The cost of raising a dog

It is hard to miss the news articles on how much it costs to raise a child, with accompanying websites like this proliferating. Hey, it’s easy to freak out when you see it costs $175K until age 18, and that is before you factor in day care (according to that site).

I realize many of these articles and sites are simply trying to help you realize what you are financially committing to when you have a child. But they don’t address the risk/reward or cost/benefit aspects, focusing instead on one side of that equation. When I saw an article on the news last week about child-raising expenses, I snarkily commented “Yeah, and how much does it cost to raise a dog?” (My administrative assistant learned long ago to ignore such outbursts since I lied and said I had Tourette syndrome)

Lo and behold, someone has addressed my sarcasm. In this past weekend’s The Wall Street Journal there is an article on “Calculating the True Cost of a Pet.” By the way, if your office gets the WSJ, find out who is receiving the recently added weekend edition—I have really enjoyed it so far.
From the article: “How much? Almost $12,000 over a lifetime for a small dog that lives 15 years, and more than $23,000 for a larger breed that lives for 12. Those are just averages; the numbers grow quickly if, say, illnesses require trips to the vet.”

I guess I was happy to see this article because it highlights how many of our choices have expenses with no easily calculated return. I deal with this almost every day at work with financial decisions for the company, which is probably why the child-rearing cost articles irritate me more than they should. The article goes on to address many of my points about benefits as well as the cost, and steps you can take to help you make an informed choice when choosing a dog.

I’m sure there will be more “Calculating the True Cost of x” coming soon in the news. Maybe I should get my admin noise-canceling headphones for Christmas…