I Don't Care about the Costs I Love my Dog

This post is inspired by my Dog�s 5th Birthday – I love my dog, and I don’t care if she is the right or wrong personal finance decision.  Sometimes, you have to ignore the right thing, mathematically, and live your life.  So please meet my dog, Tinkerbell:

No, she is not manly nor does she have a cool name like butch, but she lights up my house and I could care less that the amount I spend in food for her could reduce my student loan debt.

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The Story of Tinkerbell

I was spending a lot of time studying, and generally not being around during law school, and The Wife always wanted a dog.  Finally, after a year of begging (literally pleading with her landlord) he finally said “Yes, go get a dog.” We picked her up at 2.5 pounds (she is about 5 pounds now) – this thing weighed less than a box of cereal.

As much as I kid about her lack of manliness, and how much she really is my wife’s dog and not mine (she follows my wife everywhere)…I LOVE MY DOG AND THE COST IS IRRELEVANT AT THIS POINT!

The Cost of Owning a Dog

I have never calculated Tinkerbell’s cost, probably because she is 5 pounds, and to be honest doesn’t require a lot of money to keep her happy, alive and well fed, and while I don’t care about the cost of owning a dog, some people might so lets get some hard numbers from those that have studied the subject:

• RainingSpot.com Gives us a Number between $4,000 and$32,000 over the lifespan of the dog (but they don’t give really good details).
• PetEducation.com gives a number between $4,000 and $38,000 to own a dog for their 14 year life span.  PetEducation breaks down the number much better and even provides First Year Costs.

The costs that they include may be mitigated or increased by the decision to purchase Pet Insurance for our Dog.  The Wife and I took this decision very seriously and I will give a recap of our insurance next week.

I haven’t broken down the costs like some bloggers have, because I am pretty sure the number will upset and me, and look at that face – it doesn’t matter.

Dog Posts from my Blogroll

If you are a dog lover you have to check out my blogroll’s mention of dogs:

• Kelly from TaxGirl discusses a Pet Tax Deduction for health related dog costs.
• The Weakonomist owns a very cute dog named Philip, which by the way is much more manlier than my dog…but I can almost guarantee my dog can take his.
• Jim from Bargaineering Adopted Tobey.
• Peter from Bible Money Matters owns a Shitzu named Nala.  This is where it is at – his dog is 9 pounds, we are getting closer to making me feel like a man again.
• Kelly from Centsible Life Saved up 2 years worth of Change to get her New Lab Puppy!
• Jonathon from My Money Blog has a great dog named Pumpkin.  He too threw caution to the wind for the love a dog can give you.
• Lazy Man highlights the cost he has incurred from the first 11 days of owning his dog.
• Meet Jack, Darwin Financial’s Beautiful Lab, and all the costs he has incurred with him.

Each one of these bloggers, (despite some being beyond frugal) LOVE THEIR DOG and that love can be seen from the posts highlighted above.

So go ahead and comment about how Cute Tinkerbell is, and pet your friendly dog because all they want is your love (and maybe a new bone once in a while)!