Free UK calculators for cost, weight, food and breed.
Tell us about the dog you have in mind and we will estimate the price and the cost of keeping them.
Average UK estimates. Prices vary widely by breeder, bloodline, region and health history. Rescue and rehoming fees are far lower than breeder prices.
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A dog is one of the largest discretionary purchases most British households make, and almost nobody budgets for it properly. The purchase price is the part everyone thinks about; it is usually less than a tenth of what the dog will cost over its life.
The calculator above estimates the price and the running cost for the dog you have in mind. This guide sets out the underlying figures for 2026 — what to buy, what to expect each month, what the whole life comes to, and where the money actually goes.
Ongoing costs run roughly £69 a month for a small dog, £83 for a medium and £116 for a large one, on PDSA figures, before grooming, daycare, training or emergencies. Add the purchase price and the first-year setup and a realistic first year lands between £1,500 and £4,500. Across a whole life, budget £6,200–£12,000 for a small dog, £9,000–£14,000 for a medium and £8,200–£18,800 for a large one — and those figures still exclude the purchase price, emergency treatment, grooming and boarding.
Put grooming, kennels and a single significant illness back in and a realistic lifetime figure for a medium dog in Britain is comfortably north of £20,000. For a French Bulldog or a giant breed with high insurance and high veterinary risk it can pass £30,000.
| Route | Typical cost | Usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Rescue or rehoming centre | £150–£400 | Neutering, microchipping, vaccination, initial health check, often a month's insurance |
| Crossbreed from a private litter | £400–£1,200 | Microchip; vaccination varies |
| Pedigree, medium breed | £700–£2,000 | KC registration, first vaccination, microchip, health-tested parents |
| Pedigree, small or fashionable breed | £1,500–£4,000 | As above |
| Designer cross (doodles) | £1,000–£3,000 | Varies widely; health testing far from guaranteed |
The rescue figure is genuinely good value: several hundred pounds of neutering, vaccination and microchipping is included, and an adult dog's temperament and adult size are already known rather than guessed. If cost is a real constraint, this is the single largest saving available.
If you are buying a puppy, the rules commonly known as Lucy's Law apply in England, Scotland and Wales: the puppy must be sold by the breeder who bred it, at the premises where it was born, with the mother present — or come from a rehoming centre. See the puppy you are buying, with its mother, in the place it was born, or walk away.
| Item | Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bed | £20–£50 | £30–£70 | £40–£110 |
| Crate and pen | £35–£70 | £50–£100 | £70–£150 |
| Lead, collar, harness, tag | £25–£60 | £30–£75 | £35–£90 |
| Bowls and storage | £15–£35 | £15–£40 | £20–£50 |
| Grooming kit | £20–£60 | £25–£70 | £30–£80 |
| Toys and chews | £25–£60 | £30–£70 | £35–£85 |
| Car restraint or crate | £25–£70 | £35–£110 | £50–£180 |
| Puppy vaccination course | £70–£100 | £70–£100 | £70–£100 |
| Microchip, if not done | £10–£25 | £10–£25 | £10–£25 |
| Neutering (first year or two) | £150–£300 | £200–£400 | £250–£500 |
| Puppy training classes | £60–£200 | £60–£200 | £60–£200 |
| Typical setup total | £415+ | £531+ | £560+ |
Microchipping is a legal requirement for dogs in the UK, and the details on the database must be kept up to date — a surprising number of owners are technically non-compliant because they moved house and never changed the record.
| Scenario | Purchase | Setup | 12 months running | First-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small rescue crossbreed | £200 | £350 | £830 | £1,380 |
| Cockapoo puppy | £1,400 | £600 | £1,400 | £3,400 |
| Labrador puppy | £1,200 | £700 | £1,550 | £3,450 |
| French Bulldog puppy | £2,200 | £550 | £1,600 | £4,350 |
| Adult greyhound from rescue | £250 | £400 | £1,250 | £1,900 |
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive rows is more than £3,000 in year one alone — and it widens every subsequent year, because the breed choices that cost more to buy also tend to cost more to insure and groom.
| Item | Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food | £15–£35 | £25–£60 | £40–£95 |
| Treats and chews | £5–£12 | £7–£15 | £10–£20 |
| Insurance | £18–£40 | £25–£50 | £35–£70 |
| Flea and worm treatment | £8–£15 | £10–£18 | £12–£22 |
| Routine vet, spread over the year | £8–£15 | £8–£15 | £9–£18 |
| Poo bags, shampoo, replacements | £8–£15 | £8–£15 | £10–£18 |
| Core total | ~£69 | ~£83 | ~£116 |
| Grooming, if needed | £0–£40 | £0–£45 | £0–£55 |
| Dog walker, if out all day | £260–£430 | £260–£430 | £260–£430 |
| Daycare, if used full time | £400–£900 | £400–£900 | £400–£900 |
Those last two rows are the reason budgets go wrong. Daily care for a dog whose household is out from eight until six costs more than everything else combined — often more than the dog itself, every single year.
| Size | PDSA core lifetime estimate | Realistic total with grooming, boarding and illness |
|---|---|---|
| Small, under 10 kg | £6,200–£12,000 | £12,000–£25,000 |
| Medium, 10–25 kg | £9,000–£14,000 | £16,000–£28,000 |
| Large, 25 kg+ | £8,200–£18,800 | £18,000–£32,000 |
The PDSA figures deliberately exclude the purchase price, emergency treatment, prescription diets, boarding, daycare, grooming and training. That is not a flaw in the figures — it is a warning about which costs are predictable and which are not.
