We’ve always dreamed of having a dog, but our constant moving and living in rented homes made it seem impossible.
Not being able to own a place anytime soon, we eventually opted for a cat. Cats are easier to hide than dogs in case of a landlord inspection 🙂 and they mostly look after themselves.
Cost was a big part of our decision-making process. We did the math multiple times, and although the number was pretty high for our pockets, we could no longer wait.
In early spring 2022, we finally welcomed Molly, our Springer Spaniel, into our lives.
The Joy of Owning a Springer Spaniel
Owning a dog brings joy that’s hard to describe.
It’s about the quiet, shared moments on those early, dark, and rainy mornings, and every other day that follows for years.
This bond and commitment to another life define the true joy of dog ownership.
However, it’s not all smooth sailing; there will be times when you’re at your wit’s end, utterly exhausted. Luckily, most days are amazing, and you will enjoy every minute you spend with your Springer Spaniel.
But the deep sense of responsibility for your dog always prevails, reminding you of the profound connection you share.
Cost of Springer Spaniel puppies
I will not mention the price we paid for Molly as the prices change and it also depends on the breeder.
But be prepared to pay more than £1000 for a puppy.
And if you think that’s a lot, just remember that during the pandemic the cost of a puppy was hovering around the £3000 price mark.
Cost Breakdown: Essential Gear for Your New Springer and You
Before Molly’s arrival, we had to make sure we had everything needed to make her feel comfortable in our home.
Having no experience and never before owning a dog, we went a bit overboard with the items we purchased.
Essentials for our Springer Spaniel puppy
You can see in the image below the number of dog-related accessories we bought.
We never used many of the items. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean you will not need them.
- Dog toys, beds, and other accessories for a puppy.
I will spare you from listing the prices for each item in the picture. The overall cost of buying all the dog essential items above was around £150 pounds.
I would suggest though to think twice about buying some of the items from the image.
For example, we never used the retractable lead (the red one in the image). Instead, we found that the training lead (black spool at the bottom of the image) was much better for our puppy.
Springer Spaniels are energetic, and the constant retraction and winding of that retractable lead was making us crazy.
It was much easier to just use the 10m long training lead instead.
Training Pads were also a mistake purchase. We found that Molly learned much quicker to take care of business outside, in our garden than using the pads.
And yes, because she was a puppy, we had to make sure to take her out every hour or so for a while, but that worked for us, and we never used the pads.
Outdoor Clothing Items Initial Cost
It’s also worth mentioning the cost of clothing you have to buy for these rainy, winter days.
And yes, you may use what you already have, but considering that you will take your dog for a walk at least twice a day (three times in our case), your clothing will quickly either need changing or frequent washing, which means you will need to have some spares all the time.
For example, I had no wellies at all before having Molly. I quickly bought some online, and although they were great, they fell apart after just a few weeks.
I had to order another pair, and this one too broke down. Eventually, I found a pair that has lasted a year so far, but a pair of good, comfortable to walk wellies cost between £60 and £120.
That’s a considerable cost, not even mentioning the waterproof coat, gloves, or a flashlight for the dark winter days and any other item times two as you need to have spares while the other items may need washing.
- Good Quality Wellies plus some spare pairs £120 – £200
- Waterproof Coat/Jacket x 2 £120
- Gloves x 2 £20 – £50
- Waterproof hat x 2 £20 – £50
- Flashlight £10 – £100
- Total: ~ £350
Understanding the Recurring Costs of Springer Spaniel Care
Our Molly is now almost two years old, and I think I’m in a position to summarise the ongoing costs associated with our girl.
Did we underestimate the costs when doing the maths?
Oh, yes we did. But keep in mind that we took Molly at the beginning of the Cost of Living Crisis that the UK is currently going through.
The prices of everything have skyrocketed, and of course, we have started to pay more attention to our spending. This, of course, includes the cost of owning a dog.
Even though we had to tighten our belts, we have never considered cutting our spending on Molly’s needs. We treat her like our child, and as such, we want the best for her.
Just recently, we switched Molly’s food from Butternutbox to Different Dog. Although the second option is about 30% more expensive, we’ve found that Molly enjoys that food so much more.
It’s not that Butternutbox is bad; it’s just that Molly is a bit fussy about her food, and we had to constantly coax her to eat it by adding a piece of cheese or other treats so she could complete her meal.
With Different Dog, that’s no longer the case. We’ve never seen her eat so eagerly and with such an appetite before.
If you’re thinking of switching or subscribing to Different Dog, please make sure to use our link below. It will make a world of difference to us. We’re not running ads on this blog so you can enjoy an uninterrupted read, but if you use our promotional link to subscribe, you’ll get 40% off your first box and 20% off the next two. We’ll get £10 off our next box. So, it’s a win-win for both of us. Thank you!
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Anyway, getting back to the ongoing cost of Springer Spaniel ownership; here’s the breakdown of our expenses for owning a Springer Spaniel.
Keep in mind this is our most recent cost and Molly is now a fully grown girl weighing almost 16kg.
