Things I considered (and things I did not)

Things I did consider:

• The puppy stage (to some extent)
• Money for food, toys, harnesses etc
• Daycare/dog walker
• Pet insurance
• Basic vet fees
• Grooming costs
• Puppy school

Things I did not consider/was wrong about:

• The puppy stage. I needed more time. I booked one week's leave plus arranged four weeks working from home. At thirteen weeks old, there was no way I could have left him and returned to work. Google might say a puppy 'can be left alone' for a few hours but I didn't agree (although George may have been different). I ended up working from home for ten weeks instead of the agreed four. I then did half days in the office for a while to support George adjusting to daycare. I'm very grateful to my boss and team who supported this.

• Separation anxiety. I had researched that cavoodles can be prone to this but had read that this can be resolved with 'training'. I was a little (a lot?) naive as to how long this training would take.

• Daycare costs. In my original plan, George would have one day in daycare and two days with a dog walker coming in halfway through the day. Firstly, I couldn't find a dog walker. Secondly, that was not going to be an option for George given his separation anxiety. So my daycare costs are three times my original budget.

• Trainers. I had planned that George would go to puppy school (he went to two puppy schools plus a more advanced class and a teenage class) but I hadn't envisaged that I would engage four different private trainers at various stages.

• Medication. I hadn't considered that George may need to be on expensive medication not covered by insurance.

• Vet behaviourist. I hadn't envisaged behavioural challenges that would involve specialist expertise (not covered by pet insurance).

In short, it's costing me a lot more than I had factored into my budget and it's very difficult at times. Expect the unexpected!

I wish pet insurance in my country was more supportive of pets with anxiety challenges.