All the things I wish I knew before I got my first ever puppy!
2. LOOK FOR SELL BY DATE DISCOUNTS
Our local pet store chain offers any bag of pet food within 2 weeks of it's sell by date at a heavily reduced price. You have to be a bit savvy with it and work how much your dog is going to be able to eat prior to the use by date- there's no point buying a 10kg bag which will last your dog a month when it goes off in 2 weeks time, but if you get your dog a 5kg bag which lasts 2 weeks and is half price, it's a win win all round!
3. EXPENSIVE FOOD DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN GOOD QUALITY
It's a fair thing to assume that the more you pay for dog food, the better the quality is, but unfortunately it's far from the truth, and like human things, sometimes you're paying for the brand of food instead of what's in the food.
A really good website for comparing food quality and prices is www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk
Dog's are expensive little things. With food, insurance, vets bills, toys and chews...and fixing any damage they might do in the mean time, the costs rapidly add up. Below are 10 ways of saving some money while still giving your dog the best of the best!
1. BULK BUY FOOD
Once your puppy is settled on a food and you're confident that it's agreeing with them (i.e. not causing any tummy upset), start to bulk buy the larger bags of food. As much as it's easier to carry a 2kg bag back to the car, you're paying a massive premium on it. Cooper's food for example, is £23.99 for a 2kg bag, or £99.99 for a 10kg bag. If you went by the pricing of a 2kg bag, the 10kg bag should technically be £119.95. Just make sure you get a bag with a long sell by date if you have a smaller dog who eats less!
4. CHECK REVIEWS FOR ANY PRODUCTS YOU BUY
This is somewhat across the board with everything you buy for your dog, but even more so with toys and chews- certain breeds do tend to favour certain toys and chews and reviews can often be a great way to see if your dog is actually going to enjoy them, or in the case of the puzzle games, whether your dog will find them challenging. It's obviously not a guarantee, but I have found in the past that looking at what other people have commented on how their Golden Retriever/Labrador likes/dislikes something, Cooper often has the same reaction. If I'd listened to more of the reviews it would have saved me a lot of money on wasted toys etc.
5. GET DECENT PET INSURANCE
I've written a separate article on things to look out for for pet insurance. But you don't want to be lumped with a massive bill because either your insurance hasn't covered something or because you have no insurance at all!
6. SHOP ABOUT FOR YOUR VET
A lot of people automatically assume that all their local vets will be around the same price for treatments so it doesn't matter which one they choose- and that couldn't be more wrong.
Vets are allowed to charge whatever they like for treatments, appointments, vaccinations etc, and often there is a massive price gap between surgeries. For example, there are 2 vets within a mile of each other near me, both privately owned. One is the vets that I use for Cooper and the other is a vets I used in the past for my rabbit. My vets are nothing flashy, they have a nice little building tucked back in the fields, nothing flash. The other vets is all mod cons, fancy waiting rooms etc.
Over lockdown, as vets could only see emergencies, both vets had been doing screenings via a phone call/video call to decide whether or not your animal needs to be seen or not. Since lockdown Cooper has been rushed to the vets twice, once when he was 10 weeks old with a parasite, and once at just under 5 months after he ate what they suspect was cannabis in the park. Both times, we were only charged for his treatment, and the vet has spoken to us on the phone several times in-between to give us advice- all of which was free of charge.
The other vets on the other hand were charging £39 for a video call before agreeing to look at your pet in person, then charged you for the actual appointment on top of that. I could possibly understand the justification if the pet did not need to see a vet, but to charge 2 lots of appointment fees for what is essentially one visit is crazy! I'm not suggesting that they're bad vets, but I certainly don't think they're any more qualified than any other vets, I have a feeling the money goes more towards providing the fancy waiting room and building!
7. DON'T RELY ON PET SHOP PRICES
This is something that admittedly I did. Not really by choice, but I had less than 24 hours between finding Cooper and him been delivered to me, so even with Amazon prime it would have been a bit hit and miss on whether I'd get everything on time!
I ended up going to my local pet store as I couldn't find much help online on what to buy (other than the basics). Going to the pet store didn't help too much in that respect in the end as with lockdown no one wanted to talk to me! But it did at least mean I could buy everything and have it instantly. Unfortunately though, when I later looked on the likes of Amazon and other online stores, I soon found out I could have brought almost everything at a much lower cost online!
8. HAVE A LOOK ON YOUR LOCAL USED GROUPS
This really only applies to crates, and possibly food. I know a lot of people sell their crates once their dog has grown out of their puppy stage...and often for a fraction of what they originally paid for them. If you do go down this route make sure that you properly check the crate over and give it a really good clean before you use it. Parasites can stay on surfaces for long periods of time and often don't manifest any symptoms in older dogs, so the original owner may be completely unaware of anything untoward, but the last thing you want is your new puppy coming down with something!
I have also seen a few people selling puppy food online, or even giving it away where their puppy hasn't got on with it. My Aunt's friend kindly gave us some puppy food which her dog didn't like the taste of, and we also gave away a big bag of the food Cooper was originally on as it wasn't agreeing with his stomach. Obviously it's a bit of a risk and a judgement call if you don't know the person, but I'd like to think there's more good in the world than bad!
9. SOMETIMES IT'S THE HOMEMADE THINGS THAT ARE THE BEST
Ice cubes, chicken, cardboard boxes, empty water bottles, and an old shoe.
All of the above are things that Cooper LOVES, and for the most part, they cost nothing. Ice cubes are great for teething pups as the coolness numbs their gums, chicken is Cooper's favourite treat, a cardboard box, an empty water bottle or an old shoe will all keep him amused for hours on end- far more interesting to him than any toy!
10. SOMETIMES PAYING MORE IN THE SHORT RUN SAVES YOU MONEY IN THE LONG RUN
Yes money doesn't always guarantee quality, especially on branded goods, but sometimes spending that little bit extra in the first place saves you money replacing things in the long run.
2 mistakes I made off the top of my head...
Cooper's toy box. I thought, 'ah well I don't want to pay too much for it' and as a result I brought a fairly flimsy one from the pet store, cue 2 months later I was online hunting for a new one because Cooper had absolutely obliterated the original one. If I'd paid out the extra in the beginning I would have saved that initial cost.
Not buying a big bed. Obviously as a larger breed dog, the size Cooper was at 8 weeks is considerably different to the size he is now at 20 weeks and the first 2 beds he had he has now completely outgrown. After outgrowing the first pair I went out and brought him a bed that would fit him as an adult...obviously it's too big for him at the moment but it doesn't bother him in the slightest!
