Last updated on December 16th, 2020 at 07:30 pm
The cost of keeping a standard poodle in one year can range between $1000 and $4000. This is around $100 to $400 monthly. If you love the Standard Poodle breed, need to make financial calculations about whether or not you can keep this breed.
Nevertheless, before you consider getting a dog of any breed, always consider breed-specific costs.
Standard Poodles have some additional costs that other breeds may not have. You may find the Standard Poodles more affordable or more expensive than other dog breeds.
I will give you an idea of how much it costs to keep a standard poodle. From January 2020 to September 2020, I spent $1,525.71 on my standard poodle. Below is the breakdown of how much I spent on my Standard Poodle from January to September 2020.
Below is the cost break down of keeping my standard poodle.
| Category | Expense | Amount | Month |
| Food | Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food | $48.99 | January |
| Training | MidWest Life Stages Folding Metal Dog Crate | $69.99 | January |
| Toys | Adoya Dog Rope Teething Chew Toy | $18.99 | March |
| Training | ALLISANDRO Microplush Fleece Throw Blanket for Dogs | $13.99 | March |
| Grooming | Equinox Professional Hair Cutting Scissors/Shears | $23.97 | April |
| Training | Mighty Paw Two Handle Dog Leash | $14.99 | April |
| Grooming | Wahl Pet Friendly Waterless No Rinse Shampoo | $5.97 | April |
| Grooming | Hertzko Self Cleaning Slicker Grooming Brush | $15.99 | April |
| Training | ZEE.DOG Dog Collar | $16.99 | April |
| Food | Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food | $48.99 | April |
| Grooming | Pet MD Chlorhexidine Wipes with Ketoconazole | $12.99 | April |
| Training | JoicyCo Dog Bed Large Crate Bed | $26.99 | April |
| Treats | Blue Buffalo BLUE Bits Dog Treats | $11.97 | April |
| Toys | Munchkin Fishin` Bath Toy | $7.73 | April |
| Training | Kytely 2 Pack Dog Doorbell Adjustable Dog Bells for Potty Training | $16.99 | April |
| Grooming | Dog Nail Clippers and Trimmer By Boshel | $21.99 | April |
| Treats | Zuke`s Natural Training Dog Treats | $13.99 | April |
| Training | Ombré Plush Dog Bed | $29.99 | April |
| Treats | GREENIES Dog Natural Dental Treats | $14.98 | April |
| Toys | Nylabone Power Chew Dog Chew Toy | $19.99 | April |
| Grooming | Wahl 4-In-1 Calming Pet Shampoo | $6.99 | May |
| Grooming | Wahl Odor Control Shampoo for Dogs & Pets | $5.99 | May |
| Grooming | Rocco & Roxie Supply Professional Strength Stain and Odor Eliminator | $19.97 | May |
| Medical | Vaccination | $133.87 | June |
| Medical | Vaccination | $103.09 | June |
| Grooming | ZYMOX Once -a-Day Dog and Cat Ear Cleaning Solution | $22.17 | June |
| Food | Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food | $48.99 | June |
| Grooming | Dog Shock Collar | $39.99 | June |
| Food | Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food | $48.99 | June |
| Grooming | Wahl Cordless Hair Clipper | $139.99 | June |
| Grooming | Booster Elevated Pet Bath | $149.00 | June |
| Grooming | SHELANDY 3.2HP Pet Hair Grooming Blower with Heater | $79.00 | July |
| Grooming | Custom Dog Name Tag | $18 | July |
| Training | Earth Rated Poop Bags for Dogs | $11.99 | July |
| Food | Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food | $48.99 | July |
| Treats | GREENIES Dog Natural Dental Treats | $33.29 | July |
| Training | Voyager Step-in Air Dog Harness | $13.99 | August |
| Training | Collar | $13 | August |
| Grooming | Professional Grooming | $80.00 | August |
| Training | TUG Retractable Dog Leash | $24.99 | October |
| Food | Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food | $48.99 | September |
The information above is specific to my standard poodle. The table below gives you general information on what you need to know about standard poodle costs. This table will help you make the right decision about buying or adopting this breed.
| Category | Yearly | Monthly |
| Food and treats | $600 – $800 | $50 – $65 |
| Toys | $50 (after the first year) | $20 per month for 6 months, tapering off to about $50 per year after the first year |
| Grooming | $30 – $50 a year if you do it yourself, $600 -$1500+ if done professionally | Around $10 every couple of months if you do it yourself, $50 – 150+ if done professionally |
| Training and Engagement | 0 -$1000 +, depending on how many outside services you need and how often you use them | 0 – $300, depending on how many outside services you need and how often you use them |
| Medical | $400 – $700 in annual vaccines, checkups, and flea meds | $30 – $60 in annual vaccines, checkups, and flea meds |
Importantly, you can save yourself from spending extra money on your standard poodle if you do these two critical things:
- First, if you decide to get a poodle from a breeder rather than adopting a poodle, get a healthy poodle from a reputable breeder. This will save you from unnecessary spending in the long run. Bad breeders breed sickly poodles.
