The true cost of getting a dog
Let's be real: getting a dog is like accidentally signing up for a financial rollercoaster you never saw coming. Emily's first year with Clover was a wild ride of unexpected expenses, adorable chaos, and more love and cuteness than she ever imagined. 🥹 Spoiler alert: No amount of budgeting could have prepared her for this.
In this episode, we cover:
😴 The unexpected challenges of getting a puppy, from sleepless nights to separation anxiety
📋 Why training is crucial and how it impacts both your sanity and your dog's behavior
💰 The real costs of dog ownership that go way beyond the initial adoption fee
🐶 How an energetic corgi can completely change your lifestyle and work routine
☺️ Balancing the financial investment with the immeasurable joy of a little puppy buddy
📌 Time stamps:
[00:01:35] How Emily and her husband decided to get a dog
[00:06:26] Breaking down the initial costs of getting Clover
[00:12:25] Surprise expenses: training, vet bills & daycare
[00:22:45] – Things Emily wishes she knew before getting a dog
[00:29:55] Financial and training tips for future dog owners
[00:31:35] The shocking total cost of Clover's first year
[00:36:02] – Regrets? Just One. Not making Clover an influencer.
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Transcript
(00:00:00)
Emily Batdorf (00:00:09): Are you drowning in money questions, but too embarrassed to ask? Tired of scrolling endlessly through conflicting financial advice that leaves you more confused than when you started? Welcome to the Finance Girlies podcast, your cozy corner for all things finance. I'm your host, Emily.
Cassidy Horton (00:00:26): And I'm your host, Cassidy. We're both finance writers for brands like Forbes Advisor, USA Today Blueprint, and Yahoo Finance. Throughout our careers and personal lives, we have come to one realization. When we keep our money worries to ourselves, we end up feeling alone. That's why each episode we tackle those burning questions you've been afraid to ask with no judgment, no jargon, just real talk about real money. Ready to finally get answers? Let's dive in.
Welcome back. Today is a special episode because Emily is sharing her full experience of getting her corgi clover about a year and a half ago and all of the financial surprises that came with it. Emily and her husband saved for a dog. They researched the cost and they thought they were prepared, but reality ended up being a little bit different. And this episode is for anyone who's thinking about getting a dog, has one, or just wants to hear about the unexpected financial and emotional rollercoaster of pet ownership. And our goal is not to discourage anyone from getting a dog. They are absolutely adorable. But to share a real firsthand look at what it actually costs to own a dog and what Emily wishes she knew beforehand.
(00:01:35) So, with that in mind, Emily, do you want to kick us off by talking about what made you and your husband want to get a dog in the first place and maybe how long you thought about it before you finally decided?
Emily (00:01:46): Yeah, we always knew we wanted a dog and had been thinking about it for several years before we actually did it. I think... Probably, like, really thinking about it, maybe three years or two years. And about a year before we ended up getting her, we moved into a bigger apartment. And that was something we knew we wanted to do before getting a dog because our last place just felt too small. And another thing I'll say, we really love our place where we live and know that we want to be here for a little while and so we kind of just came to terms with the fact that like if we were going to get a dog it was going to be an apartment dog and just like didn't want to wait until we moved to get a dog and we also like live right on this big trail so even though we don't have a yard we have a ton of outdoor space that we can walk her and play with her so those are kind of the things we were thinking about and i don't honestly know what the final push was for us to like decide we were ready i think we just were like we're never really gonna be ready so let's just do it
Cassidy (00:02:56): How did you financially prepare for the initial cost? Did you save a certain amount, research certain breeds and expected expenses? What went into that process?
Emily (00:03:06): This is something I don't remember a ton about specifically, but we definitely did some research on what the average cost of a dog is. And I had heard somewhere that the first year, and this is me trying to remember what I thought I had heard two or three years ago, so like this is not a reliable number by any hand, but I think I had heard that during the first year, a dog can cost as much as like $6,000. So I at least had that number in my head and we did not save up $6,000 before getting a dog, just to be clear. I couldn't tell you how much we had saved specifically for that purpose when we ended up getting her, but we kind of had that number in our heads and we did start making a budget trying to estimate like what all the individual expenses would look like. And I looked at it yesterday when I was preparing for this episode and like, a budget is a strong word. It was just like a few expenses. It was not functional at all. And it did not help at all. So we like did not do a ton of financial planning before getting a dog, I will say.
