1. The cost of owning a dog. Calculate the costs from a Fall Term when you arrive on campus, till the end of Spring term when you are leaving to go home. Feel free to be creative!

Scenario: You have just arrived in Pullman to start college at WSU and it is your first time away from home! On impulse to celebrate your freedom, you bought an 8-week old purebred puppy from a local breeder back home for a cost of $600.00 (with your school loan money ). The puppy is pet quality and will not be used breeding, thus will need to be neutered or spayed how much does that cost? It does not have any of its shots, obviously not had obedience training or a health check what do they cost? The mature weight of the animal will be approximately 95 pounds. The apartment you had made arrangements to live in does not allow pets so you have to find a new place. At the end of the school year in May, you will need to fly the animal home as your car broke down and you cannot afford to fix it (check the Internet for airline prices). Calculate the cost for the time at WSU to purchase and care for this animal a name for it would be nice. The only care items you have for it yet are a puppy leash, water and food dish (puppy size) and a bag of puppy food given to you by the breeder (you are using one of your sweat shirts for it to sleep on and it now has your favorite gym shoes as a chew toy).

Items that you must consider in your calculations are:

Damage Deposit for Housing

Vet Care check up, vaccinations, neuter or spay

Puppy Class for basic obedience

Food allowing that it will eat more as it grows use recommendations on dog

food bags for estimation of food intake

You bring it to campus and tie it to a tree outside the building someone calls it

in and it is picked up by the Humane Society not the tether law may make this illegal.

It runs away when your roommate leaves the back door open and is picked up by

the Humane Society and you have to pay to get it out of jail.

Your puppy has a barking problem and the Humane Society calls at your house

multiple times and you are ticketed twice.

While you are in class, your puppy eats the carpet before you have a chance to buy a

carrier to crate train it you lose your damage deposit.

You have to board the animal three weeks while you are away for Christmas.

Right before the end of the semester, you notice your puppy/dog limping and find out that

it needs surgery on its hip it is a larger dog, remember? Find out potential costs for the various surgeries dealing with a dysplastic hip. You may want to decide till you get home to your folks?

Any toys, leashes, and care items you care to purchase list them.

What other items can you think of that will be a cost to consider?