Continued financial cost is, of course, an important consideration when getting a dog.
MoneySmart.gov.au has an outline of the costs of having a pet per year. This is a good start to knowing how much a dog will cost, but I wanted to share our financial decisions in getting a puppy in a post-COVID world.
Covid triggered a sharp rise in pet ownership in Australia. With extended lockdowns, flexible work-from-home options, and sometimes for mental/emotional support, everyone and their mother and their mother’s mother are getting a new pet.
Breeders raised the standard cost of their puppies. From what I’ve seen, the popular cavoodle designer mix is at around $5.5k-$6k on average. Frenchies are still popular, and the more exotic/rare colours seem to go from $7k-10k. Pomeranians can go from $3k to $6k depending on the breeder, for example.
Shelter adoption costs can vary, but typically are about a few hundred bucks and would’ve covered vaccines and desexing.
Once I set that amount aside, there are a few initial costs I had to cover. I kept a checklist of all I had to buy and wrote it down on paper old-school style, but here’s a digital version of it ;D
Below are rough estimates of how much I spent, just to help give you an idea. 😛