Mason_Gibbs Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I dont know i think a lab with a quiet calm nature can be found. I have 2 labs and i think they have been easier to handle then some of my prior dogs. I do make sure they go out daily tho and that the older ine exercises at least 20 mins a day plus training. I wouldnt pay for private training unless there was a behaviour problem. Our club closes for jdec and jan and i train on my own - i dont attend with mason anyway as he has finished all the trial classes. Gibbs i will teach on my own mostly as i want to do things slightly differently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab lady Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 In the last 10 weeks we've spent a lot of money. $1400 initial puppy; $290 air freight transport; $120 heartworm; $40 worming; $250 crate & delivery; $125 puppy school; $69 initial vet health consult; $180 vaccinations; $230 kibble; $100 raw; $60 treats for training; $50 council registration; $40 ANKC registration transfer of ownership; $66 obedience membership; $147 outside bed; $90 indoor futon; i'm guessing between $300-500 on toys/enrichment items (sandpit; wading pool; boomer ball; enrichment food puzzle; kongs; wobble kongs; ($100 on Tuffy toys alone) etc); $20 x 2 collars; $5 x 3 Scan ID tags; $10 x 3 ID tags; $45 shampoo & conditioner....it goes on and on. We are just about to purchase $125 worth of 10 swimming sessions at our vets hydrocentre - we don't have a safe swimming environment to go to & the swimming is excellent exercise for a growing lab with joints that we need to be careful about. Obedience class finishes in Nov for the year and doesn't restart till Feb so we have decided to invest in another training service until Feb, which charges $125 for blocks of 5 sessions. there are lots of things that i've spent money on that aren't essentials, but even the essentials alone are an expensive outlay; they are also non breed specific costs. Your finances are your business alone, but i wanted to give you some idea of the costs involved. Some of these things are necessities but most aren't. $100 raw and $60 training treats would last my large breed adult dog 2-3 months. Toys can be cardboard boxes to shred and plastic bottles filled with kibble - they don't have to be fancy or expensive. A large sized decent quality steel crate retails for around $100, heartworm/worming combo chews are <$10 per month and I can tell you that I've never spent $100+ on a dog bed! some of these figures seem a bit over the top. $120 and $40 for worming i buy worming/heartworm combo and today i paid $50 for 6 months worth. Beds i recommend are the steel frame beds with the hession sacks on them, haven't had to buy on for a while but i would think 30 -40 would cover it and the sacks are only a few dollars each. You don't need to spend $230 on kibble, there are many cheaper brands of good quality. I don't spend that much for 3 labs for a month. My dogs favourite toys are those which are free. Just as Secretkei has said cardboard boxes and bottles provide great fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziwong66 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I dont know i think a lab with a quiet calm nature can be found. I have 2 labs and i think they have been easier to handle then some of my prior dogs. I do make sure they go out daily tho and that the older ine exercises at least 20 mins a day plus training. I wouldnt pay for private training unless there was a behaviour problem. Our club closes for jdec and jan and i train on my own - i dont attend with mason anyway as he has finished all the trial classes. Gibbs i will teach on my own mostly as i want to do things slightly differently we're not getting one on one private training; it's still in a group setting. Wilbur will have no/limited dog to dog controlled socialisation between the end of NOv till Feb; i want him around other dogs as much as possible; but in a controlled way, so purchasing a place in a training group appears to be the only way i can get this. We haven't been in obedience long enough to have made 'out of school' friends yet I'm hoping that by this time next year the big break won't be such a big deal because we'll have found like-minded doggy/people friends that we can meet up with also we'll be able to continue training on our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mason_Gibbs Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I must say i pay a lot for heartworm think its $100 for 12 tubes of Revolution but it does fleas, mites and other stuff too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mason_Gibbs Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 And Mason eats very pricey kibble but its the only 1 he can eat so far and a 13kg bag lasts us 2 month + as i feed half raw anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziwong66 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 In the last 10 weeks we've spent a lot of money. $1400 initial puppy; $290 air freight transport; $120 heartworm; $40 worming; $250 crate & delivery; $125 puppy school; $69 initial vet health consult; $180 vaccinations; $230 kibble; $100 raw; $60 treats for training; $50 council registration; $40 ANKC registration transfer of ownership; $66 obedience membership; $147 outside bed; $90 indoor futon; i'm guessing between $300-500 on toys/enrichment items (sandpit; wading pool; boomer ball; enrichment food puzzle; kongs; wobble kongs; ($100 on Tuffy toys alone) etc); $20 x 2 collars; $5 x 3 Scan ID tags; $10 x 3 ID tags; $45 shampoo & conditioner....it goes on and on. We are just about to purchase $125 worth of 10 swimming sessions at our vets hydrocentre - we don't have a safe swimming environment to go to & the swimming is excellent exercise for a growing lab with joints that we need to be careful about. Obedience class finishes in Nov for the year and doesn't restart till Feb so we have decided to invest in another training service until Feb, which charges $125 