# If you're a dog owner and you don't allow them to live in the house with you, you're a dick. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2015, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141 "2015-01-18T06:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/61 "2015-01-20T01:10:40Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > Shooting it, or putting it down (that’s not an expensive option) might have been more preferable. But **Curlcoat** was so incensed at this dog that she isolated it for, ahem, “EIGHT FUCKING YEARS”. She was quite vocal about that. Who the hell does that? If it’s truly beyond help, put it down, but she basically isolated it, and hated it, because it pooped in the house. Screw that. Wait, you’ll kill the dog because it’s inconvenient, and the person who will care for the dog outside is the dick? My dogs might live outside, but they still get pet, fed, bark at other dogs, and generally enjoy themselves. Killing them seems like an unnecessarily cruel and shortsighted option. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/62 "2015-01-20T01:23:00Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Plenty of people feel they care for their dogs very much, without ever bringing them inside human habitation. Same for horses. I’m sure Riley Choate thought he was being a good father while beating his son to death. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/63 "2015-01-20T01:49:37Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Wait, you’ll kill the dog because it’s inconvenient, and the person who will care for the dog outside is the dick? > > My dogs might live outside, but they still get pet, fed, bark at other dogs, and generally enjoy themselves. Killing them seems like an unnecessarily cruel and shortsighted option. What? No. My issue is with **curlcoat’s** hatred of her dog. If it’s biting people or something, put it down, but if all it is doing is pooping in the house and not getting along with the other dogs, _find the thing a home_. She didn’t do that, though. No, what she _did_ was pen it up away from the other dogs and wait eight years for it to die. Some dogs are happier outside. I know that. I could not keep my old besenji mix in the house even when I tried. However, I did not spend eight years wishing the dog was dead. **Curlcoat** had a dog and spent eight years wishing it was dead. Who does that? What kind of a person keeps an animal just because they hate it? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/64 "2015-01-20T02:53:23Z")
> [@andros](#): > > And take a gigantic pile of “YOU MONSTER HOW COULD YOU” from other denizens of the same board. Fine. If I am strong enough to put down a dog that has not been socialized, I can handle a bit of anonymous ignorance. > [@Shakes](#): > > Why the hell not? As long as you’re upfront and honest about the dogs issues, there is no sin in putting it up for adoption. > > My mother used to run one of the largest rescue shelters in southern Louisiana, you’d be surprised at some of the troubled dogs they were able to find homes for. > > It sure beats “Putting them down” which quite frankly, sounds borderline sociopathic. “Putting them down” is a common term around here for 'give them a tranquilizer, hold them in your lap for a while to say goodbye, and then give them another injection which kills them painlessly". “Putting them up for adoption” means leaving them caged, miserable, and lonely, for years. I will not be cruel enough to speculate on why some one would ‘adopt’ an aging unhousebroken dog. > [@armedmonkey](#): > > What? No. My issue is with **curlcoat’s** hatred of her dog. … I don’t think you’re being fair. Curlcoat inherited someone else irresponsibility and vented here. People have said worse about their step-kids, and been supported. S/he gave the dog a home, and canine companionship, as well as food and shelter, and if s/he had started a Pit thread on the former owner for not raising the dog right, I suspect you would have been right on that. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/65 "2015-01-20T03:00:25Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > You are one special kind of piece of shit, aren’t you **curlcoat**? I was all set to type something about my old Besenji mix and how the girl didn’t want to be inside, and then you post this crap. If you didn’t like the dog, you had **EIGHT FUCKING YEARS** to find it a home. But you did nothing. For eight fucking years you did nothing but wait for it to die. You were even glad when it was dead. > > Go to fucking hell. God you are an idiot. You see a little bit of information about a dog and you think you have enough background to make that sort of statement? Honey chile, that dog had a lot of issues, the reason only pooping in the house was mentioned was that was why she was banished to the outside. There was no way that I was going to place that dog anywhere else because it wouldn’t be fair to anyone who took her, or to the dog herself. She was eight when I got stuck with her, I had no idea she was going to live until 16, healthy until the day she keeled over. > [@j666](#): > > Unless I knew some one with a big yard or some land and a couple of other dogs, who could have an outdoor dog that wouldn’t be alone all the time. I might ask someone like that to foster the dog. And this is essentially how she lived her life. We have a big yard by S Cal standards, there were other dogs, she was well fed and well cared for. She just never came in the house unless it was in a crate. