Lazy Man and Money

Glad I Have an Emergency Fund

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If it was a typical week, you’d be reading a well-researched article on identity theft, right now. However this week has been anything but typical. Monday the plan was for my wife and I to meet at a friends’ birthday party after work. However, I got a phone call that something was wrong with our 4-month old puppy, Jake. Being the curious pup that he is, he got into some mischief that isn’t “dog healthy.” My wife rushed him to the vet and I met up with them minutes later.

The good news is that Jake looks like he’s going to be creating mischief in our lives for years to come. The bad news is that the vet bills were $350. (From a cost perspective, getting a Sony Aibo is starting to make more sense.) That isn’t the way to start the week.

On Tuesday, I was on my way to work when I saw something that looked like a soda can or a coffee can. I know there’s a big difference, but sometimes it’s hard to tell. In any event, I thought I could just go over it. It really wasn’t that high. Well I heard it hit the bottom of my car and thought, “That can’t be good.” The next day, I got the dreaded “Service Engine Soon” light. Upon inspection, my mechanic asked me if hit anything with the bottom of my car… Yep. I had knocked out some oxygen detectors which set me back another $200.

This got me thinking how people survive without an emergency fund. I would think that $550 in a couple of days could put a lot of people in financial trouble. I suppose they’d get by with credit cards. Ugh.

Dog Costs for the First Month

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A little while back, I had asked the question of how much does a dog cost. At the time, I was speculating based on the research I had done. Today I’m a little more prepared to answered that question from a position of experience. We’ve had our puppy, for around 11 days now and I finally feel like I can extrapolate the costs of the first month of owning a dog. It’s the most expensive month of dog ownership, because you have to all the start-up costs. We are probably over $1500 in dog costs already.

Here are some examples of costs that we’ve had so far:

Aren't I Worth the Money?
Aren't I Worth the Money?
  • Dog Itself – $300 – It is pretty hard to simply extract the cost of our puppy. It came with some of it’s shots, it’s tagging, it’s fixing, and a few other things that cost money.
  • Dog Training – $750 – We took an unusual route and with with Bark Busters. What’s unusual about them? Well for one, the price. At $750 it’s probably the most expensive training out there. What do you get for that kind of money? Everything. Lifetime, one-on-one training at your home on your schedule. We’ve had the trainer come by twice in the first 11 days. The first was because he was howling all night and we couldn’t get him to stop. The second was just last night because he has been wanting to jump up on and bite everything in sight. So far it’s very good money spent.
  • Dog Vet Visit – $79 – The first dog vet visit was free (since it’s a rescue dog), but the test of his stool wasn’t free – nor was the medication for the parasites they found. It’s not a big deal and I guess a lot of dogs have it, but it’s still another $79 more than we thought
  • Dog Supplies – $300 – I’m calling this $300, but here’s a quick breakdown of things we’ve already spent money on. Some toys ($25), a blanket ($10), a dog create ($40), a dog gate ($50), dog food ($40), bitter apple spray to stop him from biting stuff ($5), dog bath wash ($5), Febreeze ($5), dog training pads ($45). I’m sure there’s a few more costs that I forgot to add in. Surely, there will be others to add before the month is over.

All these costs have started to grate on me a little. It’s one thing if everything is rainbows and puppy dogs smiles all the time. However, there are times during this training period where I can’t help but think, “We paid $1500 so that you can continually bite mommy’s ankles. Hmmm…” Then there are the times when he just comes up, crawls in my lap and licks my hand. It’s hard to put a value on that.