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Responsible Dog Ownership - Approximate Costs of Dog Care
Responsible Dog Ownership
Approximate Costs of Dog Care
Minimum costs of dog ownership
You should ensure you can provide for the following possible costs:
- Confinement - effective confinement is a legal requirement and a condition of registration.
- Grooming (dependent on dog breed).
- Health checks - including vaccinations, flea control and heartworm.
- Registration - registration is a mandatory legal requirement.
- Training - puppy socialisation and obedience training (puppy / dog training is strongly recommended by veterinarians as trained dogs are likely to have fewer behavioural issues and are generally easier to care for).
Unforseen costs
- Emergency medical treatment.
Other costs (optional)
- Sterilising - animal welfare communities throughout Australia strongly recommend that you sterilise your dog for health and welfare reasons, unless keeping it for breeding/show purposes. The cost of sterilisation varies with the size of the dog - the bigger the dog, the greater the costs (Your local vet will have further details).
- Microchipping (implanting a microchip in your animal for identification purposes) is a one-off cost.
If you believe you can’t meet the minimum day-to-day requirements of dog ownership, it is likely you will experience ongoing difficulties in managing your dog since you may incur additional costs.
For instance, the additional costs could include:
- Replacing damaged property or possessions around the home.
- Compensation for injury resulting from nuisance dogs or aggressive dogs.
- Legal costs of injury and damage incurred from nuisance dogs or aggressive dogs.
- Impounding fees, maintenance costs, and other associated fines.
Approximate costs of dog care
- Health wise, dogs are one of the more expensive animals to maintain, and the bigger they are, the more they cost. For instance, flea control and heartworm prevention are large recurring costs.
- Sterilising will cost from $90 to $200, and vaccinations from $40 to $70 a time.
- The cost of buying a dog varies. You can get one for free, or even pay more than a $1000 for some purebred varieties. If you are concerned about the purchase price of your new houseguest, perhaps you should rethink whether a dog is for you. The purchase price is tiny compared to the potential costs of future care.
“Budget beating” advice - keeping pet care costs to a minimum
- Medium-sized dogs are generally cheaper to maintain than very small and very large dogs.
- Consider adopting a pet from a welfare refuge.
- Take your pet to a veterinarian each year for a health check. Preventative health care is much cheaper than emergency health care.
- For dogs, opt for yearly rather than monthly heartworm prevention. Heartworm is an expensive disease to treat and if you forget to give your dog its tablets, heartworm disease could be the sad result. For around the same cost as a monthly preventative, your veterinarian can provide a once-a-year injection to prevent heartworm.
- Don’t cut corners on flea treatment. If you choose cheap and possibly ineffective shampoos and rinses, fleas can soon invade your house and yard.
- Regular grooming at home, particularly with long-coated dog, is far better than a trip to the grooming parlour when your pet’s coat becomes heavily matted. Your pet will learn to love a daily brush and you’ll save on trips to the grooming salon.
Activities at home
- If you don’t have time to take your dog on a long walk, occupy it with backyard games instead. Make some simple agility hurdles from broomsticks and other discarded timber. Your dog will enjoy the change in routine and your efforts will beat boredom.
- To provide your dog with hours of free fun when you are away, give your pooch a carton of magic! Cut a hole, the size of the label, in a plastic two or three-litre milk carton. Then put part of your dog’s daily food into the carton and present it to him or her as you leave for work. You have given your pooch a brain-game puzzle to solve as it toils with the task of getting the food out. But remember to remove the lid and the plastic sealing ring for safety.
- Placing sensible food treats or bones inside a cardboard toothpaste box or a toilet roll core can also provide inexpensive entertainment for dogs.
Neighbourhood dog watch
- Organise a 'dog sitting' arrangement with your neighbours. Find a neighbour or friend who will gladly walk your dog with theirs while you are at work. This can be mutually beneficial if you are willing to do the same for them in return. It’s also worth finding dog-loving friends to dog-sit when you go away on holidays, rather than having the expense of sending your dog to a boarding kennel.
- Install a self-locking gate to make sure your dog can’t escape from your premises.
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Responsible Dog Ownership
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