How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?

"How much does she cost?," a woman asked me at adoption day yesterday.

It's a question that gets me every time, but I'm sure I'm overanalyzing the semantics. Surely most people mean to ask, "What is the adoption fee?" or "What donation should we make if we adopt the dog?"  I answer with the usual: "The adoption fee for dogs is $300. It's a tax-deductible donation that includes vetting costs, such as spay/neuter, all age-appropriate shots, heartworm and flea/tick preventative, etc."

But the idea that this dog could "cost" something really irks me. How could you pin a price tag on an animal's life? How could I ever tell someone what Karina is worth?

Well, this soon turned into an research project....

First I went to a local pet store—not a reputable chain that has made the wise decision to partner with rescues instead of selling dogs and cats. I'm talking one of those seedy mall pet stores. These places buy their dogs from puppy mills where female dogs are bred over and over and over again—without regards to the heredity, health or safety of the mom or pups. The puppies are kept in absolutely deplorable living conditions before being sold to brokers for a few hundred bucks before being passed on to your local seedy pet store.

I laid eyes on a lab puppy and asked a young woman working there, "How much does he cost?" The woman looked down at her clipboard, then said, "That lab? He's a sweetie. He's discounted to $1800." $1800!!!!!!!!! I almost fell over. My undercover-research poker face probably needs some work, because she followed quickly with, "But ma'am, we offer financing programs. If you can put half down now, our interest rates are very low...". The seconds of my life that would have been wasted by continuing that conversation were not worth it—not even for this research project.

Then I started to think about how much dogs "cost" from breeders. I'm sure there are many reputable breeders who care deeply about the health and safety of their animals and the breeds they represent. However, I still can not imagine doing this as long as there are homeless animals crowding shelters. But I digress...

I sat down at my computer and found this site of a breeder in California selling labs. (I know nothing of her reputability. I'm simply using her site for reference of costs.) The costs of her dogs averages around $2,000. (Others are $6,000!) But here's where I almost fell over for the second time in one day: If you leave a puppy with the woman past its 8th week of life, you can pay to have it crate trained—FOR $350 PER WEEK! (I was very shaken by this. I can't tell you the amount of time I've spent [and number of trains I've missed in the morning] trying to crate train my fosters.) She also says to email her regarding the cost of other training, such as sit, high five, leash, and house breaking.

Finally, I did a little more research into general veterinary fees (as I don't know actual amounts) in order to determine what Karina actually "costs."

   $1,900 = "Purchase price" (I realize she's not a purebred, but even the British monarchy is embracing mutts these days, so just go with it.)
   $10,850 = Training for the 31 weeks she has been with the rescue (She can do everything mentioned above, except the super important "high five" trick.)
   $150 = Spay (based on estimates)
   $1,000 Heartworm treatment (based on estimates)
   $300 = Food (based on estimates)
+ $150 = Veterinary preventative care (based on estimates)
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Bringing the grand total to $14,350.

$14K would be a steal. This dog is worth so much more than any dollar amount could ever begin to signify.