<prompt> Human: Happy Monday PF-ers,Ive been on this sub for a couple of years now and always enjoy seeing posts that go into more detail about a specific line-item on a budget. I can budget 400month for my pet, but what is that really going towards? For those of you that are considering adding a pet to your life, perhaps this could help you with that decision.The Story: My SO and I had been wanting to adopt a puppy ever since we moved in together 2 years prior, but it wasnt until we were more comfortable with our home type detached single-family, location midsize city with plenty of pet-related services and a high concentration of pet-owners, and careers with somewhat flexible schedules that we started to look pretty seriously. We Adopted our Golden RetrieverBorder Collie we think mix in September 2016 as a 10-week old puppy. The adoption fee was a total of 600 as it included travel he came from The south to the midwest, neutering, some initial vaccines, etc. The cost of a new pup was something big to think about first, but we had been focusing a lot on saving for the 2 years since college, and were debt-free making 110k USD at the time, so we began estimating monthlyyearly costs to ensure we could retain our current spending habits, and still have plenty of room to spare.The Costs: I will admit, our pup has cost way more than I could ever imagine. However, by following a strict budget for the larger pet expenses, and making joint decisions on whats important to us, and for him, I think weve found a good balance between our life, the pups life, and how much it costs.Breakdown: At a high level, here are the costs for the 3 main 1 categories weve spent money on in the last 9.5 months:Type9.5-month Total CostNotes---------Adoption Fee600One-time feeVet915This is high, as he has had some 2 cases of parasites and general allergies. The daycare also requires certain vaccines.Daycare10170-2.5x per week 22.50full day - began in Jan 2017Supplies1359Further Breakdown BelowTotal3,891410month overall averageHeres a table with the breakdown costs of Supplies, estimated by where we shopped and what we usually get there:Supplies Type9.5-month Total CostNotes---------Leashes60Multiple lengthsCollars60He keeps getting them eaten at DaycareHarness20Crates751 for home, 1 for MiL housePlaypenGate100To separate rooms without doorsBeds1001 for each crate, 1 for out of the crateFood540Fromm Four-Star Nutritionals; though we experimented with multiple types firstTreats175Toys200Home100Bowls, poop bags, etc.So, the usual monthly budget consists of:ItemMonthly CostNotes---------Food40Vet45Nail Trim, monthly fleatickheartworm medsDaycare215Toys25Treats25Total350This remains relatively stable, as most of the lasting supplies have already been purchased and can be used for the foreseeable future.Other notes: On non-daycare weekdays, either my SO or I will come home for lunch for 20-45 mins to give him a stretch and to eat lunch. Even with all of this , I cant even quantify the enjoyment, challenges, and quality of life improvement that our dog has brought into our lives; this alone seems to make the cost irrelevant at times.Lastly, something not included in here is the time commitment for exercising a high-energy breed. Id say we do a solid 1.5-3.5 hours of 100 attention on the pup, every single day. This could include walks, training, going to the park, playing inside, etc. Weekends it can go up to 6-7 hours if we go for long walks multiple times. I could expand on this but Ill keep the content more PF-focused.I hope this helped bring some insight into the true anecdotal costs of pet ownership. Im sure I forgot several things here, so I will make sure to update the post as Im reminded of them. Im not looking for help or criticism, Im just trying to share a pet cost that works for us, hoping it helps others out, as well.EDIT: my dog is currently 50 lbs and is expected to be 55-60 when full size. This definitely adds cost to pretty much everything.Assistant: Youve convinced me not to ever get a puppy. The monthly cost alone is almost double my food bill!Thank you for sharing your story, I hope it helps people make a more informed decision and results in less abandoned dogs.Human: To be fair that monthly cost is pretty high. If you dont have to take your dog to day care and dont constantly need to replace toys than that knocks the cost down a lot.Vets expensive basically no matter what but im not sure if 45 a month is needed. I have a plan thats like 25 a month and covers all basic expenses at the vet. Granted grooming which I never do would add to that cost.Puppies however are definitely expensive. They destroy a lot and you have to make a lot more purchases etc.Assistant: The toy cost is 25 because he destroys a lot, but 75 because we just spoil him. Pretty much every time I order his food online, I get another 10 toy, just to see him excited about it all evening. He has like 30 usable toys now, so we rotate through when one gets destroyed, or bring a new one out to keep him occupied for a bit if I have to mow the lawn or something.Edit: I also fell into puppy-hypochondria and have taken him to the vet as a just-in-case at least 3 times, and nothing has been wrong each time. I think thats about 35visit alone.  <response>: Goodwill on Saturday50 off old stuffed animals. Put in washing machine. Save infinite money. 