Archives for Oct. 11, 2013

Many people underestimate the ongoing financial burden of responsible dog ownership when considering a puppy, and instead focus on the upfront price of the dog.

The cost of a well-bred dog will be the least amount of money you ever spend on it. In an AKC survey of more than 1,000 dog owners, one-time costs (crate, neutering, bowls, leash, purchase price) averaged $2,100, while ongoing costs averaged $2,500 per year for items such as food, routine veterinarian care, boarding, treats and training. With the average lifespan of a dog being about 13 years, using these averages, you can expect to spend nearly $35,000 on a dog over the course of its lifetime. Even cutting these estimates in half, you can still expect to invest close to $20,000 in your pet.

The difference in paying for a $50 dog or a $1,000 is, in the long term, a negligible difference. Your upfront costs will always be the least of your financial worries.

That said, you should look for the best puppy you can find. A puppy whose parents were genetically tested prior to breeding and that come with a written health guarantee might cost a ...

Originally bred as a ratter, the Yorkshire terrier quickly became a show-dog darling and companion animal for the middle and upper classes – roles it retains to this day.

Yorkshire terriers, or “Yorkies” as they’re affectionately nicknamed, were derivates of terriers from Scotland that were crossed with the now extinct Paisley terriers, which possessed a long and luxurious coat. While they are show dogs today, Yorkies originated within the working class during the 19^th Century and were developed and used by those in textile mills to find and kill rats – a job they were very good at thanks in large part to the tenacious terrier personality. Later, they were used in rat-baiting competitions – a practice where they would be placed in a pit or other enclosed area with rats, and then bets were placed on how many vermin the dogs could kill in certain amount of time.

According to P. H. Combs in The American Book of the Dog, when the breed was first being developed, “almost anything in the shape of a Terrier having a long coat with blue on the body and fawn or silver coloured head and legs, with tail docked and ears trimmed ...