For the last 2 years we have been saving any change we have in a large, plastic water bottle.
It’s called the “Puppy Jar,” since we are saving for you guessed it, a puppy!
We don’t use a ton of cash, but any change we do have (and a few donations) have gone into the jar. The littlest girl, nearly 5, has been wanting a dog as a pet for years.
On Saturday the hubby called around to local breeders, and found a woman with a litter of golden retriever puppies for sale. We went and visited that day, and picked out our new best friend. We think we’re going to name him Appa.
We saved $600 (plus some change that I’ll deposit later today) which is enough to cover the cost of the puppy, as well as the supplies and vet visit we’ll need in the first few months.
We’re reading up on training puppies, and proper care of goldens. It is the first time we’ve had a puppy as adults. (we both grew up with puppies and dogs in the house)
We’ll pick him up on the almost 5 year old’s birthday. We can’t wait to bring him home.
We had a family discussion about what to save for next and the kids opted to save for a swing set for the backyard. Now we just need a new picture for our jar. they already made plans once the swing set is purchased to save for a vacation to Disney.
What would you save your pennies for?
Kelly
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 8 comments }
Aww such a cute puppy! I just wanted to warn you that goldies and labs are one of the most aggresive chewers… be careful if you have a carpets and other furniture that you don’t want to be destroyed…but I’m sure you’ll be fine since you’ve been planning this forever now. Good luck!
Tina, thanks for the warning! With 4 kids most of the furniture is written on, or ripped anyhow.
We’re planning on crate training, so hopefully he’ll get used to chewing in his crate, and when he’s out we’ll be actively playing with him. (we’ll see how long that lasts!)
I’m actually glad we don’t have much carpeting, I think it will be easier to clean up after him.
What a cute pup. Golden retrievers are such sweet dogs. We have two labs and they still act like puppies at 7 years old. We are still saving pennies to replace the toys that our dogs eat from our kids. Today our male lab got my son’s toy hammer and chewed it up. The fun never ends
You can get the dog spayed/neutered for a small fee if you do some research. Some places have spay/neuter voucher programs where you can use various vets who participate additionally some places like http://www.pspca.org/faqs?faq_id=16&q=spay the Philadelphia SPCA just do low cost spay/neuter $65 for males and $85 for females. Also Friends of Animals offers a low cost spay and neuter program. The information on that program is at http://www.friendsofanimals.org/programs/spay-neuter/index.html
Sheila, we knew that would be a big cost, so Jenn’s info will be super helpful (thanks Jenn!).
We have enough saved to cover the cost of a neuter even if it’s full price. We just emptied the jar for the last time and there was nearly $50 in it! (it looks like nothing when it’s in the jar)
Rich, thanks for the info on your experience. We talked with a local vet today so I’m pretty confident we know all the “expected” fees for the first year, and I’m hoping that we can save a small $ amount each month for future health issues with our dog or cats.
I like labs as well, they are such smart dogs.
Thats great, we got a new family puppy last year, we have a 7 year old Labrador Retriever whom we got when my oldest daughter was 6 and their bond is very tight.
We have 2 other children age 2 and 4 and they just love our puppy and the older dog.
A bit of warning though our vet bills became excessive, It seems like we have taken our puppy to the vet 4-5 times since we got him for various boosters and shots, dewormers ect. Our breeder even gave him the first set of shots and 2 dewormers.
We have definetly paid more in vet bills than we did for the puppy. Our vet recently started offering a prepaid puppy plan but we were to late, you may call around and compare prices at vets before deciding on a regular clinic.
BTW Golden retrievers are my second favorite dog (next to labs of course) great choice they are wonderful with children, very smart, and large enough to provide protection.
What a cute pup!!
I’d be saving for the cost of spaying the dog–it’s not cheap unless there’s a low-cost spay/neuter clinic where you live. Since it goes by weight, if you get it done when she’s 4 months old rather than waiting until 6 months, it would be cheaper. I know, that’s not a “fun” thing to save for, and it sure wouldn’t make a good picture for your penny jar!
Sheila
Comments on this entry are closed.