogs (one is VERY sensitive to any change in diet). We spend about $400 a month each for annual vet visit, plus a couple of $200 trips here and there. When our dogs were puppies, we had dog walkers, which were $20ish per visit.
Also, keep in mind if you travel a lot you'll need to pay for boarding. There aren't many families I would trust to watch our dogs while we are gone. One is awesome with kids, one is so-so (she likes her space).
Research some vets in your area. You can look up the costs of yearly vaccines, heartworm and flea/tick medications. These are priced based on the weight of your pet. Also, a townhome might be small for a German Shepherd so be prepared to give him/her lots of exercise.
I would also be prepared for medical expenses. One of my dogs has developed some sort of weird allergies in the past year and it has been very costly (over $1,000 in 2012).
Dittoing the PP who said GSDs need lots of exercise.
My brother has a 5 yo GSD that still hasn't settled down and needs at least 1 hour of exercise a day just to keep him from tearing up the house. It takes 2-3 hours to really really tire him out. I have watched him several weekends and have almost thrown my arm out using a Chuckit to throw the ball across a soccer field for over an hour and he was still raring to go.
We have a greyhound so my answers are relative to her.
Cost - when we were looking at purchasing a dog ( not a greyhound) reputable breeders charged between $2500-3500.
Training - We took group classes, for the 8 week basic course in a class of 6, it was $150. We found our trainer via our local pet store and she was awesome.
Food - we feed taste of the wild and go through a 30 lb bag every 5 weeks. It's about $36-45 per month depending upon what coupons are available. We purchase food at a locally owned pet store.
Vet / shots - Lila was at the vet last week for shots. For a wellness visit, 6 months of heart worm meds, fecal screen, rabies, bortadella, distemper, lepto, and Lyme boosters it was $300. We haven't had her for a full year yet, but I'm guessing it will be approx $1 k/ year for routine care and shots.
Treats/toys/ beds are as much or as little as you want them to be. We probably spend another $15-20 a month on these.
Grooming/ nails - about $20 for nail trims/ filing - I will file her nails myself, but I'm too afraid to cut them. We bathe her at home.
Boarding - we board at the vet and it's $36 per day with playtime and snacks.
I have 2 GSD's and I'm going to tell you before you consider cost, consider time. If you don't plan on regularly walking, training and feeding your dog a high quality food, a GSD is not for you.
This is what I wanted to add as well. GSDs are smart working dogs - they need an outlet for all of that energy and they need to be worked mentally. We spend ~$200 a month just on agility and flyball for our dog - and when we go to flyball competitions, you can add a few hundred more to that.
I have an "aggressive breed dog" and I need to tell you, having a large dog is not the same as having a GSD when it comes to finding housing. My dog is worth the hassle, but getting one of these dogs into a rental is not easy. They are blacklisted. For example for my next move I will probably buy a place so that nobody can tell me my dog can't stay anymore. It is akin to dog racism.
We adopted a lab/pointer mix from a lab rescue group. We were told he had "confidence issues" and that he just needed some love and training. Famous last words. Our dog hasn't had any medical issues in the 4 years that we've had him, but I've spent THOUSANDS on training for him. (FWIW, each 6 week class costs me $165). After we got him, we took him to a trainer who had evaluated him for the rescue group. She told us that another trainer recommended that he be euthanized because of his behavior.
His last house apparently had 7 special needs children living there. Needless to say, we were not surprised when we learned that he has some issues with children. We know that he was beaten with at least a belt and hanger in his last house, because he would cower when DH would take his clothes off and hang things up.
He's come a long way since we got him. He's much, much better. But he still has a long way to go. How do you train you dog not to be afraid of children without exposing someone's child to him? To be honest, that's his biggest issue right now.
If I knew what I know now about his past and behavior, we probably wouldn't had adopted him. With that said, he's a part of our family now and will be until the day he dies. Please think long and hard about it all.
We paid 300 for our both our dogs (even rescues have adoption fees).
The costs are just going to vary. For example, our golden gets hot spots a lot and has to go to the vet and I walk out 300 dollars poorer about twice a year. That is his only expense though besides food. (Well his annual visit is also about 200).
Our lab had obedience training (200), a behaviorist (300), and goes to doggie daycare when we have parties (he gets into the food), when we have super late nights, and when we go out of town. We probably spend a thousand on that a year.
And their food costs 60 dollars a bag and that is every 3 weeks.
We budget 200 a month for them as an average expense. It's definitely a big part of our budget.
Plus their toys, gifts (they get stuff for their adoption days lol), new leashes etc. it adds up.
I don't have dogs, but to add to this - I've seen many posters, who already own dogs, complain that they have a very hard time finding rentals that will allow a big dog, and may have to pay more to get a bigger place with a yard, etc. So personally, if I were going to get a dog, I would wait until I was sure that I could continue to rent pet-friendly places with fenced-in yards or whatever you will need. I think you live in the DC area - are there a lot of pet-friendly (esp big dog friendly) rentals in the area? Do they cost a significant amount more than other rentals?
We know several people with big dogs (labs) and they pay $50 extra per month for their apartment. The people who rent houses also pay around $50 extra. I don't know whether there are lots of places that accept big dogs, but I know there are enough we could find. I would have to check into whether a German Shepherd was allowed. I am glad someone reminded me of that.
We've lived in 4 rental properties with our 2 German shepherd mixes. Pet deposits, extra pet rent, and nonrefundable pet deposits add up quickly. We've had $500 nonrefundable deposits on the last 2 houses, and a $300 nonrefundable fee + $10/pet rent per month per dog at our current apartment (temporary while we buy a house).
It's very difficult to find rental properties that allow dogs, especially large dogs. In our most recent apartment search, only the more upscale properties allowed them, so our base rent is already higher than if we had no dogs and could live in a much cheaper complex. Many of the properties also did not allow German Shepherds, I'm assuming for insurance/liability reasons. Rental houses that allowed dogs were much less common.
Also, it's a pain in the butt to live in a place with no yard. You have to talk them out for walks several times a day rather than just letting them out into the yard for bathroom breaks.
That being said, my dogs are my family and I think they're totally worth the cost, but if we didn't have a good income we likely wouldn't be able to afford them while renting.
Cost of dog? We rescued both of ours, but the fee was $250 Obedience Training? We didn't do formal training since they weren't puppies and knew basic commands Food? $120 a month for 2 bigger dogs (65 and 95lbs) plus $15 a month on treats/toys Shots/Vet bills? We only need to take them in once or twice a year but it's probably around $1000 for both Other? Start up costs- crate, leash and collar, food bowl. Also think about doggy day care, dog walkers, dog sitting when you're out of town.
Last year we spent $2864 on our dogs and that was without emergencies.
Wow, everything is so expensive! I think if I show my husband these numbers he will decide to wait (thankfully!)...
We are concerned about getting a full grown dog that may have an aversion to children. Is this a valid or completely dumb concern? My thought was that a puppy who grew up around kids/babies would be more inclined to act properly around them. If we looked into adoption, how would we learn these things?
If you think the numbers quoted above are high, please do not get a dog.
We have two small dogs and between grooming and shots we spend probably 1500 annually. I am currently trying to find $500 to get our yorkie's teeth cleaned because he really needs it (he had bad teeth when we got him).
Also, my recommendation is to always have a "cushion" for dog emergencies because something is bound to happen. For example our chihuahua ate a razer once ($800) and then our yorkie had an gland issue ($300-ish).