Large dogs do not always cost the most over a lifetime, because they live fewer years. A Great Dane costs a great deal per year for seven or eight years; a Jack Russell costs less per year for fourteen. Total spend often ends up closer than expected.
| Breed | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Labrador Retriever | £800–£2,000 | Health-tested working and show lines at the upper end |
| Cocker Spaniel | £700–£1,800 | |
| French Bulldog | £1,500–£4,000 | Very high insurance and veterinary costs follow |
| Cockapoo | £900–£2,000 | Add £320–£470 a year for grooming |
| Dachshund | £1,000–£2,500 | Back problems are common and expensive |
| Golden Retriever | £900–£2,200 | |
| Border Collie | £500–£1,200 | Cheap to buy; very demanding to keep |
| Staffordshire Bull Terrier | £400–£1,000 | Plentiful in UK rescue at a fraction of this |
| German Shepherd | £800–£2,500 | |
| Pug | £1,000–£2,500 | High lifetime veterinary cost |
| Chihuahua | £600–£1,800 | Cheapest to feed of any breed |
| Bernese Mountain Dog | £1,200–£2,500 | Short lifespan, very high food and insurance costs |
A price far below these ranges is a warning sign, not a bargain. It usually means no health testing, no socialisation, and a puppy that costs several thousand pounds more in veterinary and behavioural work over the following two years.
Insurance is where identical dogs produce wildly different lifetime costs, and where the decision made in year one determines the outcome in year ten.
| Breed | Age 1 | Age 5 | Age 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossbreed, 10 kg | £14–£24 | £24–£40 | £55–£95 |
| Border Collie | £18–£32 | £32–£55 | £65–£110 |
| Labrador Retriever | £20–£35 | £35–£55 | £70–£120 |
| Cocker Spaniel | £24–£40 | £40–£65 | £80–£140 |
| French Bulldog | £40–£65 | £80–£120 | £150–£220 |
Only lifetime cover renews the limit each year for an ongoing condition. Time-limited policies stop paying after twelve months; maximum-benefit policies stop at a fixed sum. For a dog that develops arthritis at six and lives to thirteen, that distinction is worth thousands.
A new policy excludes anything already diagnosed, so switching insurer after a diagnosis leaves the existing condition uncovered. The choice is effectively locked in while the dog is young and healthy. The average UK pet insurance claim is around £848, and illness accounts for roughly 70 per cent of claim value.
Use the calculator at the top of this page to price the dog you have in mind, then check the running costs in detail with the food portion calculator, the grooming estimator and the vet comparison tool.
Around £69 a month for a small dog, £83 for a medium one and £116 for a large one, covering food, insurance, parasite treatment and routine veterinary care. Grooming adds up to £55 a month for a curly-coated dog, and a dog walker or daycare can add £260 to £900 a month.
PDSA puts core lifetime costs at £6,200–£12,000 for a small dog, £9,000–£14,000 for a medium and £8,200–£18,800 for a large one, excluding purchase price, emergencies, grooming and boarding. Adding those back, a realistic total for a medium dog in Britain is £16,000 to £28,000.
Typically £700 to £2,000 for a medium pedigree, £1,500 to £4,000 for a small or fashionable breed such as a French Bulldog, £900 to £2,000 for a doodle cross, and £150 to £400 to adopt from a rescue centre with neutering and vaccination included.
Between about £1,400 and £4,400 depending on where the dog comes from and what breed it is. That covers the purchase or adoption fee, setup equipment, vaccinations, neutering, training classes and twelve months of running costs.
For most owners, yes — the average UK claim is around £848, and a single cruciate ligament repair runs to £2,500–£6,000 per knee. Lifetime cover is the only type that keeps paying for a chronic condition year after year, and it must be bought before any condition is diagnosed.
A small, smooth-coated, healthy crossbreed adopted from a rescue centre. Low purchase price, low food volume, no grooming bills and lower insurance premiums than a pedigree of the same size. Breeds with known expensive health problems — flat-faced breeds and giant breeds in particular — cost the most over a lifetime.
Roughly £9–£30 a month for a small dog on dry food, £18–£60 for a medium and £30–£95 for a large one. Wet food costs two to three times more than dry, and raw sits somewhere between the two.
About £150 to £400 to castrate a dog and £200 to £500 to spay a bitch, rising with body weight. Laparoscopic spay costs £100 to £250 more. Charity clinics offer reduced-cost neutering to owners on qualifying benefits.
It depends on the dog and the arrangements. Adopting an adult smooth-coated dog, working from home or having someone at home during the day, and buying lifetime insurance from the start all bring the figure down substantially. PDSA, Blue Cross and RSPCA clinics also treat pets belonging to owners on qualifying benefits within set catchment areas.
Setup, monthly and lifetime cost bands from PDSA cost of ownership guidance. Veterinary price inflation and the 2026 reforms from the Competition and Markets Authority veterinary services market investigation. Puppy prices, insurance premiums and service rates are 2026 UK market estimates.
General information only, not veterinary or financial advice. Costs vary widely by region, breeder, insurer and individual dog.