(00:04:16) Cassidy: But you did at least start saving up because I do recall in a previous episode you talked about how you started saving up and you're like, we have no plans to get a dog anytime soon. So you rerouted that money somewhere else and then you started saving up again.
Emily: Yeah, that is true. And like knowing us, I know we like looked at our budget and tried to figure out how much, you know, we wanted to save each month, how much we thought we would need and like preemptively added that into our budget. So there was definitely some thought that went into it, but maybe not as much as I wish we had done. And we chose a corgi because we wanted a smallish dog but one that still had like kind of a big dog personality and part of that was because we live in an apartment and so we just thought a smaller dog would be a little bit more manageable we had had my parents dog which is a lab in our apartment for a little while once while like pet sitting. And she just kind of seemed like she was too big for the space. Like it just felt a little tight. So we thought Corgi would be the perfect size. They're super active, which was important to us. We wanted to be able to take our dog running and hiking and those kinds of things. And we just had a lot of people, friends and acquaintances tell us how much they loved their corgis so it's like a lot of word of mouth and then we have a friend who got a corgi from a breeder not too far from us and took that recommendation from her and that's where we ended up getting ours.
(00:05:49) Cassidy: I've seen pictures of Clover on a paddleboard out hiking in the snow. She is an adventure dog through and through, and she is the cutest. Okay, so getting into the initial cost. I'm someone who has two cats. I do not have a dog, but future me, probably within the next decade, will maybe get a dog. So I'm very interested on how all of those initial costs broke down from like adoption and breeder fees, first vet visits, initial vaccines, microchipping, like all of that stuff. Do you want to kind of walk us through what those expenses looked like?
Emily (00:06:26): Yes. So first up, this is funny. We like thought that we were going to save so much money. We would not spend a ton on this dog because we got her from our breeder, as I said. And it was like this little operation, basically just like this little farm with this old couple that breeds corgis and they don't market or advertise or anything. We had just heard from word of mouth. And so Clover was like a bargain puppy. She was $800, which other research we had done and like looked into other breeds and even corgis, like they can be, you know, two grand or more. So we were like, this is a steal. We're going to save so much money. And that was not the case, as we'll get to. But that's how much we paid initially to adopt her.
I just looked back over her vet visits for the first year and added up how much we spent. And that was about $1,200 that first year. And that includes like all of her vaccinations. We opted to do some more optional vaccines that are recommended for dogs who go to daycare and like are out in public and with other dogs often, which Clover is. So those were probably a little higher than like you would necessarily need to spend. And those vet visits also included a spay surgery and extra meds for that because the vet's instructions after that surgery were, like, to keep her still and calm for, like, two weeks afterward. And Clover's not still or calm, so we needed, like, extra meds to calm her down after that. She always just needs a little extra treatment.
(00:08:13) Also, back to those, like, upfront costs, we ended up getting her an air tag, which I think a lot of people do for their pets just in case they get away. But while she was like in the vet's office after her surgery, like recovering, she chewed through her air tag. So we went to pick her up and it was just like, I don't know. She was supposed to be out of it, like, you know, drugged and whatever. She was not. She chewed through her hair tag. So we have not replaced it. But back to her other money we spent on her. We did get like when it comes to like all supplies, like crates, leashes, bowls, bed, we got a couple things like secondhand from family members. We even went to goodwill to see like what they had and like found a couple things but not a whole lot so we got her a bed we got like a metal kind of gate situation where we could corral off and like make essentially like a pen for her which was super helpful highly recommend that bowls you know obviously some toys we got her we got her a collar actually this was something one of the things we got at goodwill and when we picked her up she was so much smaller than we expected her to be so like the collar was not gonna fit her for like months and so like on the way home, like from bringing her home, we stopped at the pet store and got her like a fancy little harness. And she, you know, obviously grew to that one. So now she has another one.