- Second, do not miss your poodle`s veterinary appointment. A stitch in time saves nine.
Continue below to see an explanation on the breakdown on the cost of keeping a standard poodle.
Food Costs
Standard Poodles are big dogs (click here to read my article on how big standard poodles get), weighing between 40 and 70 pounds and standing over 15 inches at the shoulder. Big dogs need considerably more food than smaller dogs. Also, because poodles are an energetic, leanly muscled breed, they often benefit from food that is higher in protein.
You will see that the amount of food that your Standard Poodle need becomes more as your Standard Poodle gets bigger. Therefore, as time goes on, be prepared to spend more money on food for your standard poodle.
I feed my standard poodle Taste of the Wild High Protein Dry Dog Food. This is the dog food that my poodle`s breeder recommends because Taste of the Wild is safe. The makers of Taste of the Wild do not have problems that make them recall dog food. Each bag of Taste of the Wild cost $48.99. My standard poodle eats a bag of Taste of the Wild in about a month.
It is estimated to cost as much as $500 a year to feed a standard poodle a high-quality diet. This doesn`t take into account treats, edible chews, and anything else that you might feed your Stanard Poodle.
When you consider that you might spend $15 to $20 on treats and chews which will last your dog about a month, you may be spending as much as $300 a year just on treats. Poodles are intelligent dogs that need a lot of mental and physical engagement.
When you cannot play with your standard poodle, a quality treat-distributing toy or edible chew is often the best alternative. You`ll probably decide that $300 a year is a very reasonable price to keep your Poodle entertained and healthy.
You can certainly get cheaper treats composed of rawhide, pigskin, or other less healthy ingredients. If you want to plan on the best for your dog and avoid potential medical problems caused by lower-quality treats, expect to pay more.
I do not give my poodle treats a lot because I play with my standard poodle a lot. The few treats that I give my poodle are:
- Blue Buffalo BLUE Bits Dog Treats
- Zuke`s Natural Training Dog Treats
- GREENIES Dog Natural Dental Treats
Toy Costs
Poodles are extremely intelligent dogs. You`ll likely find that you want to give your dog a lot of different kinds of toys to stimulate their minds and keep them busy. Quality toys should last you for some time, but buying a quality toy in the right size for a standard poodle usually costs you around $20 per toy.
If you want to get your Poodle a new toy every month, you`ll pay around $250 a year on poodle toys. You`re likely to find that this expense drops off as your poodle gets older. This is because you are likely to buy more than a toy a month for your Poodle when your poodle is a young puppy. You buy a lot of toys especially while your poodle is teething.
If you look at the above table on my poodle expenses, you can see that I spent more money on toys in the early part of the year. That was when my poodle was still a puppy.
However, your adult poodle may only need a couple of new toys a year. On average, you can expect to spend around $50 a year on toys. Depending on your dog’s preferences and destructiveness, you could spend considerably more or less.
Watch in the video below the toys that I got my poodle Sansa.
Grooming Expenses
One of the most important breed-specific costs to maintaining your Standard Poodle is grooming. All Standard Poodles require regular grooming to maintain their coats. No matter how you keep your Poodle`s coat, some level of grooming will be required.
How you maintain your Poodle`s coat determines the cost. Here are your options:
Do it Yourself
Not surprisingly, the most affordable way to maintain your Poodle`s coat is to do it yourself. A short-clipped coat is easy to brush, it is great for the water and hot weather. Also, when your poodle has a short-clipped coat, your poodle will shed less. Click here to check out my article on poodle standard poodles and allergen sheds.
However, you should be careful about grooming your poodle yourself especially if you do not have any experience grooming puppies. I have tried this myself, but I do not think that I will try again. I once bought a clipper on Amazon to cut my poodle`s hair. Click here to read what my poodle thinks about the first haircut I gave her, all by myself 🙂
A decent groomer`s clippers generally cost from around $30 to $50, although the highest quality versions can easily go into the $100s.
