If you can't pay 100-300$, should you get a dog?

Not wanting to pay it and not being able to pay it are two different things. I have a friend who is currently looking for a dog and has money set aside for vet bills and such, but would rather spend $50 for an adult dog from a pound and the other $250 on stuff for the dog. He can afford to pay more, but he'd rather spoil his dog as much as possible.

This isn't really related to the thread topic, but it irritates me anyway. When rescues start "charging" more than BYBs do, you know those BYBs are getting a lot of business. I've seen dogs on petfinder for $500 (puppies, usually) and ads in the paper for pups of the same breed, for a couple hundred dollars less.

I don't know. Speaking from a relatively poor background, sometimes you just have to do what you can to make things work. If you asked me today to borrow $300, I would say that I didn't have it. I don't. But if my dog got injured and needed veterinary treatment, I'd get that money, come hell or high water.

I really don't know where you should draw that line. Hopefully people who continually have problems would realize that perhaps their home isn't right for a dog. But that said, I don't think money is the key to happiness or being a good dog owner. I would rather see a dog in a poor but dedicated home than a wealthy but uninterested home. When I was helping my husband at a job site in a wealthy neigbhborhood, I saw the most beautiful white-factored Doberman. Somebody paid a lot of money for that dog, but he was just out running loose every day we went there. Other dogs were yard decorations, kenneled into a little corner so they wouldn't mess up the landscaping.

I don't think there is a minimum income for owning a dog. To me the "if you cant afford X, then you shouldn't have a dog" arguement can be overly critical. Like those who feel like people who need to chain their dogs, rather than buy $500 kennels for each one, are somehow unfit as owners. Or perhaps if you have to feed Pedigree instead of Canidae, you shoudn't own a dog. Its over-thinking the issue to my mind. Everybody has a different way they approach dog ownership, and very few are totally wrong, IMO.

I absolutely agree, Baha. I'm not rich and can't afford an extremely expensive dog (I would love a Doberman, but $3500+ for a show prospect is way out of my high-schooler's budget) but if I had to pay $3500 for treatment for my $450 dog, I'd find a way to make it work.


I don't think there even should be a line drawn. Honestly, and I know a lot will disagree, I'd like to see all these unwanted shelter dogs go into poor homes and eat alpo and table scraps, have no toys and no fancy care but still get the love and attention they deserve. If the dog gets hurt, and the people can't afford extensive vet care and need to relinquish it or have it PTS, that's very sad but at least the dog got to live with a family that loved it. What a great alternative to turning homes away (and then euth'ing the perfectly healthy dog) because they don't make a certain amount of money each year, or because they don't have a fenced yard, or because they have a kid, etc.

I don't know. Speaking from a relatively poor background, sometimes you just have to do what you can to make things work. If you asked me today to borrow $300, I would say that I didn't have it. I don't. But if my dog got injured and needed veterinary treatment, I'd get that money, come hell or high water.

I really don't know where you should draw that line. Hopefully people who continually have problems would realize that perhaps their home isn't right for a dog. But that said, I don't think money is the key to happiness or being a good dog owner. I would rather see a dog in a poor but dedicated home than a wealthy but uninterested home. When I was helping my husband at a job site in a wealthy neigbhborhood, I saw the most beautiful white-factored Doberman. Somebody paid a lot of money for that dog, but he was just out running loose every day we went there. Other dogs were yard decorations, kenneled into a little corner so they wouldn't mess up the landscaping.

I don't think there is a minimum income for owning a dog. To me the "if you cant afford X, then you shouldn't have a dog" arguement can be overly critical. Like those who feel like people who need to chain their dogs, rather than buy $500 kennels for each one, are somehow unfit as owners. Or perhaps if you have to feed Pedigree instead of Canidae, you shoudn't own a dog. Its over-thinking the issue to my mind. Everybody has a different way they approach dog ownership, and very few are totally wrong, IMO.

I absolutely agree, Baha. I'm not rich and can't afford an extremely expensive dog (I would love a Doberman, but $3500+ for a show prospect is way out of my high-schooler's budget) but if I had to pay $3500 for treatment for my $450 dog, I'd find a way to make it work.


I don't think there even should be a line drawn. Honestly, and I know a lot will disagree, I'd like to see all these unwanted shelter dogs go into poor homes and eat alpo and table scraps, have no toys and no fancy care but still get the love and attention they deserve. If the dog gets hurt, and the people can't afford extensive vet care and need to relinquish it or have it PTS, that's very sad but at least the dog got to live with a family that loved it. What a great alternative to turning homes away (and then euth'ing the perfectly healthy dog) because they don't make a certain amount of money each year, or because they don't have a fenced yard, or because they have a kid, etc.

=showpug;503455 If you can't afford them, don't have them.

IMO dogs are a LUXURY item. If you can't afford them, don't have them. I come from a vet clinic background where I saw countless dogs and cats euthanized due to vet bills that people couldn't pay.