(00:09:57) We also knew we wanted to do like some training classes because we were very intent on like wanting her to be a well-behaved dog knowing she'd be around a lot of people where we live so we started with two classes one was like just meant to socialize them and another was like an obedience class so the socialization was pretty much just getting her acquainted with other dogs.
Yeah. So the obedience class was amazing, like totally worth it. It was $240 for the total training. It was like eight weeks or something. And it was at like a dog training facility. And then the socialization class was $160. And that I don't actually think ended up being super worth it. The point is for like dogs to meet other dogs and like come into situations that they might be scared of, but like to get used to when they're young.
Anyway, we found plenty of other ways to socialize her. So I really kind of wish we hadn't done that. And then like when she was six months old, probably we did a second obedience class that again was $240 and super, super worth it.
Cassidy (00:11:30): What made you decide you want to do the second obedience class?
Emily: Well, she kind of started getting into like that teenage phase where she was getting like extra rebellious and difficult. And so it just seemed like a really good time like to do something constructive with all of her energy. Yeah. And we just like the first one was so good. We thought the second one would be good, too. And then there were some unexpected expenses. Some maybe we should have actually expected. For instance, she chewed through so many toys. She cannot have soft plushy toys. We've realized she's just she will destroy them. So like we went through many of those trying to like just get like the tougher toy and the even tougher toy. And like it doesn't matter. She'll chew through it. She chewed through like one of her leashes.
(00:12:25) We also ended up feeling like we needed to get her what are called puzzle toys. So toys that are supposed to like stimulate their brains because she's such a high energy dog that like wants to be doing something all the time. I did not expect that. And maybe I should have with getting a Corgi, but oh my gosh, like she just needed to be occupied all the time when she was little. And so we were like, we'll try anything like what toy should we get her? And we did end up finding a few that were helpful.
Cassidy (00:12:53): Did she also go through a phase where she chewed on your personal stuff like shoes, furniture?
Emily: So that was something we avoided, which I mentioned earlier, like getting that pen. That was huge. We just like limited her to such a small area for a while. So she didn't. She like could not. And then she just like never tried after that. Yeah.
Cassidy (00:13:15): You've also mentioned in the past that she has some separation anxiety and that you were doing some private training for that. Do you want to tell us kind of how that came about and what those expenses look like?
Emily: Yeah. Yeah. So this is probably the biggest unexpected expense. I do think she is just more of an anxious dog, period. She's kind of skittish and stuff like that. So she started like developing signs of separation anxiety after like four or five months and we noticed when we would leave her discomfort was kind of growing and growing like as time went on and she would bark like crazy and it wasn't she started to get to the point where like she wouldn't settle down afterward and so it got to the point where like we felt like we couldn't leave her without driving our neighbors crazy. And so I think that kind of contributed to the separation anxiety getting worse because then we didn't want to leave her and so on. And I worked from home, so she didn't have many opportunities to practice being alone.
(00:14:20) Anyway, it got worse and got to the point where we started working with a trainer to like help with it. And I think we paid $600, I want to say, for probably like 10 sessions, like private sessions. So I do think that was mostly worth it. It's a lot better than it used to be. It's still something we're working on and definitely not perfect, but it is better.
And I just thought of one more unexpected expense, which is daycare. Yeah, about the same time her separation anxiety was getting worse, we decided to send her to daycare for two days a week just to get her out of the house and away from us and keep her occupied because she is so active and it was at times disturbing my work a little bit until I give me a break and be able to leave the house without stressing out about her bugging the neighbors and things like that so we do still send her to daycare two days a week and that's $30 a day feels worth it.
(00:15:29) Cassidy: Speaking of doggy daycare, do you want to talk about any other ongoing expenses that you tend to have with clover whether they're like monthly expenses or they just happen a few times a year?
Emily: Yeah, so her food, we'll start there. She's like a smaller dog so i think that's like one of the things that we actually don't spend as much money on. Her food costs $55 a bag and it usually lasts about three months so that breaks down to like $18 a month.
