Adventures of the Floppy-Eared-Bandit
How to Balance Raising a Puppy While Attending School and Working at the Same Time?
You did it. You’ve finally moved out. You’ve moved away for University. Mom and Dad can’t tell you what to do anymore. Your life is finally in your own hands. Life is good. You’ve eaten pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days now. And just when you think things couldn’t get any better, your student loans come in. You are now a millionaire. Not really, but it feels like it. You’re unstoppable – that is, until the honeymoon phase is over a few days later and you’re on the phone with your mom begging for her to come pick you up. You’ve made the biggest mistake of your life. You’re just not cut out for University. You need to go home. You’ll work at the local bakery for the rest of your life. Steve Jobs dropped out of College and look at how well he did. You don’t need University to be successful.
What you are feeling is the beginning stages of culture shock. You miss your parents, you miss your siblings and most of all you miss Muffin, the family dog.
A few days go by and you’ve just spent the past 3 hours Face-Timing with Muffin (you actually called your mom then told her to hold the phone in front of Muffin so you could speak to him). You’re in the midst of posting a new picture of Muffin on Facebook when you notice a banner ad for a local pet shelter is displayed in the side of the window – they know… but how could they… they must be listening in on your conversations…. Oh well, you remove your tinfoil hat and click on the ad. The ad redirects you to the local SPCA and you see her. A 3 month old German shepherd puppy that is ready for adoption for a one-time adoption fee of $650. That’s like a month’s worth of pizza… But then you remember that you have student loans and that you’re essentially a millionaire. You apply for the adoption, and click submit.
A few days go by and you haven’t heard back from the SPCA. Muffin no longer wants to Face-Time you because you’re encroaching on his nap-schedule. Classes have now begun and you’re actually starting to like it here. You’re busy reading, taking notes and meeting new people. You also got a job at the local Starbucks as a Barista, to keep yourself busy and to feed your coffee addiction. But suddenly, you get the email that changes your life – The SPCA has accepted your application and Darcy, the 3 month old German shepherd puppy, is now yours. What have you done….
How are you going to manage attending University full-time, working part-time AND raising a puppy? Well I’m about to tell you!
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Step 1) Make a Master-Schedule
What you now need to understand is that this dog comes before anything else. She is your baby. You are her parent – her life depends on you. If that means rearranging your school schedule to have more days off or taking less shifts at work, then so be it. You have student loans for a reason.....right? What I suggest is taking 3 hour classes as opposed to two 1.5 hour classes. What this means is that you will be required to show up to school half the amount of days. If you are taking four classes for example, then try to the best of your ability to make sure they’re on the same days (refer to the schedule below). You want to be as efficient as possible, so make sure your classes are back-to-back, so that you aren’t spending any more time away from your puppy than necessary. Live by this calendar. It is your new bible, syllabus, constitution – you get the point!
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Step 2) Exercise is King
A tired pup is a happy pup! But, this is your first year in University. Most of your friends will spend their nights partying and their morning regretting what they did the night before – that’s just how it is. You, however, cannot do this anymore. You essentially are a parent now. You are raising a living creature and your job is for them to remain that way… living. It’s going to suck at times. Especially when you keep receiving snaps and DM’s from your friends who are out for the fifth time this week partying it up. But here’s the thing; it doesn’t all have to change, you just need to prepare a bit more ahead of time. Look at your schedule and identify the days that you have off – no school or work, and tell your friends that you’re going out on those nights. Next, you need to take your puppy out with you the entire day, leading up to these nights. For example, tell your friends you’re going out Saturday at 9PM. However, from whenever you wake up until 8:30PM, your sole job is to tire your puppy out as much as possible. Take her to the local dog park, take her for a massive hike and take her to your friend’s places. No matter what you do, just make sure that she’s moving at all times. You want her to be falling asleep on your walk home to your place – that’s how tired you want her to be. Now that you have done your job of taking care of your puppy, you can go have some fun – you deserve it!
Step 2) Budget Accordingly
We’ve already covered the fact that you’re practically a millionaire (but not really), but you need to understand how much it really costs to own a dog. On average, a German shepherd puppy will eat 2 and a quarter cups of puppy-formula dog food a day. This equates to about a 37.5 pound bag of kibble per month which costs about $100. Next, you need to visit the Veterinarian. Get ready because this is going to hurt… The average cost of a simple consultation is about $65 – that’s $65 right when you walk through the doors. Next you’ll puppy will have to receive immunization shots and boosters and finally, for your own sake, you’ll have to get her spayed. Female spaying is normally triple the price of a male operation so keep that in mind! As a general rule of thumb, yearly vet visits (regular check-ups and for emergencies) will cost you about $600-$700 (without spaying or neutering), combined with a $1200 food bill you should be budgeting about $2000 per year for your puppy. But you should already know this right? You did your research before adopting Darcy…? Right?
But here’s the thing – this isn’t that bad. The most expensive years of dog ownership is the first (due to the spaying/neutering and the immunization shots) and the final years (but you should be out of University by then). What this means is that the next 3 years of your degree you should only be experiencing about $200 a year in Vet bills given your dog remains healthy. So in the next few years of your degree you ownership can be around $1400 per year. How can you budget this? STOP BUYING COFFEE. Let’s say you spend $4 (we all know you spend more than that) a day on coffee. That’s the equivalent of about $30 per week which equates to about $1500 per year. I’m not saying you should stop buying coffee but rather cut out other unnecessary spending. This is a simple example of how easy it can be to save money, by simply changing your habits.
Step 3) Have Fun With It!
Your life will change but it’s beyond worth it. There is no better feeling than coming home to your dog after a long day at work or school. No matter what you did, how you feel or what you’re thinking, dogs have the ability to make you forget about everything and just focus on loving life. So just have fun with it!
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