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SIX YEARS AGO, I made one of the worst investments of my life.
I got a dog.
Ignoring the age-old advice to never invest in anything that eats, I signed up for a purebred German shorthair pointer puppy. I thereby locked myself into an indefinite stream of future cash outflows in the form of dog food, treats, supplies, annual checkups, vaccinations, flea and tick treatments, heartworm pills, procedures and other expenses required for keeping man’s best friend healthy and happy.
What can I say? We all have our moments of irrational exuberance. For the record, I’m also a holder of AT&T, a stock that I bought for its attractive dividend yield but which, alas, has proven to be a classic value trap.
As for the dog, well, I spend a fair bit of time on my own and, as I got older, I wanted a companion that would match my active lifestyle. A neighbor was planning to breed her beautiful, sable-coated dog. I’d never had a pointer before and thought I’d try one.
My life, and my pocketbook, have never been the same.
Now, let me just say that I love my Cassie dearly and I wouldn’t give her up for the world. She’s sweet, smart, funny and loyal. She and I are stuck together like white on rice, and our bond only grows with each passing day.
That doesn’t hide the fact that this dog is expensive, not to mention exhausting. Just feeding her costs me about $20 a week—all that energy of hers burns calories, after all. I knew going into the transaction that pointers were high-strung. But like that AT&T stock, you don’t really know what you’re getting into until you have it in your hand.
I don’t think I’ve sat down for more than an hour at a time since I brought Cassie home. When I’m not taking her for walks—or more precisely, when Cassie isn’t taking me for a walk—I’m cleaning up the trail of destruction left behind by my 65-pound canine tornado.
Zoomies are the worst. Watch out as the Cassie Express bounces from room to room, knocking over lamps and potted plants and anything else that’s in the way. Owning a purebred sporting dog is like having a thoroughbred horse in your house.
If you hear galloping, you stand back and hope you don’t get run over. Cats, squirrels and doorbells put her into a frenzy. Recently, I replaced a front screen door that she busted through when the Amazon Prime truck came by to make a delivery. The poor guy was terrified. But once outside, Cassie just wanted to give him kisses.
Even worse than the mishaps are all the medical emergencies that come with owning a high-energy dog. Like the time Cassie caught her ear on brambles while chasing bunnies through a briar patch and came back to the house bloodier than a pirate on the losing end of a mutiny.
A dog’s ear, I discovered that day, is filled with tiny blood vessels which, if severed, bleed like a sieve. The vet had to knock poor Cassie out to stitch her up, all of which resulted in a $350 hit to my pocketbook.
These surprise bills weren’t so bad when I was working. But for an early retiree living on a fixed income, they can break the best-planned budget. And it never ends, that’s the thing.
Every day, when you wake up, the bills and responsibilities lie in front of you: the feedings, the walks, cleaning her paws when she comes inside so she doesn’t dirty up the house, wiping up her drool after she drinks from the water bowl. Some days, you just want a break, but the only break comes when you go on vacation. Then you have to kennel her and that’s not cheap. Figure on paying at least $400, including tips, for that week of freedom.
I found myself mulling all this over one evening last week while taking Cassie out for her 18th walk that day. I was in a bad mood because it was hot outside and the last thing I wanted to be doing was sweating up another shirt while Cassie pulled me around the neighborhood. Despite spending hundreds of dollars on training, I still haven’t broken her of the habit of pulling on her leash.
Why do people do things like this, I wondered. Why do otherwise rational people commit themselves to taking care of living creatures that suck up their precious time and money?
We do it for the companionship, yes—for the love and richness that a pet adds to our lives. But man, does it cost us in both money and time. I suppose the same could be said about having kids. According to recent research, it costs upward of $300,000 these days to raise a kid, not including college. At least the kid eventually goes off on his own and sends birthday cards—well, maybe. A dog is constant work and expense until death do us part.
Back at the house after the walk, Cassie took a long drink from her water dish and collapsed onto the floor in a panting pile of dog. I felt bad for grouching at her during the walk and got down on the floor next to her.
She squirmed and pawed at me for a few minutes before finally settling. Music was playing in the background. I stroked Cassie’s silky ears and rubbed her belly while telling her what a good girl she is. She just looked back at me with those piercing amber eyes that said—you’re my person, Dad, and always will be.
Yeah, it’s worth it, I thought. Every penny.
Now, as for that AT&T stock….