Cassidy: That is so shockingly inexpensive. I feel like for a dog... we spend like a hundred dollars a month on food for our cats.
Emily: What? Huh.
Cassidy: Yeah. Which they do eat like very specific food because our older cat has had some health issues in the past, but still like $18 a month just feels like nothing to feed your dog.
(00:16:21) Emily: I know. I did that math like three times because I was like, what? Yeah. And I will say, like, I think we feed her decent food. We took like our vet's recommendation. So we're not, you know, we're taking care of her. We did spend a ton on treats when she was a baby because we just did so much training with her. And unfortunately, she's not the kind of dog that like loves her regular food. And like we couldn't train her with it because it was not motivating enough. So we went through a lot of treats and we also went through a lot of like teething chews and things like that to like keep her occupied because again, she's so active and wants to always be doing something. So she always had like something to chew on to when she was little.
As far as grooming goes, she doesn't need any sort of like professional grooming. We do give her a bath every like one to two months and we pay $5 each time for like a self-serve. You like take her to the pet store and give her a bath ourselves and we trim her nails as well ourselves. Again she goes to daycare twice a week so it's $30 a day and I think that's all like the regular ongoing cost.
Cassidy (00:17:31): How much do you usually spend to like take her to the regular vet every year not including—my follow-up question will be about any unexpected vet visits but...
(00:17:42) Emily: Yeah. Well, the first year, I think I already said this, we spent $1,200, but that was obviously a lot of like new puppy stuff. Since she's only a year and a half, I don't really know like how much it'll look like this year. But I think like just a regular like wellness visit is like $65. But you know, like recently she had this issue with her ears and like that was an expensive visit. So like things come up, you know, we're definitely spending more than $65.
Cassidy (00:18:14): So already in the year and a half that you've had her, she's had at least one unexpected, like, quote-unquote emergency vet visit.
Emily: Yeah. Okay. So the one I just talked about was, like, at her regular vet. Still unexpected. But she also went to the emergency vet once for, like, some digestion thing. That was scary. And that was also – that was, like – I think that was like $700. I don't remember exactly, but yeah, it's like the puppy phase is like... They get sick all the time. And I don't know, there are like certain times when they say like, this could be serious if blank, blank, blank. And so that was the one time we were like, oh, we don't really actually know if she's okay. So we took her to the emergency vet. But yeah, that was the only time so far. Knock on wood.
Cassidy (00:19:09): Speaking of going to the vet, what is your take on pet insurance? Did you research it? Do you have it? Tell us all about that.
(00:19:18) Emily: We do not have it. And I don't think I really heavily researched it. I had just heard anecdotally so many stories of people purchasing pet insurance and then it not covering the things that they needed it to cover. And I specifically listened to a really thorough podcast episode about this topic where somebody who I think she did not have pet insurance... She compared like how much she had spent over the course of her dog's life versus if she had had pet insurance and how those costs would compare. And her conclusion was that she would have spent more if she had had the pet insurance just with like, you know, the cost of the insurance itself. So I did not do my own like deep research at that level by any means, but we looked into it enough to decide we weren't really interested.
Cassidy (00:20:14): Yeah, that makes sense. I had a similar experience with pet insurance. I did buy it initially with one of my cats, and even though I adopted him at eight months old, he already had some health issues. And so I bought pet insurance like not really understanding all of the exclusions and stuff that go into it and all of his vet bills kept getting denied for reimbursement because the things I was applying for reimbursement for were considered pre-existing conditions and therefore like not eligible for coverage and ultimately ended up canceling it but I did sink like $600 into insurance premiums before I realized all of that.
Emily: Yeah, I'm sure there are stories of it being helpful, but I don't know.
(00:21:01) Cassidy: Okay. Do you have any like what you would consider ridiculous, over the top, just like weird things that you never thought you would buy for your dog that you have?