As the males are slightly heavier than females, you may need to add around 10% to the prices below.
We are also adding around 5% of dry food to her wet food to improve the texture, and other supplementary foods like Pumpkin Powder, Salmon Oil, or Bone Broth that are all beneficial for your dog.
When reading the list below, please remember that we have just switched Molly’s food from ButternutBox to Different Dog with a £50 increase in monthly cost.
Monthly Food and Nutrition Expenses
- Different Dog Wet Food £150
- Dry Food £12
- Pumpkin Powder (1000g Medium 12-24kg 1 tbsp) £2
- Salmon Oil (500ml bottle lasts 50 days+) £7
- Bone Broth (500ml x 2) £20
- Soft Chicken Treats (bulk purchase 100g x 7) £7
- Soft Beef Treats (bulk purchase 300g x 3) £6
- Total Monthly Cost: ~ £200
The price list above pretty much summarises our food-related monthly expenses for Molly.
Don’t panic though as the cost can be significantly lower if you find the time to make the bone broth or healthy treats for your dog by yourself.
There are plenty of healthy recipes to follow, but we are still to try them not to mention finding the time.
Ongoing Care Expenses
The dog food is just a part of the costs you will incur. The other costs include routine vet visits, insurance, or unexpected health issues specific to Springer Spaniels.
But let’s start with the vet visits.
Although not frequently, we do take Molly for a checkup from time to time.
There are no scheduled dates set as to when to take her but that mainly falls into the time when we need to renew the prescription for her deworming and fleas treatment medication.
The treatment Molly had prescribed takes care of all sorts of fleas and their larvae, roundworms, hookworms, heartworms, and ear mites in dogs.
It also treats lungworm, whipworm, biting lice, sarcoptes, and demodex. The medication typically lasts around a half year, and we have to visit our Vet to resupply which allows us to do the health check for Molly.
But let’s break down the Vet and parasite treatment annual costs.
Vet – Medication Annual Cost
- Checkup Vet visit £60
- Advocate £35
- MilPro £10
- Total Annual Cost: £115
Keep in mind that the costs above will vary depending on the Vet and the amount of prescribed medication etc. But for us, that was more or less constant for the past two years.
Dog Insurance Costs
Like any dog breed, Springer Spaniels are no exception when it comes to breed-specific illnesses.
Luckily our Molly is free of these, and as such, I cannot provide any meaningful cost-related information.
I can, however, suggest taking a minimum of £10,000 Lifetime insurance for your dog.
Let me explain where I get that figure from.
Back in September after a short illness, we lost our beloved Bengal cat – Bolt. Bolt was treated in a very well-known animal referral centre The Ralph but despite their best efforts, we have lost him.
He was 15 years old at the time.
The suspicion was that he had a brain tumour, and if treatable we were looking at the figure of around £7500.
Of course, we went ahead trying to save him but unfortunately, it turned out that the tumour they had found was untreatable and we had to put him to sleep.
At the time Bolt was insured at £6000. The diagnosis and consultation cost us £3600 which was covered by the insurance.
When we were working on the paperwork, one of the nurses, based on her experience, advised us that if we ever had another animal, the pet insurance should be at a minimum of £10000 considering the treatment costs associated with dogs and cats.
We took that advice to heart and Molly now has a Lifetime insurance up to £10000.
Word of warning though.
She’s still young and currently, the insurance costs us around £23 monthly. Every year the price will go up.
A friend of mine owns a Springer Spaniel that is 11 years old, and he is paying around £70 per month for much worse insurance than Molly currently has.
Considering the increasing cost of dog insurance as your dog ages, we have set up a savings account for Molly.
We are putting away £100 a month hoping that around year five, we can lower her insurance cost by opting for a smaller cover knowing that we have saved a significant amount of money to cover the rest of any treatment cost in case of an emergency.
Hopefully, our plan with the savings account for Molly works out, but that is still to be seen.
What about Grooming?
Springer Spaniels have a medium-long coat that requires trimming from time to time. Their ears, and tails (if your dog has one) quickly look out of place with their long hairs.
Although a longer coat helps keep your dog warm in the winter, you may need to trim it down in the spring and during the summer.
Taking care of your Springer Spaniel’s coat and keeping it short in summer is especially important as Springer Spaniels are prone to overheating and you want them to stay cool during these warm summer days.
Again, I cannot give you the exact cost of a professional grooming service as we have never used one.
We taught ourselves to groom our Molly.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube teaching how to groom your Springer Spaniel. It’s not only about saving money but about saving your dog from being handled by a stranger.
Grooming your dog yourselves will allow you to bond with your dog even more and it’s a fun experience – at least for us humans :-).
If you opted to groom your dog yourself, you still need some basic grooming tools. The set will set you back around £30 to £50 for a quality one.
As you know, Springer Spaniels are prone to ear infections and as such should be cleaned regularly.
You can ask your vet to prescribe an ear cleaning solution for your dog but personally, we prefer a much better solution than alcohol-based ear cleaners.
