Estimated Costs of Owning and Training Your Own Service Dog

Just owning a dog costs money no matter how thrifty you are. Training a service dog adds extra costs for equipment, ongoing health testing and care, training and ongoing training maintenance costs.

Fundraising before you get your dog saves you stress and makes sure you are ready for planned costs. Don’t forget to have an emergency fund ready as well. It sits there until it’s needed for unexpected veterinary bills or behavior modification training.

Even if you are very thrifty and can get items donated, it still costs money to raise and train a functional dog! You dog may need to have medical procedures done. Even my otherwise healthy dog needed a $1500 surgery to remove a lump from her leg. It was not optional as it interfered with movement and would have eventually burst. The previous two lumpectomies were not as expensive ($700 & $900) but it adds up. As a 3 year old she broke a molar on a toy and got a slab fracture. If left untreated, her jaw would have got infected. That was another $800. She got attacked by a racoon in our yard, another $300. Routine yearly vet visits average about $200.

You can get pet insurance but that can be a costly monthly fee. Some people pay themselves monthly to accumulate a chunk of money so they can pay for unexpected costs.