Budgeting for a dog

I read an article today that said that the average total cost of owning a dog over its life is $11,000. Wowser. That's a car, or a year at a state college, or a down payment on a house (elsewhere in the country, of course...)

At any rate, I thought it was kind of interesting. When we got Banjo we talked about how much we thought he'd cost. We were pretty close on the overall amount, but way off on the specifics.

Things that cost less than we expected: Food (less than $10 a month), Airfare ($50 each way as carry-on), Toys (Maybe $30 total so far). Things that cost waaay more than expected: Vet ($300 teeth cleaning, $45 just to have a little bump looked at in the office for 5 minutes, etc), Boarding ($25 a day, which is a good deal compared to other options), Routine Medications (more than $10 a month for flea / tick / heartworm...)

He's worth every penny, of course. And eventually, when we get dog #2 (a TBD frisbee-fetching-type), we'll know what we're getting into. Here's a picture of Tom after seeing the vet bill...