He’s cute isn’t he? Well, they both are. 
But I’m talking about the fluffy, adorable puppy. He’s such a love.
Things are hectic with a new puppy, and 4 young kids. The puppy needs 2 walks/run times a day, and to be taken out frequently. That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting him to behave IN the house. We resorted to using his leash in the house, since when he has free roam he tends to get into trouble. We figure this will continue until he learns to settle down in the house, and not chew EVERYTHING on the floor (including the kids!) We moved his crate to the kitchen, so he is sleeping through the night, and his turning around in the middle of the night doesn’t wake me up anymore. He’s doubled in size since we brought him home! It’s amazing how fast he’s growing!
Now on to the expenses. These expenses are for his first month. We have a 2nd vet appointment scheduled this month, and expect to purchase a “tie-out” for the yard this week. Other than that his only expense will be food. In May we will begin puppy kindergarten with a local trainer, which should cost around $200. Well worth it if it gets him to behave in the house!
March Puppy Expenses
Purchase of dog: $400
Beginning Supplies: $298
Includes crate, toys, shampoo, nail trimmers, brush, leash, collar, leader, training treats, treats, travel crate (will sell this at a later date when he outgrows it)
First Vet Visit: $112
Includes shots, worm check, flea/tick medicine, and well checkup.
Additional food/toys: $65
We found the food we were giving him wasn’t proper for a puppy, so we had to spend another $27 for food, and an additional $38 for rawhides (he likes to chew!) and a several more toys.
1 Visit from Puppy Trainer: $55
Worth every penny!!! She was amazing with him!
Total Expenses for 1st Month: $930
I anticipate we’ll be spending an additional $400 over the next 2 months, plus the cost of neutering, and then expenses should level off to include only food and a few treats now and again. After we are through the next few months of expenses we will start putting $50/month into a savings account for pet emergencies.
Of course all the expense is WELL worth it. We are so happy to have a puppy, and he brings us a lot of joy and peace.
Kelly
One thing about having a new puppy at home is that I have little to no time to waste on Facebook crawling, clearing my GoogleReader, and sleep!
While it is a huge amount of work, it is well worth it, and here are several of the lessons Appa has taught the kids and us these last 2 weeks.
Kids
1) always put your shoes away: it wasn’t enough that mom asked you to do it, or that you couldn’t find them when you are looking for them, now if you don’t put them away the puppy eats them
2) watch where you walk!: since we’re still house training and sorting out the “poop” spot, the kids need to watch their step
3) don’t run in the house: before mom would yell at us if we ran in the house to get outside!, now if we run in the house Appa will jump on us and try to playfully bite us (he thinks we are one of his 10 siblings)
4) don’t yell in the house: ditto above, when we get excited the little teeth come out! (don’t worry mom and dad are training him)
5) put your toys away: much like your shoes, Appa will chew on your toys when you leave them out. no one wants to go looking on the other end for the pieces that are missing!
6) MOST IMPORTANT LESSON OF ALL: love him, and tell him what a good boy he is every day.
Mom and Dad’s lessons
1) Never take your eyes off the puppy, the second you do he is going to do something that is NOT good.
2) All the puppy wants is love, give him lots of it. (just like the kids!)
3) Never take your eye off the puppy, the second you do he is going to do something that is NOT good.
4) Be patient. He will eventually learn the couch is not his bed, and your right shoe is not his toy.
5) Never take your eye off the puppy, the second you do he is goign to do something that is NOT good.
6) Watch out for wet spots and brown spots. (eww)
7) Never take your eye off the puppy, the second you do he is going to do something that is NOT good.
Appa is a great puppy, I mean just look at him! He loves people. So much so that every time someone is walking ACROSS the street he wants them to stop and say hello. Such the social butterfly! We are working hard on training him right now, which is WAY more work then I thought it would be (especially since I have to do so much of it!). But like raising the kids it’s a lot of labor at first and then you fall into routines and get used to each other.
He is also a little stinker. But then you look at him, and <sigh>.