Emily: Yes. We have a snuggle puppy. Yeah. Which is, if you don't know what a snuggle puppy is, it's basically like a stuffed animal puppy that has a heartbeat that you can turn on. And it's advertised to like help anxious dogs. And has like a ton of amazing reviews. I think our friend told us about it. And they cost like 30 bucks. To be fair, I don't know if it was worth it because I only have like our experience with it. Nothing to compare it to. But she slept with Snuggle Puppy for the first, like, I don't know, two or three months and, like, slept so well in her crate right from the start and, like, literally would snuggle up to Snuggle Puppy and loved him so much. And then she eventually got to a point where she, like, realized he was a toy and she wanted to destroy him. So she doesn't get to use him anymore. Yeah, but yeah, it's kind of ridiculous and hilarious.
Cassidy (00:22:21): Whenever you first said snuggle puppy before you explained, I was picturing kind of like the baby equivalent and it's like the little sleep sack thing that you, that like burritos their arms and like their whole little bodies into a sack. And it was picturing Clover and like a full body sack. So she's like really snuggled up. But the stuffed animal with a heartbeat makes a lot more sense. Yeah, it was pretty cute.
(00:22:45) Okay, moving on. I want to talk to you about some things that you wish you knew about having a dog now that you're essentially a year and a half in. So for starters, are there any like big surprises that you want to talk about?
(00:23:02) Emily: Well, I think that there are just so many more things that we either needed or thought we needed than I had realized. So like vet bills, yes, were expensive, but like generally speaking, individual things were not more expensive than I anticipated. There were just more of them than I anticipated. And then I also got to the point, like getting a dog was so much harder than I thought it would be. I felt like I got to a point where I was like, I will pay whatever to like make this easier, like for certain instances. So like, again, back to the puzzle toys. There were weeks where she was like driving me crazy all day when I was trying to work. And so I was like, I will buy any puzzle toy to like keep her occupied. And then same with the like, you know, when the separation anxiety got really bad. We were like, we will pay anything to like fix the separation anxiety so we can leave our apartment. So I did not ever expect to like feel, I don't know if desperation is the right word. It sounds desperate.
Cassidy: Yeah. Yeah. That was a surprise. I also think just in hearing you talk so far, is that one thing you probably didn't expect was that you would need to keep buying different versions of the same thing over and over again. Like, first of all, if I didn't have a dog before, I wouldn't expect my dog to chew through their leash and then need to like rebuy leashes. But also it's like your dogs are going to like certain toys. They're not going to like certain toys. They may like a certain food. They may not like a certain food. Same with treats. And then you have to go through the process of of buying a bunch of different versions of the same product essentially just to figure out which version your pet likes the most and so there's just a lot of like time and financial costs that goes into that too that i personally wouldn't expect because i don't own a dog and had i not heard you sit here and tell me about it beforehand.
(00:24:53) Emily: Yeah. And like I did have a dog growing up and like my parents have a dog. And my experience with dogs apparently is very limited. But my experience with dogs was like they love any food. They love any toy. They just want to make you happy no matter what. And Clover, I love her. And she loves us, but she is picky and she is stubborn. And she like – I swear she knows how to push our buttons. So like, yeah, things were harder for sure than I expected, even like having had dogs in the past.
Cassidy (00:25:36): So going back to what you wish you knew, is there anything that you think you would do differently in hindsight, like whether it's about budgeting or picking a breed or—
Emily: I might consider another breed in the future like this might sound bad but like one that isn't quite so smart. We won't make sure she doesn't hear this episode. I mean I absolutely love her like i guess another surprise is like we just can't believe how much we love her. She's adorable and she's like up for anything, which I love. Like we can take her on road trips. We can take her on camping trips. We've taken her like canoeing and paddle boarding and all these different things. And I love that about her. I've never had a dog like that before. But yeah, she's high maintenance and it's tough. I wish—if I could do it again, I would—or I would have researched more about how to prevent separation anxiety in the first place because that was not really on my radar. There are things that I wouldn't have paid for. For example, that socialization class, maybe some certain types of toys.
