Owing a puppy is a math equation.

And it's one I see every day in my checkbook in some very unexpected places.

Potter is my pup.

My mom and I on a lark one day went to visit the Independence Animal Shelter. I had just accepted my job in Montgomery and my parents had agreed that once I got settled in they would buy me a dog so I could have some company to count on. We went to the shelter just to get some ideas of what to look for in a shelter dog.

In the back room, each locked in there own kennels were 5 little puppies marked "Hound mix, 7 weeks." The puppies were all from a litter someone had found under a set of stairs somewhere near the Independence Square. When they found them they were malnourished and covered in white paint. The shelter rescued them, cleaned them up, fattened them up, and then put them up for adoption as soon as they were old enough to be fixed.

It was love at first sight. Potter was a quiet, shy, loving little guy. I picked him up first thing and all he wanted to do was snuggle into my shoulder. He was a cuddley puppy. Against my best judgement I put him back in his crate and took a turn around the kennel room with each of his brothers and sisters. I kept coming back to him. So did my mother. Mom and I were on our way out of the shelter to go home when she stopped at the desk and said "what do we have to do to adopt one?" My heart dropped. I wasn't supposed to get a dog until after I'd gotten settled in Montgomery. We put our name in and a week later she picked up a drugged little puppy from our vet and took him home while I finished my last few days of work in Columbia.

He spent time learning from our three large breed dogs at home and 3 days later when she brought him to me, he was convinced he was a Great Dane. And he and I have been inseparable ever since...

but that's not just because I love him so darn much.

He's too young to be left alone for very long.

According to his new trainer (I'm shelling out for obedience classes for him) puppies can't be left alone for more that the number of months they are old, plus one.

Potter is 3 1/2 months old. So he can only hold his bladder for 4 1/2 hours technically. This leaves me with two options...pay $10 a day for puppy daycare...or drive home every day during my lunch hour to let him out and to play with him.

A puppy is happier in his own home, so that means I'm driving home on my lunch break every day to let him out.

Unforeseen consequence: My gas mileage has doubled. Instead of a tank of gas lasting 2 weeks like I budgeted...I'm only getting 1. It costs $30 every time I fill up my tank. That's $60 a month I hadn't counted on.

Now go back to your college economics class...opportunity cost. I'm missing out on the chance to go out to lunch with co-workers...which when you're a strange person in a brand new city is a pretty important thing. It's the chance to make friends. And instead of going out after work, I run home to let out and feed a puppy.

He goes through a $12 bag of food every two weeks...a $5 box of treats every 3. Add a $3 box of scented poop bags to pick up after him at my apartment complex (gross). And all the table scraps he can beg (and you know I'm a push-over).

He goes to the vet for shots on Friday...guaranteed minimum $60. Add the $70 for a month of obedience training. He'll need another round of shots in 2 more months...another $60. Add flea medication, heartworm medication. He's a teething puppy, so add lots of toys. Two $12 Kong toys destroyed, plus countless other toys. Add in 3 pairs of my own socks. (yeah, haha, funny...not)

And laundry for every time he's peed on his bed...and my bed...and towels from cleaning his spots on the floor.

I'm awake no later than 7am every day. I can't go to bed any earlier than 11pm because of his bathroom schedule.

I'm tired. I miss human contact. I'm broke.

But I don't know what I'd do without the fuzzy little booger. He's my only friend in 800 miles.

If I had it to do over again I probably either wouldn't get a puppy (I'd get an adult that's easier to house train), or I would wait til after being down here a few months to get one.

But the emotional benefit of having that unconditional love through the tough time I'm going through right now is hard to put a price tag on.