Kelly
PS I was the only one in the family in the anti-puppy camp. Guess who changed my mind?
by Kelly on March 16, 2009
in weekend
I wish I had more time to write, things have been busy this weekend! I didn’t consciously decide not to post, but when I normally do my work (in the late evenings) we’ve been playing with the puppy so he’ll be worn out for bedtime.
FinanciallyI don’t think that my working made much difference this month. Partly this is because I only received one paycheck from my new job (it takes 2 weeks to get paid), and partly because we’ve spent a bit more than usual on eating out this month. We had 2 restaurant meals, one we really enjoyed, and one we felt was SO not worth the money. I really think it’s worth more to pay a sitter so just the hubby and I go out, it equals about the same cost-wise but is infinitely more enjoyable. Also throw in the puppy expenses ($950 total so far) and that really threw a wrench in the budget!
Adjusting to work was hard, but add the new puppy to the mix and it makes things more complicated. He’s a rambunctious guy in the house, getting into everything so we are crate training him both for house training purposes and so when he is out of the crate we’re actively playing or training him. I will say despite the cost, mess and my annoyance at having to vacuum the house daily he is too darn cute to be irritated with or mad at! Especially when we take him to the park and he runs after the kids. I’ll have to get a video.
Appa has also made us spend a LOT more time outside (even in cold weather) which is fantastic for our health. I think we’ve gone to the park (one street over) more times this past week than the last 18 months we have been living here!
This weekend I was also in my first fender bender. I have been in one accident in the past (age 18), and hit a pole (you know minivans are bigger than you think!), but this is my first fender bender. I rolled forward as the car in front of me started to pull out and then she stopped while I was looking left at traffic. I ran into her while braking hard. My fault! Thankfully it was minor. Note: give the other driver your phone number! Instead of a ? mark hanging over my head not knowing whether she would call the insurance company, she called and said she wasn’t going to phone her insurance. It wouldn’t be more than 15 minutes of buffing to fix it. Yay!
Saturday afternoon we made a trip to the Philly Zoo. We purchased a membership since 2 adults+4 kids+parking=$108, and the membership was $99. We’ve already saved $9, and the more we go back the more worth it the membership will be. We haven’t been in YEARS (taking 4 kids anywhere is usually not my definition of fun), and this was the first visit for the youngest kids. I am in love with the new Big Cat area, and can’t wait to see the bird area that is currently being revamped (scheduled to be open May 2009) If you need a creative gift idea for a family, or have a family yourself look into getting a membership at local museums, zoos, gardens, etc. Many times you get reciprocal benefits which means you can get into other museums across the country!
Sunday afternoon we had our annual eye exams. The oldest girl (7) needs glasses! She was beyond thrilled. Hopefully this will eliminate her headaches which also cause bad moods and not so nice behavior. Last year she threw a tantrum in Lenscrafters when they told her she didn’t need glasses! She chose a dark pink colored frame with sparkles. I also needed new glasses since I had a stronger prescription, as did my son (11). My husband’s eyes were the same, and the youngest daughter (5) is too young for glasses yet. (she’s only a step off “normal” so they’ll check in again next year and if they are worse she’ll get glasses then) The littlest guy (3) didn’t want to do an eye exam, so we’ll try again next year.
We have great insurance so we always use the insurance plus our health care flexible spending account. After leaving, my hubby commented that the salesman kept saying we “saved” $x by paying with our insurance. It even said that on the final bill! Um, last I heard we PAID for our insurance, so we weren’t really saving anything! I guess they are trying to make it seem cheap to shop there in the current economy. My thoughts were confirmed when we picked up the glasses and received a speech about how much Lenscrafters appreciates our business in this tough economy. We paid for it with our new FSA card. I LOVE that card. No out of pocket, no faxing forms anymore!
It’s been a busy weekend, but I hear Spring may be headed our way, so I’m going into the week with a smile on my face. It helps that I didn’t wake up unable to breathe through my nose! It’s all about appreciating the little things today, like breathing!
How was your weekend?
Kelly
