Interesting thread, I made a choice to adopt rather than have a puppy not due to costs. You can look after dogs very well if you shop wisely ! Insurance for me is a must and has paid for it self already. Blankets and beds can also be picked up at a good price , memory foam beds are £8 on our local market and blankets are cheap in Primark and TK Max etc. I buy decent collars and leads and then they last and feed raw which is very cost effective if the dogs like it and you have a good local butcher that can keep you supplied.I make liver cake and dog biscuits at home and then I know what they eating and it is so much cheaper. I do send mine to kennels as there are things in my life where dogs are not allowed to attend but again the greyhound trust do boarding which is much cheaper than private kennels and they know the breed well so they are well looked after by lovely hound loving people. I think the key thing is you plan and weigh up the costs and make sure you can afford to have the dog before you set out, some people dont do this and dont think of some of the costs they may incur. Money couldnt buy the pleasure and happiness my dogs bring me , you get so much back for the effort you put in , just wish I had gotten them sooner in my life !

I'm not rich by any stretch! My husband works full time and myself part time. We can't afford a second dog. We don't insure but have money saved up for any eventualities. We don't drink or smoke or go abroad. We don't eat out often or anything extravagant so we afford a dog by not spending lots of money elsewhere.

Both my husband and I work full time (from home as childminders), we dont smoke, drink (maybe once in a blue moon he will have a can at home, bought when cheap), and our life is our children and their football, and now our dogs.

Both dogs are insured and the food that they are on is around £34 for 15kgs, we are just finding out how long this lasts, but I am thinking around a month, so think about £140 a month with insurance, flea, wormers, vaccs etc and little extras for the dogs. We used some money we had to buy the dogs and the extras they needed, and the costs of getting them spayed/neutered from this money too.

We earn around about enough each month to pay our bills and if our earnings drop we change the things we can control like our food budget to cut back a little.

We are having a nice holiday this year, but this is a special year for us, other than that we go camping in cornwall.

We dont really go out and spend loads ever as we have no babysitters for our two children, so a few months ago we decided to share our lives with dogs as well.

We need a little bit more by way of childminding business to make life a little easier, but in our job life it comes and goes on a very regular basis!

If we had to we would try and change our dogs to a cheaper food if we were absolutely destitute and could cut nothing further back, but I hope not to have to.

I wouldn't consider myself particularly well-off, I'm not on minimum wage but not a high one really, and OH is OK but again not a huge earner. We just live within our means but we can afford to go out, or have a takeaway in, but we don't waste money on booze and throwaway items. Some people spend £100 on a single night out - well, that's the dog's food, insurance and flea/wormers for the month right there!
They don't get loads spent on snazzy collars, expensive beds, brand new toys all the time but they're happy with their bog standard nylon collars and their cheap toys (which have actually lasted a lot longer than some more expensive ones they've had! Poundshop's rope toy range are standing up very well to Kiki's jaws)

The only thing I spend money on apart from the basics are my dogs and my car. Dogs don't cost the earth provided you are sensible...the only major ongoing costs for us are insurance and food.

Yes, we are much the same. Although we live in Southern Spain we're not rich and have to watch our money. We give up other things to have the pleasure of the dogs. We don't eat out and live very simply.

I can't imagine a life without the dogs - however destitue I got. But however well off you may be now, absolutely no one knows whats round the corner.

I am a full time working single mum to two teenagers. I don't have any debts at all. If I can't afford something today, its highly unlikely I will be able to afford it tomorrow - I don't do borrowing! I lean't that lesson the hard way!

I feed my dogs a decent working dog food which is VAT free. None of my animals are insured but then I have the savings to pay a vets bill - but of all the years I have had dogs, the biggest one was only £800 anyway! If they had all been insured all those years, can you imagine the money I would have wasted!

I use rope slip leads. I go to the market and buy lots of bones and packs of chews and he usually knocks a bit off for cash.

When my circumstances changed just over a year ago now and I had to go out to work, I did have two kennels build and a very large secure pen in the garden so that the dogs could go out there in the day time. But I got a friend to build it for me so it wasn't that expensive compared to the ready made ones from companies that I researched.

My biggest expense (other than the kids) is running my car. Its a big gas guzzling 4x4 and I do a lot of miles - but I have no option, I have to drive one of those living here.

If I can I pay all bills outright, council tax, car insurance etc rather than monthly - I can't bare that drip drip from your bank account!

Life and finances are bloody tough but there is not much point in working all day if you can't enjoy and do what makes you happy outside of it

I don't insure my animals anymore, instead I save a small sum per month when I can. I have never had a puppy, so I can't comment on all those cost involved with regards to first jabs/neutering etc.

My car Insurance and tax is paid yearly, so that can be a huge weight off my mind! My car to fill up thankfully is usually never more than £35 every 9/10 days;atm I don't do much driving.

Food- we tend to stick to a food plan, and roughly the food bill comes to the same each month, which will be even more planned out now. Any meals out we have (rare) is paid for by OH's parents.

Rent atm is paid for by OHs parent's. I chip in for food/my part of rent when I can as I only work P/T due to health.

I don't drink/smoke or go out and I rarely buy clothes.

My horse can be expensive at times, but having said that he is a native, so if I can't afford something he can usually go without it.

I work hard!

I have never smoked, I don't drink, and I don't spend big amounts of money on anything - other than my dog's food!!!

I get him the best food I can possibly afford, ditto with insurance.

I haven't been on holiday for years, and when I have a good month at work my first thought is 'Great - now I can treat Dexter to a new bed!'

I afford the things Hamish needs by managing my money and reducing costs where possible ie. Buying food in bulk/buying wormers and flea treatment online. I have insurance and searched around for a good price for a level of cover I felt comfortable with. I do like to buy him nice treats etc when I can but he is equally as happy with homemade treats and toys which cost little in comparison.

Having recently separated from my husband I've had to cut back a lot as I'm paying all the bills instead of half, but I'd go without before Hamish did. Luckily my Mum and brother are looking after Hamish while I'm at work however if that wasn't possible I'd pay for a dog walker and cut back on something else for myself.

Hamish has been a lifeline in these last few months, making me go out on those days I want to hide in bed and doing daft spaniel things I can't help but laugh at no matter how sad I'm feeling. You can't put a price on that!

Dee x