How much money will it cost me to own a Labardor Retriever?

Question

I will be buying a male pure bred lab. He will become standerd size and will eat the "standerd amount". He will be 8 weeks old when I get him, and all expenses are generally paid by the breeder before 8 weeks. So, how much money (please break it down) will it cost me over the time of 10 years. Please be specific in exactly what will take all the money. I want the cheapest plan, but still good. Please show each individual expense so I know why it is so much. Also have a total for each year. Do not include sickness. Just everything else. Thanks!

Answer 1

The hard facts are that the cost of owning a dog is an extremely important consideration for a number of often overlooked reasons. The first concerns the purchase price of the dog. Many people balk at paying £500 to £1000 for a dog. They rationalize that they simply can not afford it and settle for a poorly bred £150 puppy instead. What a huge mistake. The cost of a guaranteed healthy, well-bred £1000 puppy is a fraction of what it will cost to own that dog for 12 years. A poorly bred dog with bad hips, allergies, and a not so bright disposition will end up costing you thousands more in medical bills not to mention hours of frustration and disappointment. At the same time, if you are not going to pay for a high quality purebred, then do the animal kingdom a favor and go to the shelter and get a mixed breed puppy that will be healthier and smarter than a poorly bred 'purebred.'

The second reason that the cost of owning a dog is important is that it is a big investment. This dog is going to cost you a lot of money, not to mention a tremendous amount of time. If you are not fully prepared to pay for a dog's needs and willing to spend a significant portion of your free time with the animal, then by all means do not get a dog. There are thousands of dogs put to sleep every year because the owners no longer want them or can not afford them. On top of this, there are hundreds of thousands of dogs that live miserable lives devoid of exercise, interaction, socialization, and basic housing needs because people do not realize the time, commitment, or expense involved in owning and properly caring for a dog.

The third important reason to understand what owning a dog costs is that when you realize what owning a dog costs, you will take the ownership and your responsibility much more seriously. We would not dream in investing £10,000 on a car that we know nothing about, had no warranty, we had not driven, and was completely unsuitable for our use. Yet people do this more everyday and they get a puppy without researching its breed characteristics, medical history, and parental history. And worse yet are the people that get a dog on a whim or for a child without any concept of the dog's needs and requirements, let alone the financial costs that are going to be incurred.

Remember we own dogs because we love dogs. The money should not ever stop us from caring for or taking in a puppy that needs a home, but we have to be aware of the cost and our commitment to the animal. The animal's needs have to come first! This is so important I am going to say it again, The animal's needs have to come first! Lack of funds is no excuse for not providing adequate care for an animal. If we can not meet the needs of the animal or we are not fully committed to providing the time, energy, and finances that our dog needs then we should not bring that animal into our home, period, no excuses. It just is not fair to them.

Apart from the damage in the home as mentioned above, and the initial cost of the puppy, you have to buy

Collar and lead £30 for a good quality leather one that will last
Dog bed £40
Dog toys
Car restraint or dog guard
New car to ferry dog around !! £20000 !!!!!
If feeding a complete diet average £40 a month
Dog treats £5
Dog Bowls, one for water, one for food £10
Insurance £20 monthly
Initial booster £50 then annually thereafter
Brush £10
Comb if long haired dog £5
Shampoo £10 six monthly
Grooming spray £10 six monthly
Wormer £10 annual
Flea treatment £10 annual

you can work out the cost of 14 years (average lifespan)which will be quite frightening, plus ad hoc vet fees not covered on insurance excess.

Answer 2

You can expect to spend between $75 - $125 per visit for his booster vaccinations, rabies, and other shots.
Add registrations,collars, leashes, toys, grooming products, quality food, crate (yes you NEED one)etc. & you'll probably come out around $1200- $1500 for the first year, for a normal, healthy pup, not including spay/neuter.

After the first year, a regular checkup/vaccines, & feeding a large adult a good quality food will run $600 - $800.

These are ballpark figures of course, and include only health maintenance. There is training, kennel & confinement to be done if you don't want to replace 'destroyed' household items as mentioned by others. And there's non-maintenance vet care to plan for. It's a good idea to set a little money aside each month for 'emergency' fund now.
Vets have gotten extremely expensive, especially emergency care. I've owned many dogs and have found that pet insurance is not worth the $$. It's better to put that $30 or more away each month than pay a company whose 'allowable' fees are far less than the vet's charges, and who don't cover old dogs (9+ yrs). If you start this when your puppy is young, you'll have a nice chunk of cash ready when your dog needs it.
Good luck, & Congrats on your new puppy!