James Kerr led global communications, public relations and social media for a number of Fortune 500 technology firms before leaving the corporate world to pursue his passion for writing and storytelling. His debut book, “The Long Walk Home: How I Lost My Job as a Corporate Remora Fish and Rediscovered My Life’s Purpose,” was published in 2022 by Blydyn Square Books. Jim blogs at PeaceableMan.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesBKerr and check out his previous articles.
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I raised 4 kids and all attended college. No way i costs as much as those estimates say. I have a great dog; He’s a schnoodle. Unlike other dogs I’ve had, he doesn’t destroy things. He is 6, and all the toys we’ve gotten him since day one are still intact. He plays with them but doesn’t chew them to bits. He’s very active, loves to run and chase balls and frisbees, and doesn’t cost anywhere near $20 a week to feed. He only goes to the vet for annual check-ups, and gets monthly flea and tick and heartworm treatments. These are not very expensive. My grown kids’ cats cost way more at the vet, always seeming to have issues.
She sounds like a lovely companion, but your story reinforces doing your homework before you adopt/purchase a dog. I have always been a cat person, but they come with similar costs, although maybe not the bramble ear issue. Our last cat developed both arthritis and asthma (who knew cats got asthma?) so he was on long term drugs. Haven’t worked out what we spent on him over his 11 years, but whatever it was, it was a bargain for the companionship and entertainment he gave us.
nice article James, have you considered a house-sitting service for the times you are away, u only pay an annual fee & you have someone to care for your pets.
You did a great job laying out the benefits of a dog (companionship, unconditional love, etc.) and also what it really takes from a responsibility standpoint, and the impact on the wallet. Being a responsible dog owner is a lot of work and takes time and commitment, but there are rewards I’m in my late 50s with kids in their early 20s. I have friends who say, now that your kids are older you need a dog! I tell them my husband and I really enjoy not having the responsibility that comes with one and we’re enjoying our freedom. We can go away for the day, or the weekend, and not have to worry about rushing home to let the dog out or finding a pet sitter. Our house stays clean and I don’t have to get up at 6:00 am to take the dog for a walk (or pick up poop). And, no guilt for not spending enough time with the dog! Most of our friends have dogs so if I want a dog fix, I just go to their house. I. will say that if I lived alone, I might get one though.
You have to be very careful with the $300,000 estimate to raise a child. If you click through to the original 2015 Dept of Agriculture report you will see that they attribute 29% of the child raising cost to housing. That is based on the assumption that because of having children the parents will want or need a larger house that costs more in purchase price, maintenance, taxes and insurance. Right now, I am working with a team to rehab a two bedroom 576 sq ft house for Habitat for Humanity here in Canton OH. That is 24 ft wide by 24 ft deep, with a full basement. On one hand we can say, “perfect for a couple with no children”, or for a single person. But how many childless readers would really want to live in a house that size, just to save money? Now I know that might be a nice size apartment in Manhattan, LA, Miami or downtown Chicago. But here in Canton we are actually having trouble finding a couple to move in. I have two adult children without kids of their own and each lives in a roughly 1600 sq ft house. Whereas my parents raised my brother and me 1172 sq ft house in the 1950s and 1060s, and we seem to have turned out all right. So, I find it somewhat exaggerated to attribute 29% of this cost to raise a child to housing, when a very large percentage of people could get along fine in a more compact abode, thereby saving money and time and energy consumption.
Yup. My parents raised us 3 kids in a 900 sq ft, 1 bath house. They finally added a 400 sq ft family room just as us kids were getting ready to move out, lol.
I have a pointer too! I adopted mine, Rusty, out of a rural high kill shelter in Texas. I’ve had other high energy dogs (currently also have a cattle dog that I adopted from the same shelter) but Rusty outruns every dog in town. I knew they were high energy but Rusty is off the wall high energy. He was probably given up by someone who didn’t have the time or the money to take care of him. The best exercise I have found for him is letting him run offleash in a big open field/forest (preferably fenced) for about an hour and a half each day. On the weekends I let him offleash at one of the massive dog parks (Onion Creek) here in Austin, TX and he has the time of his life running at full blast chasing squirrels for hours. At night, he insists on sleeping curled up as close as possible to me. He has been a wonderful addition to my life and gives me so much happiness. I am lucky that the expense is not too much for me, but for ordinary americans the routine medical expenses are simply unaffordable.
I would recommend that anyone looking for a dog go to their local shelter rather than a breeder. There are so many sweet loving souls there. My pointer is actually a pure bred english pointer! The cattle dog that I adopted is not pure bred but he is as loyal and as much of a cowboy as cattle dogs can be. While some breeders have good intentions, the sad reality is that we should not be breeding dogs when there are soooo many dogs out there, OF EVERY disposition and breed, yes even pure bred if that is your thing, who are suffering and literally going crazy being stuck in kennels all day without human touch. It’s a tragedy.