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I’m still wrapping my head around the dog watching the other dogs go on trips. Where’d they get to go? Dog Disneyland? Canine Six Flags? 😃 I do dog sports. My dogs go somewhere several times a week, whether to an event, or training or whatever. > [@armedmonkey](#): > > No, what she _did_ was pen it up away from the other dogs and wait eight years for it to die. > > Some dogs are happier outside. I know that. I could not keep my old besenji mix in the house even when I tried. However, I did not spend eight years wishing the dog was dead. **Curlcoat** had a dog and spent eight years wishing it was dead. Who does that? What kind of a person keeps an animal just because they hate it? You seem to have read an awful lot into a few words. I didn’t “pen her up and keep her away from the other dogs” nor was I just waiting around for her to die. The only difference between her and the other dogs was she never came inside just to hang out and she didn’t do any of the sports, which she didn’t like any way. How about this? Next time I get stuck with a dog of advanced years with absolutely no house manners at all and a rotten personality, I’ll PM you where to pick it up since you seem to think it would be so easy to place such a dog in a home willing to treat it the way you think is “correct”. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/66 "2015-01-20T03:07:20Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I don’t think you’re being fair. Curlcoat inherited someone else irresponsibility and vented here. People have said worse about their step-kids, and been supported. > > S/he gave the dog a home, and canine companionship, as well as food and shelter, and if s/he had started a Pit thread on the former owner for not raising the dog right, I suspect you would have been right on that. You might be right, but the thing is, I know how **curlcoat** thinks. I have taken her side and defended her in the past, up until she just posts something _awful_. She doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from me anymore. No. That ship has fucking sailed. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/67 "2015-01-20T03:10:37Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > You might be right, but the thing is, I know how **curlcoat** thinks. I have taken her side and defended her in the past, up until she just posts something _awful_. She doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from me anymore. No. That ship has fucking sailed. I’m beginning to believe you aren’t even sure how you think. I have zero memory of interacting with you, so whatever you misinterpreted back then as you have here, you might want to revisit it. You don’t have any idea how I think. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/68 "2015-01-20T03:21:28Z")
> [@j666](#): > > “Putting them down” is a common term around here for 'give them a tranquilizer, hold them in your lap for a while to say goodbye, and then give them another injection which kills them painlessly". > > “Putting them up for adoption” means leaving them caged, miserable, and lonely, for years. > > I will not be cruel enough to speculate on why some one would ‘adopt’ an aging unhousebroken dog. > > . 1.) Yes, I know what putting a dog down meas. 2.) That is not even remotely close to how pet adoptions work. Lots of people foster dogs. The dogs stays in a volunteer’s home until the rescue agency can find a permanent home for it. And even in cases where the dogs do have to stay in a cage, it’s more like days or weeks. It’s not fucking years and they’re not fucking alone. 3.)You have issues. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/69 "2015-01-20T03:23:13Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > I’m beginning to believe you aren’t even sure how you think. > > I have zero memory of interacting with you, so whatever you misinterpreted back then as you have here, you might want to revisit it. You don’t have any idea how I think. Why don’t you tell us more abut the dog, darling. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/70 "2015-01-20T03:32:14Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > Okay, why do people want to have dogs in the first place? If they have a useful purpose, even one that doesn’t exist except in the mind of the owner, insulated dog houses are comfortable enough for most large dogs even in really lousy weather. > > But, why dogs? Why not just let someone else deal with all the expense and trouble of properly housing and domesticating the animals.? Take a trip to a foreign country every year with the money you would have spent on a dog. Meh. I travel plenty on work’s dime. I’ll take my dogs any day. Isn’t it funny how different people like different things? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/71 "2015-01-20T03:45:05Z")