(00:26:57) And not to say I would do it differently, but I would just really consider what type of dog, not even type of dog, but just what it would be like having a dog based on where you live. I don't think I want to get another dog until we like own a house or live in a house, maybe rent a house. But like having a dog in an apartment, it comes with its own challenges, I'll say.
Cassidy: Yeah. You're like hyper aware of every noise your dog is making. Yes.
Is there anything else you want to say on that point before we move on?
Emily: Nope.
Cassidy (00:27:29): Okay. You've already touched on this a little bit, but are there any non-financial costs that were harder than expected, whether it's like the time, energy, lifestyle changes you had to make, anything like that?
(00:27:43) Emily: Yes. The first couple months were really, really hard. I've said this before, but Clover is a very energetic, stubborn, and anxious dog. And there were spans of a couple months where she wouldn't really sleep through the night. I mean, she sounds like a baby, but our sleep was so disrupted for a few months after getting her. Like I said, working at home, trying to work from home with her. There as a puppy was really challenging after the first like month or so when she stopped sleeping so much. Like when she wanted to be awake, that was really challenging. And like all the time, we spent so much time working on training. Looking back, it felt like all of our free time was like training. Yeah. And I don't regret that. I like that all paid off and we have a great dog now. But yeah, it was definitely harder than I thought. And the emotional toll of like dealing with the separation anxiety and like stressing about when we travel. Okay, what are we going to do with her? All of that, yeah, was definitely harder than expected.
Cassidy (00:28:52): Yeah, I'm sure right now it feels like you've been having all of these – like you've been going through this process, like this hardness for so long. But I didn't have to remind myself that she's only a year and a half. Like she could still work through a lot of these issues and be a really great dog in all of these areas where she's like, you know, you're trying to help her improve and stuff. Like she could still end up working through all of those issues and being like a really, really amazing dog.
(00:29:19) Emily: Yeah. And even knowing how much money we've spent and how hard it was, like we do not regret getting her. She is an amazing dog. We have so much fun with her and she just brings us so much joy. I could never have like anticipated either how hard it was or how like fun it would be.
Cassidy (00:29:42): I want to know if you have any advice for future dog owners and we'll start with if you have like a number one financial tip for people who are thinking about getting a dog and a non-financial tip. Give us both if you have it.
Emily (00:29:55): Yeah, I do. The non-financial tip is that all the hard work of training will pay off. It can be like so frustrating at first, but it is definitely worth it. And then the financial tip, I think one would be don't buy anything until you're totally sure you need it. Because I think, like I said, I got to those moments of desperation where I was like, I will buy anything to help solve this problem. But like if I had just taken a breath and waited a few days, like things change so fast when they're puppies that like there are probably a lot of things I could have done without had I just been a little bit more patient.
Cassidy: That makes sense. Okay. Another question. If someone listening is considering a dog, what should they financially prepare for beyond just adoption fees?
(00:30:45) Emily: Yeah. I would definitely plan for emergencies to happen because I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who has a dog who hasn't had some sort of emergency. I would also prepare, and this did not cross my mind once, I don't think, because I work from home. I would have never thought that our dog would go to daycare, but I think figuring out how that expense could work into your budget ahead of time, even if you think you don't need it, might be possible because you might have a really energetic dog like mine. Yeah. And then pet sitting and like boarding fees if you travel a lot is something to think about. And I would definitely, definitely recommend budgeting for training classes. I think they're 100% worth it.
Cassidy (00:31:30): All right. So in closing, is there anything else that you want to kind of leave us with?
(00:31:35) Emily: Oh, yeah. I want to share how much we in total, you know, rough estimate that we spent in Clover's first year, because I think it might be shocking. And I want to, yeah, put this out there for everyone thinking about getting a dog. So we spent about $7,000 during her first year, which I have complicated feelings about.
Cassidy: Tell us those complicated feelings, Emily.
Emily: Well, part of me is like, you know, it is what it is. But then part of me is like, that's so much money. And I think a lot of it has to do with just the fact that our dog is so much higher maintenance than we anticipated. But then some of it is the fact that like we do probably spoil her sometimes. Yeah. So, yeah, it's like it is complicated. And I wanted to compare this to what like information is online and what other people are saying, because to me, that sounds like a ton of money.
