Do need plenty of funds to own two dogs?

jenmac_85

We currently have 3 GSDs. The current of food is £250 a month with free bones from the butchers. Vets costs are higher, but primarily due to two of our dogs being diagnosed with chronic health complaints.

We found that our first pup was much happier with the addition of the other pups and the two new pups picked the training quicker as they watched and followed our first. It is more the time factor that people need to consider. Although I have heard people say that if you have had one dag, and extra one wont make too much difference, time wise, we tend to spend 99% of out free time with our dogs. Each of them want one-one-one time with us and it is much harder to find suitable kennels or people to keep an eye on them if we want to pop out for dinner etc.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Thanks for all the replies.


I couldn't foster a dogs to be honest, I'd only end up keeping them all.


Also, I've just found out that the dog I was looking to rehome is a male and my dog really doesn't get along with other male dogs so I don't want to put him in what could be a very stressful situation.


My dog isn't a costly dog in terms of food, however, since I got him over 2 years ago, he has cost me a fortune in vets bills, even though I have pet insurance. I guess you can never really factor in how often your visiting the vets.




So for the time being I'm going to stay a one dog household.

Wellyboots6

I spent a while considering getting a second dog due to cost etc.
In the end I decided to foster to see what costs, time, workload etc would be like.
I am currently fostering an older dog and have had her around 9 months now. I can't see she will find a home any time soon due to her age.
The rescue I foster for pay her vets bills (although I have paid most so far as a 'donation' to the rescue).
I pay for her food, which is just less than double what I was originally spending.
Costs of toys has gone down as she destroys everything, so neither of them now get new toys!
She tolerates my boy, and he tolerates her in the house. They will never be best of buddies. Outside on a walk however, they chase and play and it is wonderful to see. He definitely seems to enjoy his walks more now he has chasing company.
Fostering has given me a chance to suss out costs whilst knowing that big vets bills are taken care of. It has also given me chance to see how my boy reacts to having another dog in the house. Chances are she will be a long-term foster too, which is quite nice in a way.

catkins

I have 2 dogs although the second one wasn't by choice! He is a rescue that has been illtreated (long story as to why I have him which I won't bore you all with).


To start with I was worried about the cost - OH is self employed and had very little work at the time. Luckily apart from vaccinations he hasn't needed the vet and I haven't really found it much more expensive to feed 2 dogs (I feed raw) and they are quite large dogs.


They are both male and both unneutered. They are two and a half and one and a half. The younger one is the rescue and we have had him just over a year now. They get on brilliantly and the older one has taught the rescue how to play (he had never seen a toy before). If they didn't get on we would not have been able to keep the rescue as our house is far too small to keep them apart.


The only problem I have is that I have to walk them separately. This is mainly because the rescue has issues with dogs he sees on his walk and will start jumping and barking and then I can't hold the 2 dogs. I do find this difficult as I have health issues and walking 4 or more times a day quite honestly knackers me!


The only other thing is when they play in the house. Two big dogs in a small house! Not a real problem though

artbaron

I've spent £2.5K on my Staff since I got him a year ago. Most of it goes on food then there's flexi leads and harnesses, 'lifetime' insurance, toys, treats, crates and bedding, incidental stuff such as a head-torch for nighttime walks (that's for me, not him) and a few over-cautious vet visits.

GBNI

If I didn't have my OH I wouldn't be able to afford two. To be honest, I probably wouldn't even be able to afford one. Not because the dogs are expensive but my wage isn't great! Lol
I cut costs on hings like toys - B&M Bargains do toys for £2.99 that Pets at Home sell for closer to £9.99. No toy is ever gonig to last too long with my destroyers so I need to be savvy with them! Although they do have a Kong each. They were expensive to buy but I highly recommend them, they're a great boredom breaker. I buy my feed from a fee merchant instead of a pet shop, works out about £5 cheaper (Skinners) a 15kg bag used to last two months but now it maybe last 5 weeks?
I can't remember what I pay for insurance but I know my vet is reasonably priced.

happysaz133

I'm far from loaded, and I have three big dogs (all rescues too ).

As long as I have them insured (which in my head is important), then other things can be worked around.

I always bulk buy dog food when its on offer, sometimes spending £150 ish. My dogs have health problems so need quite expensive food, when its on a special deal I get a lot of it and store it, so food doesn't cost me too much (around £1200 for 3 dogs a year).

I only worm when needed (worming tablets only kill worms present, they don't prevent them). So if I think they have them (and its usually quite easy to tell), I'll buy Drontal (don't bother with cheap ones, they don't make any difference).

Flea/tick treatments - I do them only between March - November. I used to buy Frontline but there are several other brands sold in the pet shops or online like VetUK that are just as effective as Frontline without the really high price tag. Not cheap supermarket ones, again, they do nothing and can be quite dangerous. Never had a case of fleas in over 15 years.

If you want to vaccinate yearly, a lot of vets do plans for life, where you pay one off and you will get worming, flea and tick stuff, vaccinations and yearly check ups all at a reduced rate.

I found 2 dogs are definitely easier than one, they keep each other company. Three makes things a lot harder but to be honest, I wouldn't be without them

krlyr

Another option to consider would be helping out for somewhere like the Cinnamon Trust, looking after the dog of someone who's ill, injured or hospitalised until they're back on their feet again. You get the benefit of a second dog around without the financial or permanent commitment, and you can't become a 'failed' fosterer.

Johnny_Dangerously

Hi Guys,

not sure if it's useful, but I've just started a blog to keep a track of my dog experiences. Mainly me just putting down some thoughts as I get asked advice quite often by work colleagues and figure if I write it down once it's there to share forever.

I've just written a post detailing how much owning a dog has cost in my experience. I've spent a lot of time documenting my vet bills for all of animals (2 cats, 2 dogs), and put together the data for anyone who might be looking for real work examples of ownership costs, particularly vet bills.

I can post links yet being a new user, but if anyone is interested, please feel free to reply and I'll try and share. It details cost breakdowns showing an estimated annual cost of around £1,300 per year even for a medium sized dog. It's based on real data taken from my two dogs over the last 6 years. Not the most comprehensive data set, but a decent guide I hope.

Hopefully it can help someone. Happy to help if anyone has any questions though. It's taken me quite some time to capture all the data, so hopefully it will be useful.

Thanks

Ian

Johnny_Dangerously

I think I can now post links which is nice. Here is the article I just wrote on the costs of dog ownership. Hope it can be of some use.

How much do dogs cost

Happy to discuss if anyone has any questions