My pup walks me four miles a day. The mental and physical benefits are priceless.
We have no dog but enjoy our grand-dog. Just remember, kids may be expensive, but they grow up and get jobs, paying Social Security taxes that partially fund our retirements. Dogs, not so much. Adding a dog or two to a family is great, but for a society, they should not replace kids or the society will not go on for long. By the way, grandkids are less expensive and a whole lot of fun.
Great article, James. My whole family consists of “dog people” and we couldn’t live without them. A few years ago we had four senior rescues here in our house, all with myriad medical issues, and our vet expenses were through the roof. One thing we did was always ask our dear vet to either match the best online price we could find for their meds, or else just send in the Rx so we could order at the website. This saved us quite a bit.
One by one our seniors have passed, and we’re down to one now, the “last dog standing”. Coincidentally, our little Chico is celebrating his 14th birthday today.
Happy birthday to Chico!
I’m the dissenting voice I guess, we always took stray animals as strictly outside animals. We like a clean home and dogs and cats just aren’t very clean by nature. But we had their companionship outside on our property. After retiring, we found we liked to travel spontaneously and the hassle of lining someone up to come feed pets was just more trouble than it was worth. When the last two passed on we decided, no more pets. We prefer each others company and that of our friends and dislike all the care pets require. Might decide differently some future day but I doubt it. But it’s great you enjoy your pet!
I’m with you! It’s a tradeoff but I prefer the freedom of being dog-free.
I’mwith you. My dog is a great big cost – but well worth every penny.
Jim, your life has been enriched beyond what money could buy. Having a dog as a companion is priceless. I’ve got 3- 80 lb pound puppies and as much agrivation it can be, they more than compensate for the sheer joy, happiness and unconditional love they bring to our lives.
Thanks, Mark. I agree!
I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this article. I also can’t begin to tell you how much I relate to it.
My husband and I own FOUR high drive, working dogs. Two German Shepherds, a Dutch Shepherd and a Corgi. People may argue that a Corgi couldn’t be high-drive, but he’s from championship herding lines. He believes in his heart that he’s a German Shepherd (and maybe a little Border Collie).
I haven’t yet calculated what percentage of our income goes to dog-related expenses, but it’s considerable.
We just spent $400 on Sunday taking two of them to a scent-work competition. We feed them homemade dog food so that’s probably another $300 a month. Vet expenses, toys, training, etc. likely adds up to several thousand dollars a year.
And why do we do it? Because we can’t imagine our lives without these dogs. They bring us great joy (and some aggravation), but are worth every penny we spend on them.
Thanks, Kristine. Maybe we can start a dogowner support group? 🙂
Excellent idea! DOA. Dog Owners Anonymous. 🙂
I am currently a dog mom without a dog. We had dogs for 26 straight years while our kids were growing up, and our last one, a wonderful yellow Lab named Winnie the Pooch, passed away in July 2018. We agreed years earlier that once Winnie left us, we’d go pet-free for awhile so that we’d have more freedom for travel and other day trips. Then we moved into a top-floor condo in 2019, again to facilitate a travel-forward lifestyle.
When COVID hit, I spent a lot of time on the walking loop in our community and standing by the dog park that I can see from our dining room windows, watching dogs play. A dog would have helped my mood a lot. I still feel like “dog mom” is part of my core identity.
When we still had Winnie, I used to joke that dogs are better than kids because they never talk back, never ask for money, and are always happy to see you. My daughters knew that I loved the dog best.
Cherish every minute with Cassie.
Very good points. Unlike humans, dogs offer unconditional love. It’s priceless.
Right on, I can relate, I love dogs, but I don’t have one, but I sure would like to. It’s not so much the money, but the time and effort you mention. Living in a condo makes it more difficult although many of my neighbors have dogs.
My daughter had a black lab. Lincoln and I were buddies from the day they brought him home as a pup and I admit I cried as I held him for the last time when he was 14.
Every time I’d visit as soon as he heard my voice he run for his ball so we could play. Every summer he would visit us on Cape Cod. If during the winter, you said “do you want to go to Cape Cod” Lincoln would head for the car.
You’re right, it’s worth it.
The time commitment is huge, for sure. What have I done?? 🙂
Dog ownership also increases longevity according to a number of studies:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/09/want-live-longer-try-getting-dog/
Excellent point, John. I should have included that in the article. Thanks!