The clipper I got to groom my standard poodle`s hair was the Wahl Cordless Hair Clipper. I bought this clipper on Amazon for $139.99.
If you take good care of a quality clipper it may well last you the life of your dog. That means that all you will have to pay for is the shampoo to keep your dog bathed, which might cost you $20 or $30 a year.
Do you want to avoid clipping your poodle`s coat every month? Do you live somewhere that it gets cold and you want your Poodle in a fuller coat, but you don`t want to have to worry about scissors trimming or brushing? Cording might be a good option for you. Cording is a traditional technique for maintaining a Poodle`s coat.
- Wash your Poodle thoroughly and allow the hair to dry naturally and completely.
- As the hair mats (get tangled) together, break the mats apart to the skin and pull away from the skin with a comb.
- Between baths, continue breaking up the mats and pulling each cord away from the skin with a comb.
It takes about a year or longer for a poodle`s coat to grow out into cords. Once your Poodle`s coat is fully corded, you can cut the cords to the length that you choose.
The cords offer protection against the cold and against harsh elements in the environment. They can be washed with regular shampoo and water, but it is essential that they are thoroughly rinsed and dried. This is one of the lowest maintenance and most affordable ways to maintain a Poodle`s coat.
Groomer
Groomer costs vary depending on the cut. If you simply have your Poodle`s coat clipped short all over, expect to pay between $50 and $90. To maintain more elaborate cuts, especially those involving lots of scissor cutting, you can easily pay into the hundreds.
For example, I took my poodle for her first groom by a professional groomer. Her grooming cost me $80. Her grooming included:
- A Bath
- Ear cleaning
- Nail trim
- Anal glands ( We will opt out of this)
- Blow/fluff dry
- Brush/comb out
- A haircut
Click here to read my poodles`s account of her grooming process.
Generally, poodles need to be groomed about once a month. Between grooming, maintain your poodle`s coat, by brushing the coat regularly to prevent your poodle from having tangled hair or mats.
Training and Engagement
Poodles are extremely intelligent dogs. You will probably find it easy to train your dog and downright fun to help them master new tricks. Poodles are sensitive and intuitive, which helps them to fit seamlessly into your world. However, a Poodle`s intelligence and tendency to focus on their person also can make them a bit needy when it comes to engagement and entertainment.
If you don`t have time to play with and train your Poodle as much as they need, you may find that you need to bring them to a dog daycare, hire a dog walker or trainer, or offer some other kind of external engagement. Dog daycares vary from about $20 a day to as much as $50 a day. Most people find that two to three days a week is sufficient to provide their dog with mental and physical stimulation to sub in for wherever they are not able to meet their needs.
Some owners only use these services during life trends like a particularly busy time at work or a new child. At these times, it may be more difficult to provide your dog with plenty of engagement. Others may only utilize this kind of service when the weather is too poor to exercise outdoors. Others may also use a daycare when they travel and they do not wish to take their poodle with them.
One way or another, many more Poodle owners are turning to external services to train and engage their poodles. This is especially true with the Standard Poodle breed, which is so popular for urban owners but is a large and energetic breed.
If you don`t think that you`ll need these services, carefully examine your life and the needs of a Standard Poodle to be sure that you`ll be able to give them as much engagement as they require. A bored poodle is often a destructive, anxious, and insecure dog.
Medical Expenses
Standard Poodles are generally very healthy dogs. Every dog, regardless of breed, needs between $200 and $400 in annual vaccines and checkups every year. Flea and heartworm preventative cost between $200 and $300 yearly.
Since I got my poodle puppy (it has been 9 months), I have spent $236.96 on her medical expenses so far. Luckily, these are just vaccination expenses.
If your Poodle experiences any of the health problems that tend to come up in the breed, you can expect to pay high prices to help them.
Diseases like hip dysplasia or idiopathic epilepsy in poodles can be extremely expensive and frustrating to treat. Also, the Standard Poodle is one of the breeds that are prone to bloat. Bloating is a life-threatening condition, and it can be really expensive to treat.
Final Thoughts on Costs of Poodle Ownership
The Poodle is a delightful breed and a joy to own, but it is up to you to provide them with a great life and meet their needs. Before you consider purchasing a puppy, be sure to seriously consider the cost involved in raising this dog.
If you love the Poodle but you`re worried about costs, you can immediately reduce your costs and poodle ownership by choosing one of the smaller versions. Toy and miniature poodles are bred to be exact replicas of the standard and are equally intelligent and charming. If you are committed to owning the Standard Poodle, be sure that you can give this large, energetic dog the kind of life that it deserves.