for blocks of 5 sessions. there are lots of things that i've spent money on that aren't essentials, but even the essentials alone are an expensive outlay; they are also non breed specific costs. Your finances are your business alone, but i wanted to give you some idea of the costs involved. Some of these things are necessities but most aren't. $100 raw and $60 training treats would last my large breed adult dog 2-3 months. Toys can be cardboard boxes to shred and plastic bottles filled with kibble - they don't have to be fancy or expensive. A large sized decent quality steel crate retails for around $100, heartworm/worming combo chews are <$10 per month and I can tell you that I've never spent $100+ on a dog bed! some of these figures seem a bit over the top. $120 and $40 for worming i buy worming/heartworm combo and today i paid $50 for 6 months worth. Beds i recommend are the steel frame beds with the hession sacks on them, haven't had to buy on for a while but i would think 30 -40 would cover it and the sacks are only a few dollars each. You don't need to spend $230 on kibble, there are many cheaper brands of good quality. I don't spend that much for 3 labs for a month. My dogs favourite toys are those which are free. Just as Secretkei has said cardboard boxes and bottles provide great fun. just to clarify the $40 worming has been for the past 2 months (weekly til 12 weeks then fortnightly). the $120 is a bulk buy for the coming 12 months of monthly all wormer/flea/heartworm treatment. The kibble has been for the past 2 months and the next 2 months is included in that (i've just bought the new bag.) The first kibble was recommended by the breeder; so i stayed with it - RC lab junior and the new kibble is Advance which i've decided to try after speaking to another lab breeder recently. The training treats $60 was for the past 2 months and the next 2 months since i've just bought a new roll. I've used the steel frame beds before and as you say are perfectly adequate; i have chosen differently with this pup. I think i made it clear in the post that lots of things that i've spent money on aren't essentials; merely my choice. Does that help clarify your confusion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab lady Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 only problem i had was your post made it sound like you need to earn a 6 figure salary to own a lab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziwong66 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 only problem i had was your post made it sound like you need to earn a 6 figure salary to own a lab. no; that wasn't my intention. I believe it is an expensive exercise to purchase/own a dog in general though. I thought i had made it clear: "there are lots of things that i've spent money on that aren't essentials, but even the essentials alone are an expensive outlay". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Dogs are like children. If you've got lots of money, you tend to spend a lot of money on them. If you're poor, or have several, you tend to seek economies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 just to clarify the $40 worming has been for the past 2 months (weekly til 12 weeks then fortnightly). the $120 is a bulk buy for the coming 12 months of monthly all wormer/flea/heartworm treatment. pups don't need weekly worming until they are 12 weeks old, and after 12 weeks of age they only need worming every 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziwong66 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 just to clarify the $40 worming has been for the past 2 months (weekly til 12 weeks then fortnightly). the $120 is a bulk buy for the coming 12 months of monthly all wormer/flea/heartworm treatment. pups don't need weekly worming until they are 12 weeks old, and after 12 weeks of age they only need worming every 3 months. That isn't the advice we were given by our breeder or our vet; we followed both their advice ( which was the same). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gayle. Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 If lab puppies are so awful and such hard work, how on earth did they get a reputation for being such great family dogs? I've had 3 Aussie pups in the past few years and I can honestly say that not one of them was even a fraction of the work that's described here. I don't interpret labs as awful; yes they are hard work though....work that i'm willing and able to commit to. I don't think their reputation of being great family dogs is misrepresented...but it takes a great deal of work to develop the pup to the great family dog. Perhaps the hard work isn't adequately represented by the media? It wouldn't be the first time the media failed to represent a breed adequately or truthfully would it? And like you, i've experienced other breeds that weren't half the work. I don't know how the media represent labs, I've never really taken much notice. But I am in my 50's and in the neighbourhoods I grew up in labradors were about the most common household pet. Families were large with lots of kids close in age, the puppy/dog played with the children unsupervised, there were no obedience classes or puppy schools and we considered the dog clever if it could sit on command and a veritable genius if it could shake hands. They were great dogs, and there was no paranoia over whether they'd knock the kids over or nip them.......they did because they were puppies and the kids dusted themselves off and got on with play. I can't recall anyone being warned off from getting a lab because their kids were young......in fact quite the opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 If lab puppies are so awful and such hard work, how on earth did they get a reputation for being such great family dogs? I've had 3 Aussie pups in the past few years and I can honestly say that not one of them was even a fraction of the work that's described here. I don't interpret labs as awful; yes they are hard work though....work