So I did pull a couple of numbers online. I went to rover.com. And that website said that a dog costs about $1,000 to $5,225 per year. And that was from 2024. So that's obviously a huge range. And I don't think that's specific to like a puppy's first year, which is going to probably be more expensive. So I don't know. That sounds kind of reasonable.
(00:33:05) However, I also looked at the AKC's website and these numbers made me laugh because according to their estimates for a small or medium-sized dog, a dog's first year costs between $740 and $1,325. Get out of here. Estimated annual costs after that, $500 to $875. And total estimated lifetime costs, $7,240 to $12,700, which we have reached. I cannot. I cannot.
Yeah. So then I turned to Reddit because I wanted to see like what real people had said. And so I just pulled like a few different experiences. So the first person says, I've never once considered my dog a low budget part of my life. On average, $80 a month for food and treats, $35 for grooming, $20 for toys, $100 for daycare, $200 for training, $100 for medical, $65 a night for boarding anytime we can't take him with us and often pet fees when we do take them with us. Easily $8,000 to $9,000 a year. That one made me feel a little better.
Cassidy: You're under budget compared to that person.
(00:34:25) Emily: Yeah, right? Okay, here's another one. Monthly cost is $200 for flea tick meds, food, nail trims, plus about $600 for annual vet visits and shots. The first year was probably three times that, so about $2,400 due to training and medication costs. But he's healthy, not prone to eating what he's not supposed to, and young. So that one was a lot lower than what we spent. Then I have one more for a five-year-old husky. Food is $750 a year. Oh, plus $100 a year in soups. Oh, and meats, $300 a year? Okay, this dog eats really well. Vaccines and check-out blood work, $300 a year. Leashes that he chews on, $40 a year. I vacuum twice a day for his hair. So I'm not sure how much I pay for electricity. Takes me two minutes each time. $1,500 a year. ROI, priceless.
Cassidy (00:35:25): Yeah, these should make you feel a little bit better.
Emily: Yeah, I guess in conclusion, it can be all over the board. And I think it's probably safe to say it'll be more than you plan for. That's true. And I think that's kind of like my biggest takeaway, like having reflected on the financial cost of getting a dog. I think it's 100% worth it if it like brings you as much joy as I find from having a dog. Yeah. it is probably way more expensive than most people expect.
(00:36:02) Cassidy: I really liked what the one Redditor said about how they've never once considered their dog a low-budget part of their life.
Emily: Yeah, I think that's a really good perspective to have.
Cassidy: Do you have any regrets?
Emily: I have one regret that I haven't already mentioned, and that is not facilitating Clover's influencer career to pay for her lifestyle because she costs $7,000 in a single year. So if anybody wants to be her social media manager, please send us an email.
Cassidy (00:36:40): I really, really, really hope someone responds. Because I could see Clover being a little Instagram TikTok influencer and just crushing it. And I really want that to happen for her.
Emily: 100%. She just needs the right somebody who can take her all the way. And I don't think that's me.
Cassidy: At the very least, she needs to break even. She needs to pay for her keep. And we need to see her making at least $7,000 a year.
Emily: I think, yeah, she can totally do that. Yeah. She loves to work. I'll just throw that out there too. She's a working dog. Loves to work. Loves to have a job.
Cassidy (00:37:16): But I really can picture her on your paddle board, just chilling out as you ski or whatever. She's so cool. So with that said, if you have a dog and want to share your biggest unexpected cost or anything like that, please email us at hello at the finance girlies.com to share your stories with us.
Emily: Yeah. And if anyone else has spent this much on their dog, please do email us. Help me feel less alone.
Cassidy: Yeah, we need Emily to feel better.
Emily (00:37:56): That's a wrap on another episode of the Finance Girlies podcast. Nothing in this episode is meant to be taken as financial advice.
Cassidy: Please do your own research and talk to a professional if you need advice. As always, if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Love you. Bye.