Alright, I missed this: > [@curlcoat](#): > > God you are an idiot. You see a little bit of information about a dog and you think you have enough background to make that sort of statement? Honey chile, that dog had a lot of issues, the reason only pooping in the house was mentioned was that was why she was banished to the outside. There was no way that I was going to place that dog anywhere else because it wouldn’t be fair to anyone who took her, or to the dog herself. She was eight when I got stuck with her, I had no idea she was going to live until 16, healthy until the day she keeled over. > > And this is essentially how she lived her life. We have a big yard by S Cal standards, there were other dogs, she was well fed and well cared for. She just never came in the house unless it was in a crate. > > 😃 I do dog sports. My dogs go somewhere several times a week, whether to an event, or training or whatever. > > You seem to have read an awful lot into a few words. I didn’t “pen her up and keep her away from the other dogs” nor was I just waiting around for her to die. The only difference between her and the other dogs was she never came inside just to hang out and she didn’t do any of the sports, which she didn’t like any way. How about this? Next time I get stuck with a dog of advanced years with absolutely no house manners at all and a rotten personality, I’ll PM you where to pick it up since you seem to think it would be so easy to place such a dog in a home willing to treat it the way you think is “correct”. I have to apologize. No other way around it. **Curlcoat** , I’m sorry. I was an idiot and a dick to you in this thread. I made false assumptions and cast unwarranted aspersions on you. You’re right. I am an idiot, and I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/72 "2015-01-20T04:05:06Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > Alright, I missed this:I have to apologize. No other way around it. > > **Curlcoat** , I’m sorry. I was an idiot and a dick to you in this thread. I made false assumptions and cast unwarranted aspersions on you. You’re right. I am an idiot, and I apologize. Accepted. Please do not catch the disease of far too many here - making broad assumptions on little information. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/73 "2015-01-20T04:25:37Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > 1.) Yes, I know what putting a dog down meas. > > 2.) That is not even remotely close to how pet adoptions work. Lots of people foster dogs. The dogs stays in a volunteer’s home until the rescue agency can find a permanent home for it. And even in cases where the dogs do have to stay in a cage, it’s more like days or weeks. It’s not fucking years and they’re not fucking alone. > > 3.)You have issues. 1. Then why do you imply “putting down” an animal is “borderline sociopathic”? 2. Yes, that is how no kill shelters work, very often. Some animals just are not adoptable. 3. I don’t “have issues”; I am honest. The world is an ugly place, and some dogs are just gator bait. No dog I am responsible for will ever, _ **ever** _, be abandoned. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/74 "2015-01-20T04:34:04Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I’m sure Riley Choate thought he was being a good father while beating his son to death. Please tell me this is a whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/75 "2015-01-20T06:25:35Z")
How many years was that? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/76 "2015-01-20T11:55:45Z")
Agreed. I have no problems at all with isolating the dog to part of the house, but that part should be a place where the humans who are part of its pack also congregate, not a garage or something which is basically a giant kennel where humans rarely go. FWIW I did understand that you meant pet dogs rather than working dogs. I think everyone understood that really but we all like to nit-pick. > [@scabpicker](#): > > Ehh, my dogs were inherited, and were never really house trained. They’ll bark to let you know they’re hungry or bored, but not if they need to use the restroom. In fact, I have let one of them in just to watch them piss on the floor. So, they’re outside dogs, with heated dog houses. > > If I can traipse around outside in short sleeves without discomfort, they stay there. If it gets colder than that, they come inside and stay in the studio. Even letting (forcing) them out every 2-3 hours, they still piss inside sometimes. > > So, maybe I’m a dick, but I clean up less piss than I would otherwise. I think I can deal with your withering disapproval easier than I can deal with being a janitor for 2 dogs. Sounds like you tried to train the dogs to live indoors at least. And also they’re not a solo dog outdoors alone; that would be very lonely for any dog. Solo dogs left outdoors all the time tend to be the ones that bark, bark, bark all the time and annoy the neighbours and there’s a good reason for that. > [@Sitnam](#): > > If I had my druthers I’d have an Australian Cattle Dog, like Mad Max’s side kick. However, it needs to run all day everyday and nips at the heels of small creatures it feels compelled to control. So if I wanted to destroy that dogs soul I’d buy one and keep it indoors and punish it for growling at children. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > A columnist in our local paper says she trained her puggle to poop on command. > > The only problem is that when the dog gets mad at her, it poops without the command. > > Not every dog is made for indoor living. No dog is made for purely indoor living, but I don’t think the OP was advocating that dogs not be let outside sometimes. This is not the cat thread. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/77 "2015-01-20T16:05:32Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Your numbers and breeds are all wrong. In addition to the Iditarod, there is the Yukon Quest, the Tustumena 200, Kuskokwim 300, Knik 200, Northern Lights 300, Snowy Mountain Trapper 250, and the Junior Iditarod; not to mention sprint races like the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous; and that’s just in Alaska. While there is some overlap with racers/races, there are a lot more dogs than you think. And very few people use huskies or malamutes unless they’re into losing a lot. The approximate 76 million dogs in the world as we speak is all breeds. Fine, you tell me total numbers of sled dogs out there with coats heavy enough to handle sleeping outside for days on end when temperatures reach 0° F; I’m happy to use your number. I’ll try not remember (as a kid) hearing a neighbors dog howling in frostbitten pain because the Asshat owner wouldn’t take it inside in January. (Yeah, I Tried to get my parents to call the cops, but when your 10 sometimes parents won’t listen to you) Yes, eventually it did stop howling; death will do that. My personal favorite conversation re: that dog was hearing neighbors gossiping about how awful it was to treat a dog that way, me interrupting and asking if anyone had bothered to pick up the phone to report the mistreatment, me being told I was “rude” and then being grounded for a week. But just because its a sled dog doesn’t make it immune from out door mistreatment. I remember several thick-coat sled dogs pointed out to me (by someone who raised sled dogs) as suffering because their owner had them in a state where the temperature was Always high and the only snowflakes ever to be found were at Hallmark stores around Christmas. The analogy put to me was, “Imagine being forced to live your life on Maui, with no air conditioning, dressed in a parka, 2 wool sweaters, and a pair of snow pants that you can never take off. Ever. That dog will almost always suffer in this kind of heat we’re having today, because it just wasn’t bred to be in a climate this hot.” Look, I’m willing to admit that the right dog in the right climate can be an outside dog, but I’ve personally seen too many examples of Horrible narcissistic pet owners to give blanket OK that someone somewhere may pull up some day as a justification or an excuse to freeze solid or sweat to death an animal incapable of pleading its own case. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/78 "2015-01-20T16:20:03Z")
I once had a husky shepherd mix that acted like he was being punished if he was brought indoors. He hated air conditioning, preferring to hide in the den he made under my deck during hot summer temps. We would bring (force) him in when temps were down to single digits. We would put him in our attached unheated garage where the temps were around 40F because indoor heating winter temps were unbearable to the poor guy. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/79 "2015-01-20T17:53:38Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > My favorite dog, ever, was a Border Collie-Samoyed cross who was absolutely miserable in the house. Dollar had the dense undercoat of the Samoyed. He had an insulated doghouse with blankets in it, but he would only go in it when the temperature dropped below zero. Most of the time he preferred to sleep out in the open yard, curled up with his generous fluffy tail over his nose and frost on his fur. Similarly, around where I live a lot of people tend to have big-ass hunting dogs that are primarily pets but who are expected to regularly spend long winter days running round in the forest when it’s -20c or colder. That means they need a thick coat and to be well acclimatized to the winter weather. They’re just fine sleeping in a heap with a couple of others in a doghouse. They’d be just fine sleeping indoors during the winter and only going out in the cold for a reasonably short stint. Spending most of their time living in a house at +20c (or warmer) and then spending a full day outside in -20c or colder - not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141/80 "2015-01-20T19:39:25Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I don’t speak for all dog owners, but I have mine for companionship. As for taking a foreign trip on the money I would save by not having a dog: HA! He costs me maybe $15 a month for food, $100 once a year for an examination and shots, and $10.50 for a license. Less than $300 a year. If I didn’t have a dog, I’d really be living large, I’ll tell ya! Last time I went through a years worth of bank statements I found that my dogs cost about $100 per MONTH. EACH. At the time we had 3 dogs. And that was before the newest dog tore his ACL. That surgery and rehab cost me $3,000. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-a-dog-owner-and-you-dont-allow-them-to-live-in-the-house-with-you-youre-a-dick/710141.md?page=5)