What a Labrador Retriever really costs in SA
Bought · as a puppy · female · under 1 year · desexed
Lifetime
$31,623
About $185 a month after the first year.
Where the money goes
$4,820
First year. The blue card rounds to the nearest dollar.
Not in this total: microchip ($65). In this state the seller or person giving the dog away must microchip before the transfer, boarding and transport ($96), dog walking ($119), pet insurance (Canstar average, or the $145 survey spend), daycare, puppy school ($129).
Lifespan used: 13.1 years. Age now: under 1 year.
Notes
These national lines are average spend per dog-owning household (1.4 dogs on average), including owners who spent nothing on a line, from Pets in Australia 2025 (year to March 2025). A one-dog household may spend less on some lines and more on others. National ongoing lines in this result: $2,160 per household, about $1,543 per dog if split evenly. Spend does not scale evenly, so the split is a guide only.
- This first year assumes desexing and puppy vaccines were not already in the purchase price. Tick that box if they were. The microchip is left off because the law in this state puts it on the seller. Among paid dogs in Pets in Australia 2025, microchipping was already included for 60%. Moneysmart's first-year figure of around $4,000 is lower partly because many purchases already include some of these, and because 25% of dogs were free.
- Year-one vet work is added on top of the national vet average, which may already include some of it for some owners.
- The $65 microchip is not charged. NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia require a dog to be microchipped before it is sold or given away. The 60% inclusion figure from Pets in Australia is context only.
- These national lines are average spend per dog-owning household (1.4 dogs on average), including owners who spent nothing on a line, from Pets in Australia 2025 (year to March 2025). A one-dog household may spend less on some lines and more on others.
- Lifespans are UK medians from McMillan et al. 2024 (Scientific Reports; 584,734 dogs). No Australian breed-by-breed lifespan table has been published. VetCompass Australia has published single-breed studies (for example Bullmastiff 8.5 years, Pug 10 years) that are broadly consistent with UK figures. Other UK studies put Labradors at 12.0–12.5 years, so treat 13.1 as a typical figure, not a promise.
- RSPCA NSW cites an Australian Veterinary Association figure of more than $25,000 per dog over a lifetime. That is a sanity check, not a line in this total.
- Lifetime cost is the first year plus 12.1 further years of ongoing costs, in today's dollars. Age now is 0 years, and the median lifespan is 13.1 years, so the ongoing years are lifespan minus age minus 1. No inflation is applied. The 95% confidence interval is 13.0–13.1. The 2025 Pet Parking dog cost guide uses a Labrador lifespan of about 12 years and a lifetime range of $20,000–$45,000. This calculator uses the McMillan median. The two are different methods, not a correction of each other.