Everyone tells you a puppy is expensive. Almost nobody tells you what actually costs money, what you’ll end up buying twice, or which “textbook” advice you’ll quietly abandon by week three. A year into having Todd, here’s the honest version — costs, mistakes, and all — for anyone thinking about bringing home a large-breed puppy.

🐾 How We Actually Got Todd

Todd was the last puppy left in his litter. When we went to meet him, we brought Ellie along — and it was love at first sight, for both of them. Todd and Ellie were inseparable from the first few minutes, circling each other, and there was really no version of that visit where we left without him. The breeder saw exactly what was happening too. His listed price was $800, but she dropped it to $400 on the spot and just wished us well. We got lucky there — that’s not something you can count on, but it’s a good reminder that sometimes the dog (and the person selling him) has opinions about where he’s supposed to end up.

💰 What Todd Actually Cost Us in Year One

Here’s the honest breakdown, not the “budget $X” number you see in generic checklists:

• Adoption cost: $400 (after the breeder’s discount — originally listed at $800).
• New gear: We already had Ellie’s old bed, toys, and puppy supplies, and figured we’d save money reusing them. We ended up buying a lot of it new anyway — different puppy food, different bedding sized for a bigger dog, new toys, and grooming brushes made specifically for Todd’s coat, since a Labradoodle’s coat is nothing like a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon’s. Hand-me-downs helped, but they didn’t cover nearly as much as we expected.
• Vet visits and insurance: a rough guesstimate of about $5,000 for the year. That number is genuinely on the high end — Todd is spoiled, so take it for what it’s worth rather than a hard benchmark. But it’s closer to reality than the lowball numbers a lot of “cost of owning a puppy” articles quote.

If you’re budgeting for a large-breed puppy, the lesson isn’t a specific dollar figure — it’s that “I already have supplies from my last dog” only gets you so far, and vet costs for a first year (shots, checkups, anything unexpected) add up faster than people plan for. We’d rather you go in with a realistic range than a rosy one.

This is also where pet insurance earns its keep — we’ve written before about why it matters for every dog, and Todd’s first year is exactly the kind of year it’s meant for.

🧸 What We Thought We Could Reuse (And Couldn’t)

We genuinely believed keeping Ellie’s old puppy gear in storage would save us money. Some of it worked out fine — a few toys survived, and Todd didn’t seem to mind secondhand. But the coat difference caught us off guard the most. Ellie’s wiry coat and Todd’s wavy Labradoodle coat need completely different brushes and grooming tools, so that was a category we had to buy from scratch, not reuse. If you’re getting a second dog and assuming your old grooming kit will carry over, check the coat type first — it’s an easy assumption to get wrong.

🐕‍🦺 The Crate Training We Never Did

Here’s an honest one: we never crate trained Todd. We tried with Ellie and it just didn’t work for us — she hated it, we hated it, and it never stuck. So with Todd, we skipped it entirely and leaned on something else instead: he and Ellie keep each other company when we’re out. They settle in together, and it’s worked far better for our two than a crate ever did.

We want to be honest that this isn’t a universal recommendation — most trainers still recommend crate training, and it works well for a lot of dogs and households. This is what worked for our specific pair, largely because of how bonded Todd and Ellie already were. If you’re bringing home a second large-breed dog and your first one is a good companion animal, it’s worth considering as an alternative — just go in with eyes open that it depends heavily on your dogs’ relationship, not a guarantee.

🗑️ The One Thing They Actually Destroy

A year in, Todd and Ellie have never destroyed furniture, shoes, or anything we braced ourselves for. There’s exactly one exception: trash cans. Every single time, without fail, if there’s an accessible trash can, it’s getting knocked over and gone through. If we could go back and give first-year-us one piece of advice, it’s this: invest in a trash can your dogs genuinely cannot get into, not just one that looks sturdy. We eventually gave up trying to dog-proof ours and instead keep it behind a gate on the stairs next to the kitchen — out of reach entirely rather than trying to out-engineer them.

It’s a small thing, but it’s the kind of lesson nobody puts on a puppy checklist — every dog has their one weakness, and for ours, it’s trash.

🐶 What We’d Tell Anyone Bringing Home a Large-Breed Puppy

Budget more than you think, especially for vet care in year one. Don’t assume hand-me-down gear will cover you, especially grooming tools if your dogs have different coats. Skip the guilt if a “standard” training method doesn’t work for your dog — Todd’s proof that the alternative can work just as well. And know your dog’s one weird weakness before it costs you a trash can (or three).

Todd and Ellie are still inseparable, a year later, exactly like that first meeting. That part, at least, was worth every dollar.

Costs mentioned here reflect our own experience and will vary based on your location, breed, insurance plan, and individual dog. This isn’t financial or veterinary advice — talk to your vet and insurance provider about what to expect for your own dog.