Answer 3

Here our approximate experience. Note, we live in mid-Missouri. Costs can be much higher depending upon where you live!!!

- 40 pounds of dog food every three weeks at $28 per bag.
- 1 bag of treats each week at approx $2.50 per bag.
- 1 cannister of tennis balls every month at $2.00 each (on sale at Walmart) along with a variety of other toys we bought during the year (est 6 at $10 each).
- 1 Vet visit for annual check up,shots and license $175.
- Anti-heart worm and anti-tick/flea medications
- a new collar or a new lead or a new something
- Boarding in case you go on vacation without him or if you have a business trip or have a funeral to attend across the country on short notice, etc. Estimated at 2 weeks per year.
- Grooming including nails clipped every other month. This can be saved if you learn to do it yourself.
- Training can be very expensive but you can usually find a class at the Y or an adult education program.

Food $500
Treats 130
Annual Vet Visit 175
Chew toys 164
Meds 200
New something 40
Boarding 476
Grooming 318
Training 150

Total 1st year - $2,153 **assume 4% inflation each year
Year 2 - 2,239
Year 3 - 2,239
Year 4 - 2,422
Year 5 - 2,519
Year 6 - 2,619
Year 7 - 2,724
Year 8 - 2,833
Year 9 - 2,947
Year 10 - 3,064

Grand total for 10 years - - $25,849 and this does not count the cost of the pure bred dog.

Please consider adopting a dog. Try your local animal shelter or going to he following web site which has over 5,000 Black Laborador Retreivers and over 17,000 Laborador Retreivers for adoption. Www.Petfinder.com is the temporary home of 265,713 adoptable pets from 11,484 adoption groups.

Enjoy your pet. They are worth every minute of the love and attention you give.

Answer 4

Budget for $700 to $1000 per year. This is food, toys and medical expenses. The medical expenses will be greater later on in the dogs life. Although when you first get a puppy you will have to get the shots, spade/ newtor and mircochipping that alone in the first year is about $450. Check around for vets because some have a puppy package for the first year with reduced rates.

Answer 5

So funny!!! I have owned labs for years, There is no magic formula to break down to cover the expense of a lab. for 10 yrs.. But.. buckle your seat belt they are SUPER destructive as pups.. they have tons of energy and are mischievous.. I have replaced entire sprinkler systems, re sodded the back yard 2 times, replaced all outdoor ground lighting, rugs, pillows, outdoor cushions, phone lines on the outside of house, more plants than I can remember... 5 week boot camp was $3500. Not to mention all the jolly balls, king Kong's, "non destructable" toys ;-), chewed up leashes... and the big $$ =Hyberbaric chamber when Dakota got bit by a rattlesnake...and Chemo when he got cancer on his ear -cancer surgery...and on and on.... Yet I couldn't live without labs... LOVE THEM!! Buy lots of tennis balls, and keep a great sense of humor- you will need both!!!

Answer 6

If you have to ask if you can afford the dog then don't have it, the food bill will probably be a few pounds a week but what will kill you is the unexpected vet bills, they are not cheap and you will need to take the dog to the vets for things like vaccinations which will be costly enough, if you imagine it is like bringing up a child you can imagine the cost

Answer 7

Its going to vary greatly, depending on how much he goes through toys, what kind of food, etc.

Sickness is another thing to take into account. You might end up with a lab with hip dysplasia (very common, make sure parents are OFA cleared) and thats going to boost your cost up by several thousand.

Answer 8

£93 to pay for the washing machine to be fixed after he chews the rubber seal.
£80 to have the boiler repaired after he chews that.
£120 to have the wall replastered and painted after he chews through it.
£100 for a cage...best investment you'll ever make...although he'll probably chew through that as well.


This is on top of puppy food and gravy bones as well as poop bags and also chew toys.

There is no way to work out how much it will cost to have a lab but you can be sure it'll be alot more than you expect!

Good luck!

Answer 9

Impossible to be accurate but think a lodger who dosn't work or taking on an adopted kid but the dog will love you so feed him well exrcise him don't let money put you off.,,(ps £20 a week will perhaps cover it)

Answer 10

A lot!

But worth every single hard earned penny!

Enjoy!