All the things I wish I knew before I got my first ever puppy!
A dog’s for life, not just for Christmas/lockdown/Instagram/birthdays etc.
A dog’s for life, not just for Christmas/lockdown/Instagram/birthdays etc. Everyone has heard the slogan before but still there are an estimated 100,000 dogs without homes in the UK with around 21 dogs getting put down every day in shelters.
In the top 10 reasons for relinquishment, the cost of pet maintenance comes in at number 4- which might be explained by some of the statistics below.
As a bit of a disclaimer, I totally understand that everyone can get into hardship unexpectedly and Corona Virus has been a prime example of this, and if you do unexpectedly get into a really bad position financially and have no other option, I would not judge anyone for having to surrender their dog. HOWEVER, it really makes my blood boil when you hear about people buying dogs on a whim not taking into account the ongoing costs of them and then giving them up a year or so later. It’s estimated that most dogs are given up after between 7months to a year of ownership.
Admiral Pet Insurance recently run a study on dog ownership and the costs of. Some of the statistics that they come up with are pretty shocking- although in some cases pretty expected!
25% of dog owners said that the expense of keeping a dog had been unexpected
This is actually a lot lower than I expected it to be- unless the other 75% of people have had dogs before that is! I did a lot of research into costs of owning a Golden Retriever before I got Cooper, but it’s still a bit of shock to the system when you actually get them- especially those unexpected vet bills!
If you work out the estimated costs for owning a breed and think you can just about scrape by, I really wouldn’t get one yet, especially in this climate. Wages are not rising with inflation meaning that in a few years time you may be on the same income but your dog will be costing you more than it was when you got them.
43% of owners admitted that they hadn’t researched any costs beforehand.
And this is probably why so many dogs end up in shelters. It’s all well and good been able to afford to physically buy a dog, but as you’ll see from the costs below, it’s an ongoing cost and it’s only going to go up! There’s a lot more to a dog than just buying a bargain pack of dog food once a month. You’ve got to take into account insurance, vets bills, food, toys, chews, grooming- and that’s just the beginning!Big props to you if you are reading this before buying a dog though, congratulations on not been part of this 43%!
35% of dog owners said they found the expense of dog ownership to be a challenge.
I suppose this 35% is made up with a lot of the 43% of owners who didn’t research any costs before hand! But taking out surprise costs like unexpected vets bills and fixing the sofa that they’ve chewed up, like I said before, unfortunately in this economic climate, wages are not rising with inflation, so even if you can cover the expenses now, you have to look forward to a few years time when prices will have inevitably gone up- and that’s across the board, not just in dog things. If you had say £300 disposable income left from your salary now per month for the dog, in 3 years time you may only have £250.
Admiral also released a list of the 10 most expensive and cheapest breeds to own, based on the cost of dog food, pet insurance, a pet plan at the vets, grooming (lowest number of times a year for breed), one day a week dog walker and two days a week doggy day care. I have done a detailed list of these top 10’s in a different article (see links at the bottom of the page), but to give you some idea, a Newfoundland comes in at the most expensive costing an average of £5,276.13 a year (£439.68 a month), then on the other end of the scale comes the Jackahuahua, at a yearly cost of around £3,509.75 (£292.48 a month).
Obviously some of those costs may not apply to you, i.e. the dog walker or doggy day care, but if you want to get a good idea of how much it’s going to cost for your circumstances, check out Admirals Dog Cost Calculator. It’s a good tool which allows you to tailor your costs to your individual circumstances.