that i'm willing and able to commit to. I don't think their reputation of being great family dogs is misrepresented...but it takes a great deal of work to develop the pup to the great family dog. Perhaps the hard work isn't adequately represented by the media? It wouldn't be the first time the media failed to represent a breed adequately or truthfully would it? And like you, i've experienced other breeds that weren't half the work. I don't know how the media represent labs, I've never really taken much notice. But I am in my 50's and in the neighbourhoods I grew up in labradors were about the most common household pet. Families were large with lots of kids close in age, the puppy/dog played with the children unsupervised, there were no obedience classes or puppy schools and we considered the dog clever if it could sit on command and a veritable genius if it could shake hands. They were great dogs, and there was no paranoia over whether they'd knock the kids over or nip them.......they did because they were puppies and the kids dusted themselves off and got on with play. I can't recall anyone being warned off from getting a lab because their kids were young......in fact quite the opposite. Thats the thing though.... dogs were treated as dogs.;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 only problem i had was your post made it sound like you need to earn a 6 figure salary to own a lab. no; that wasn't my intention. I believe it is an expensive exercise to purchase/own a dog in general though. I thought i had made it clear: "there are lots of things that i've spent money on that aren't essentials, but even the essentials alone are an expensive outlay". Though I understand it wasn't your intention that is what I got from your post too.. Dogs are like children. If you've got lots of money, you tend to spend a lot of money on them. If you're poor, or have several, you tend to seek economies. Yep I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanMatic Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 With an hourly walk every day and common sense obedience training (for both the dog AND the child), our 30kg+ male lab is a perfectly suitable family dog. He's 16 months old now and definitely still a big pup but by no means an uncontrollable monster of a dog. He respects cats, chickens, loves other dogs and though he tears around the yard like a banshee at times, common sense averts dangerous incidents. I don't think he's cost a mint either though feeding raw helps with that. I guess with all dogs it just comes down to recognizing that unsuitable behaviour (playing up) is just a plead for more attention/exercise/training. Wear 'em out and you'll be right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wantsapuppy Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Now I'm more confused then ever :(G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gayle. Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Do your research on the breeds that interest you, talk to breeders, ask their advice for the right pup for your situation and get the breed YOU think you can best live with. If I had listened to people about how active and energetic Australian Shepherds are, i'd probably never have got one. Middle aged couple, not very active, work fulltime.......completely the wrong owners for the breed, but we have 4 of them, they have a fantastic life, they get heaps of exercise and activities and they have changed our lives. For the better. And the dogs aren't half as active as what I was led to believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziwong66 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 With an hourly walk every day and common sense obedience training (for both the dog AND the child), our 30kg+ male lab is a perfectly suitable family dog. He's 16 months old now and definitely still a big pup but by no means an uncontrollable monster of a dog. He respects cats, chickens, loves other dogs and though he tears around the yard like a banshee at times, common sense averts dangerous incidents. I don't think he's cost a mint either though feeding raw helps with that. I guess with all dogs it just comes down to recognizing that unsuitable behaviour (playing up) is just a plead for more attention/exercise/training. Wear 'em out and you'll be right! we're not talking about one child; the OP has 4 children 3 of whom are under 4 years of age. The time required for training & maintenance isn't at all achievable in THIS family situation imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Now I'm more confused then ever :(G Only you know what is best for your family. It is great to ask questions, but remember everyone has a different opinion. Yes dogs can be expensive, but you can save money by shopping around and being sensible. Trust me with 4 large dogs I know!! I love labs and think they are the best dog ever. They are friendly, easy to train, devoted........the list goes on. Lab puppies are bouncy and lab puppies are mouthy. However, some more than others. I don't have children, but when my dogs are with my nieces and nephews who are ages 1 to 6 they are fantastic!! Naturally so gentle. The only thing I have to watch is when my young dogs get over excited, the mouthing/nipping. The fantastic thing about labs is they are so easy to train. I only spend 5 mins every day (or every second day) training my puppy and she is 8 months and is working in obedience classes of lead. I have trained dogs before, so I do know what I am doing, but there are so many great books if you are willing to learn yourself. I personally find training my dogs very rewarding. I recommend taking your dog to formal obedience class for a min of 1 year. This one year investment will a lifelong difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Now I'm more confused then ever :(G Turn off the computer, go to a dog show and speak to some breeders.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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