We use Pure Coconut Oil.
Coconut oil is a natural, healthy product and does wonders on Molly’s skin. It cleans much better without irritating her gentle inner ear skin, looking beautiful with natural skin colour.
Not to mention that Molly loves to lick the Coconut oil that in small quantities is healthy for her. The jar of 100% pure Coconut Oil will cost you around £10 and it will last for ages.
Training and Socialisation Costs
We had never thought about that until we took Molly to our local puppy training class.
It costs us around £150 for 6 weekend training sessions, but that’s the cost you have to take into account, especially during the puppyhood of your dog.
When it comes to socialisation though, that’s entirely up to you what you will spend.
You can visit dog playgrounds where prices range from £5 to £10 per hour. Your puppy will have the chance to interact with other dogs, which is especially important when your dog is young.
Lucky for us, we never had a need to take our Molly to such playgrounds, as the woods that we take Molly for walks are frequently visited by all the local dog owners so she was exposed to interacting with all sorts of dogs since the early days and it was free :-).
What about exercise and Entertainment?
Toys, toys, and once more; Toys!
If you are a dog lover, you will love your Springer Spaniel like your child. And like your child, you will be spoiling him with toys. That’s the truth, and there’s no way around it.
We have three baskets full of toys and keep buying more just to see Molly’s happiness when we give them to her.
Of course, we rotate the toys so she won’t get bored with them too quickly.
But the real reason you will need to buy them is the simple fact that they don’t last long enough :-).
Your dog will tear them apart, especially if they squeak. Springers love taking out the squeaky bit.
Also, they’re pretty strong for their size, so when playing tug of war with your dog, be sure that some toys’ ears and legs will be torn off sooner or later :-).
When it comes to exercise, Molly loves her squeaky rubber ball and a throwing stick. However, we try not to use it every day as it can impact her joints.
Therefore, you might also need some treats and maybe perform some mental exercises when out and about.
Springers love and need both mental and physical exercises to stay healthy. The costs aren’t high, but you’ll likely need a throwing stick and a ball (or plenty of them as you will either lose some or they will get damaged).
Below is a short video I did to show a simple mental game for you Springer. You just need to collect egg boxes. Let your dog shred them and put them in the basket.
Sprinkle some tiny bits of treats and let your dog find it. This simple game promotes mental stimulation in your dog and they get tired very quickly.
Plus, you’ll need treats, which we’ve already covered in the previous paragraphs. And don’t forget a bottle of water to keep your dog hydrated – remember, I mentioned Springers are prone to overheating, so having a bottle of water with you makes a huge difference.
Let’s sum up the costs:
- Toys for exercise: About £100 annually (though you might spend more if you like).
- Water bottle for dogs: £20.
Take the costs with a grain of salt. You can spend less or more. It entirely depends on you but the water bottle is a must – please keep your dog hydrated, especially in these warm spring/summer months.
Unexpected Costs
We recently encountered an unexpected expense that was quite large. Although it was refunded by Molly’s insurance, it highlights the importance of budgeting for the unexpected when owning a dog.
In early spring, Molly must have swallowed something during our walks that made her ill.
She stopped eating and had trouble defecating, and eventually, we decided to take her to the vet.
Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, and our regular vet was closed, so we had to seek out an emergency vet nearby.
After over two hours of waiting for a consultation that lasted only fifteen minutes, the antibiotics injection, three pills, and a special paste to settle her stomach ended up costing us £700.
Thankfully, our insurance covered it, but it was a reminder to have savings set aside for such unforeseen expenses.
Molly recovered quickly, but the expense was a stark reminder of the costs associated with dog ownership.
Budgeting for Springer Spaniel
As mentioned, we’ve started a savings account for Molly, setting aside £100 a month.
This plan is to help us manage the increasing cost of dog insurance as she ages, allowing us to opt for a smaller cover in the future, knowing we have a significant amount saved up for any emergencies.
This approach to budgeting for Molly’s needs, including potential emergency costs, grooming necessities, and ensuring she has a happy, healthy life, is something we’re learning and adapting to as we go.
It’s all part of the journey of loving and caring for a Springer Spaniel, a journey that, despite its costs, brings immeasurable joy and companionship.
Springer Spaniel Ownership Costs: Summary
As you can see, the costs of owning a Springer Spaniel or any dog for that matter are absolutely out of control.
Especially when it comes to Vet visits and unexpected treatment that you can only hope will get reimbursed by your insurance.
We can control some of the costs, cut here and there but at the end of the day, you can’t cut down on your dog’s health and wellbeing.
So what is the final monthly cost of owning a Springer Spaniel?
- Around £200
And I said around, as the costs vary.
Occasionally, we’ll pop into a garden centre to pick up a new toy or a dog bed for her, among other things. It’s somewhat akin to raising a child, with the monthly expenses averaging about £200.
This is in addition to the initial outlay for all the essentials needed before introducing your puppy into your home, which ranges between £200 and £300.
