The World's most expensive dog- $582,000

I just read this article today. Here is the link to the story on msnbc.com The dog is a Tibetan Mastiff.

I have been thinking about writing about the Cost of Dogs for a while, but haven't formulated my thoughts yet. In Pennsylvania, the cost of well-bred sheltie is between $800- $1200. Keeping, showing, health testing,breeding, training, loving- it all takes time and money. Recently food and veterinary costs and the cost of showing a dog has really gone up noticeably. The cost of shipping dogs (which I used to do a lot to breed to dogs in other parts of the country) as gone up at an even faster rate.

In preparation to write about costs, I did go through a few "exercises" of accounting. I even started to write a blog entry entitled: Responsible Dog breeders- Simulating the Economy, but never finished it (it is still a draft in my folder) I have been tracking the health testing costs, feeding costs and the cost of breeding a well bred bitch to a well bred stud dog. Again, I started writing an article entitled: But I don't want a SHOW puppy: and other reactions to the price of a well bred puppy. Yup- it is still in draft form too. Seeing this article about the Tibetan Mastiff certainly makes me think about the cost of dogs and makes me feel I need to finalize those draft articles.

To help me to organize my thoughts- I am going to attempt to do a poll on this blog. Seeing your answers will help me think of other questions, and look for other answers. Soooooo................ please help me out by answering the polls I am going to attempt. Thanks.