I'm with the others in this thread... it's rude to ask someone what they paid for anything, not just their beloved pet. Luckily I've only had one stranger ask me. At the time, I was so startled that I answered truthfully. I won't be caught off guard like that again.

Anyway, I wouldn't ask a co-worker how much their shirt cost, so I would definitely never stop a stranger and ask how much they paid for their dog. I figure that's just plain old good manners on my part. ;)

Well, I have different answers for different environments. If we are at a show, and especially if we are doing a Meet the Breed booth, that question and many others comes with the territory. Usually folks who don't know, go Wow, that is a lot of money, and quite frankly it is!. So I usually respond; for sure. And it is only the start, like putting a down payment on your car or house. There are the vet/med bills annually, the training costs, vacation cost, dog walkers(if you are going to use them), grooming bills, etc. Not to mention food costs. The BRT adult will usually eat about 2lbs of food a day.

When we are out and about, usually cost is not the first question folks ask. Depending upon previous questions, I might say, oh are you interested in purchasing this breed? Often times the response is no. Then I'd say well, the internet is a grand source of info, and the ranges you will find are quite large. A well bred puppy here, can go from $1300 and up, that is for Yorkies, BRT's about $2500 and up.

I know how you feel. Several years back I had a purebred Maltese but we decided to adopt a puppy from the shelter. It turned out it had distemper and was so sick. It died. We ended up with all the vet bills but the worst part was seeing that puppy suffer. A few years later we adopted an adult dog from a shelter and it growled and snapped at our kids. We had to take it back. After gut wrenching experiences like that you want to avoid that kind of pain. I did search for a small adult dog to rescue in my area, before I got Gracie, but there was nothing within 200 miles. I would have kept looking but then Gracie popped into my life. People really should mind their own business especially when they don't know what they are talking about.

When my close friends and family discover what I paid for my baby. They tell me I'm crazy and they would never spend that much. Honestly I think I got her for a steal at an even thousand!! Then of course they think Im nuts with all the little presents I buy. They had me convinced I was ready for the looney bin untill i joined this forum and found all you other nuts. "just kidding" LOL

I can understand in a situation like gemy and some other posters . If the person is asking for educational purposes or perhaps they are thinking about buying a particular breed, then of course a generalization of the cost is fine. But most times folks are being downright nosey and rude. I would never ask how much "you" paid but I would ask for an general estimate. A general estimate would give an interested person enough information.:) I would be very cautious of strangers however because crime and theft may be the reason for the questions.

I like your come back and the other one I use, other than the "he's priceless" is how much did you pay for your car?, did you put a down on it? If they did and it's not old, you know judging, I say well you JUST ABOUT bought a papered Yorkie. Now I know our dogs come in all sizes,colors and $$, and someone who is truly looking I send them to the rescues or petfinder, BUT a smart a$$, gets a smarmy answer. I know, I have a smart mouth, I'm VERY defensive about Sprocket and am always afraid someone will look at him like "hmm could I steal him? how much is he worth?" And I would be just devastated. Besides it's a very rude question. So to answer your question, no I don't lie, but I do give smarmy answers, sometimes and I never say how much. I'm not doing a meet and greet, if they have to ask, they can't afford.:rolleyes:

Would I lie ? No I would rather be called rude, than a liar.
I have said things like,
A. Less than a fun vacation B. I can't see how it affects your wallet, honestly that question is nosey ! C. Less than some spend on beer. D. My children are grown, and I refuse to get botox. And so on.

I try to support my charities too and help out people in need when I can. I will say this, the yorkies are my responsbility. I chose to make them my responsibilty. They like other members of my family they come first. After I pay my bills, I share what is left. Being retired I don't have a lot of money, but I do have time and a kind actions to share.

I guess I don't understand why there needs to be such mystery about it...

It's easy to find out approximately how much just about anything costs. Yes, you might have gotten a deal or paid sale/clearance price for something or bought it second-hand, but the average value of things is pretty easy to discover. So I personally don't have an issue with it.

What DOES tick me off is when people make judgements about HOW I spend my own money.

So what if you can't believe how much I spent on my dog, to me its just a few of your luxury car payments. So what you wonder how I can throw that kinda money away on a dog, to me its just the cost of the week's vacation you took. You think I wasted my money on an animal, yet you've got 30 designer purses sitting the back of your closet.

I earned my money and so I get to spend it however I want on whatever I want!

There is a thread here about a little Yorkie that was stolen from a girl that took it to a bar. The ASPCA gave out a lot of information about what to do to prevent your little dog from being stolen and one of the items was that you shouild not to tell how much you paid for the animal.

Apparently since little dogs have become very popular in the past few years people would like to steal one for themselves or steal one to sell and make some money.

I had inlaws that just liked to ask in order to make rude remarks about how stupid it was to pay that much for a dumb dog.

We have a bunch of guys fixing our ceiling and want us to give them a key so they can come in when where not home:eek: I was thinking "yeah so you can steal Joel from his crate!" Lol, But we already told them no.

I have probably spent close to AU$ 16,000 on my baby so far. And when I told a friend (owned by a Westhighland Terrier), he said, that he would spend that and even more if necessary! Neither of us are well-off financially. Both of us agreed that money does not necessarily make us happy, but our 'babies' DO...

Quite honestly, no one has ever asked how much we spent to add Belle to our family. My parents and sister know Yorkies, and have a very good idea of how much she cost. My fiance's family would probably have a cow if they knew....

But that's nothing compared to how much we've paid in vet bills for 2 of our cats. One is an older female who had been left behind by fiance's former room mate - she had never been spayed and developed pyometra a week before her scheduled spay surgery..... well over $1,000 to save her life with emergency surgery and follow-up care. Friends thought that was crazy to pay that much on a cat who wasn't technically mine at the time (she is a permanent family member now)
We also have a big black cat, Monster who has rung up quite a few vet bills. He once chewed on a power cord and burned his tongue very badly, spent several days in the vet hospital. His latest emergency was a blocked urethra which landed him in the hospital for a week with a catheter while his bladder was flushed and an infection cleared up. That happened the Saturday after this past Thanksgiving. My sister found out how much it cost and said, "If Monster was my cat, I would have put him to sleep" (didn't speak to her for a week).
Thankfully, none of our dogs have had anything other than routine vet care so far. Of course, when they need it, we'll take care of them, too!

We spend a lot of money on food, vet care, toys, training classes, etc. I don't discuss it with people any more, as they think we're crazy to do it. I'd rather spend the money on my pets than on a big vacation or material things that I don't really need. My babies are totally worth it :)

My sis-in-law and I were talking about this the other night..not so much the cost of our babies but the expense for them afterwards. I will take my babies to the vet before I will go spend money at the doctor for myself lol...She has a heinz 57 who was attacked and broke its little back a few months back and it cost them 2000 to get him up and going but she loves that little guy as much as we love our yorkies. I am a firm believer if we are going to have pets to love and love us back then we should care for them just like we would our children. I got some wows before but I don't let it bother me.