The cost of owning a dog

wow i wasn't expecting so many replies...but thank you all who did respond and i read every single post. Some great advice was given and I will def. remember this post in the future.

The dog is mainly for my girlfriend. A few years ago she adopted a black lab. It was not her puppy...i cannot remember the company that she adopted from, but basically, you adopt a pup, train it, and then give it back to the company you adopted from. that company then finds a home for it, for say a handicapped person who needs help getting things, or a seeing eye dog. She had him (his name was Cooper) for about one year before having to give it back. She absolutly loved that dog and loved training him and being his mother. She treats animals with the utmost care and i would completely trust her with a new dog.

She has already made the decision to adopt from a humane society here in Orlando. The humane society is basically giving away puppies (i do not mean that in a bad way)...it's amazing what they do for these animals here. She found some black labs that were spayed/neutered, had all their shots and everything for $45 from the shelter. She held one and said it was very active, not scared of her and just the cutest thing she's ever seen.

She is being very cautious about getting a pup at the moment, and I understand. We're both full time college students working part time jobs...i think she wants to wait till she gets out of college...but it's not a crime to start planning for a puppy 2 years in advance is it? course not...

Best of luck on your future puppy whenever it comes along remember to post pics!!!!:D :D

[QUOTE=frankykeno]Thanks Nancy. I think any young dog needs appropriate toys/housing but labs especially are almost orally fixated.

Jo, you can add huskys and husky mixes to that. Drama still chews everything in sight and she is over 2 years old now!! My smaller bully (Igor) still chews as well, but the bigger one (Alex) is 2 years older than Drama and Igor so he does not chew unapproved items anymore, thank goodness!

LOL yep the northern breeds, most especially the Husky, are all big time chewers and big time talkers usually but I do love them. One of my dream dogs is the Alaskan Malamute and lucky for me we have a couple of rescue organizations for northern sled breeds right here in Ohio so perhaps one day we'll get one. My first Labrador was actually 3/4 lab, 1/4 husky. We got her in the Canadian Yukon. She basically looked close to a purebred lab but boy did she love to go under harness and pull our oldest around on a sled or haul wood when we visited my brother's cabin. Only poor side effect of the Husky bloodline, she was almost impossible to train to walk on leash...her instinct was to pull, pull, pull LOL.

I don't know if this is actually true or not, but I've heard that black and golden labs tend to be smarter than brown labs for some reason. My Dad's brown lab was dumb as a box of rocks and I've talked to other people who've had very clever and well behaved black or golden labs but rarely a brown lab. Feel free to correct me on that, just what I've heard.

Good luck adopting the puppy! I always try to plan my pets way ahead of time, it's the best way to do it when you can imho. :)

So many cute breeds... I'm partial to min pins, dobermans, malamutes, border collies, and a whole host of cute mutts. :) Karen and I always figured we'd get a border collie if we ever got a dog, they're cute and very trainable.

I have to agree.. chocolate labs seem to have a few screws loose. Yellows seem to be extra rambunctious.. obnoxiously so often. Many black labs are much more laid back.. this is my observation.

I have an english shepherd, which is a rare breed similar to a border collie. Yes, they are VERY smart, and can be trained a lot, but they are not easy dogs. They need to be doing something all the time. If you don't keep them busy, then THEY will.. and they don't usually pick the most convenient things to keep busy with. They often try to herd you, and your other animals too. These dogs need a lot of training to channel the amazing amount of energy and intelligence they have.

About 20 dollars a week. Not counting the little bit you set aside for the oops factor ( vet visits)

Beauty the BP