Pet Insurance Cost by Breed

Cost guide · By Hollis Barrow · Published September 18, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026

Written for general planning, not medical advice — no one at Argos Paws is a veterinarian. If something is wrong with your dog right now, call your vet or the nearest emergency clinic.

If you've gotten a pet insurance quote and been surprised by the number, breed is usually why. Breed is one of the biggest factors in what you'll pay — often bigger than your dog's age, your location, or the deductible you pick. And it's not simply "bigger dog, bigger bill": a Rottweiler and a Golden Retriever are close in size, but MoneyGeek's 2026 data puts the Rottweiler at $94/month against $61 for the Golden — roughly 54% more. Insurers price each breed against its own documented health risks, not just its weight class.

Average monthly cost by breed

46 popular breeds, cheapest first. Click a breed for its cost by age and what drives its price.

MoneyGeek averages for a 6-year-old dog with a $5,000 annual limit, $500 deductible, and 80% reimbursement (data updated Sept 17, 2026). Your actual quote will vary by insurer, location, and your dog's individual age and health — use these numbers to compare breeds relative to each other, not as a quote for your specific dog.

The extremes: what Chihuahuas and Dobermans show about breed risk

The spread in the table is wide — the most expensive breed costs more than three times the cheapest — and MoneyGeek's full dataset goes further still. The Chihuahua sits at the very bottom of its entire breed range, around $33/month, while its most expensive breed, the Olde English Bulldogge, averages around $129/month.

Doberman Pinschers sit near the very top: an average of $114/month, the most expensive breed in our table and the third most expensive in MoneyGeek's entire dataset. That number is worth unpacking, because a Doberman isn't a giant breed — at 60-100 lb, it's mid-to-large. The premium comes from documented disease risk specific to the breed: dilated cardiomyopathy (a heart condition serious enough to require ongoing cardiac treatment or surgery), Von Willebrand's disease (a blood clotting disorder), cervical vertebral instability — commonly called wobbler syndrome — and a higher rate of hypothyroidism. Each of those is a real, recurring source of claims, and insurers price against claims history, not breed reputation.

Shih Tzus land toward the more affordable end of the same dataset: an average of $37/month, second only to the Chihuahua in our table and well below a Beagle ($52) — a sign of how little documented breed-specific claims risk insurers see in Shih Tzus relative to larger or higher-risk breeds.

Border Terriers average $46/month at MoneyGeek's 6-year-old baseline, and the age curve on this breed is worth knowing by itself: RealVetCost puts a Border Terrier puppy's premium at $30-60/month, rising roughly 15-20% a year to reach $100-200/month by age 8-10. The breed carries a lower-than-average documented health risk overall — dental disease and mild cardiac or seizure risk are the main claims categories, nothing on the order of a Doberman's cardiac risk — which is part of why the starting premium is affordable even though, like any breed's, it climbs meaningfully as your dog ages.

This is exactly why we publish breed-specific health notes alongside our calculators — knowing what your breed is actually prone to explains why your quote looks the way it does, and helps you decide how much coverage makes sense.

What actually drives the premium

• Breed-specific disease risk. This is the biggest lever. Large-breed orthopedic risk is well documented: a peer-reviewed analysis of Orthopedic Foundation for Animals hip classification data (dogs evaluated 1989-2003) found Rottweilers had the highest rate of mild, moderate, or severe hip dysplasia among the commonly-evaluated breeds in the study, at 16.9%, versus Labrador Retrievers at the opposite end with 59.8% rated "good" and 19.4% rated "excellent." Cardiac conditions in Dobermans and Boxers, brachycephalic airway problems in French Bulldogs and Bulldogs, and cancer risk in breeds like Golden Retrievers and Bernese Mountain Dogs work the same way — a condition doesn't have to be common in an individual dog to be common enough in the breed's claims history to move the average premium.
• Size and lifespan. Larger dogs tend to have higher per-incident treatment costs (medication and anesthesia dosing scale with body weight) but shorter lifespans, which cuts both ways on lifetime cost. This is a secondary factor next to documented disease risk — it's why a mid-sized but high-risk breed like a Doberman can out-price a larger but lower-risk breed.
• Age at enrollment. Enrolling as a puppy, before any condition has appeared on record, generally gets the broadest coverage and the lowest starting premium. This matters more for breeds prone to conditions that typically don't show up until later — hip dysplasia and cardiac disease both fall into that category — because the window to insure before symptoms appear is the only window where nothing related to that condition can be excluded as pre-existing.
• Location and deductible. Vet costs vary by region, and a higher deductible or lower reimbursement rate lowers your monthly premium regardless of breed.

Does a mixed breed actually save you money?

Sometimes, but less than most people expect. MoneyGeek doesn't publish a generic mixed-breed average, but its popular crossbreeds do come in below their purebred parents: a Cockapoo averages $40/month against $57 for a Cocker Spaniel and $58 for a Standard Poodle; a Labradoodle $47 against $61 for a Labrador; and a Goldendoodle $46 against $61 for a Golden Retriever. Part of that gap is simply size — many crosses end up smaller than the larger parent.

What separates the cheap breeds from the expensive ones isn't "purebred versus mixed" — it's documented hereditary risk. A large mixed-breed dog with no known predisposition can land mid-pack, cheaper than several purebred large breeds with real breed-specific claims history behind them. If you've adopted a mixed-breed dog expecting a steep insurance discount specifically because of that mixed heritage, size and individual health still do most of the work in the quote you'll actually get.

Is it worth it for your breed?

For breeds with well-documented high-cost risks — Dobermans (heart disease), French Bulldogs and other brachycephalic breeds (airway surgery), large and giant breeds (joint surgery) — insurance tends to make the clearest financial sense, because a single claim can easily exceed a full year of premiums. For our full framework on deciding, including when it is not worth it, seeIs Pet Insurance Worth It?

For context on where breed-driven premiums sit against the market as a whole: NAPHIA's 2025 year-end data puts the overall U.S. average accident-and-illness premium for dogs — across every age and breed — at roughly $70/month. That's a different measure from MoneyGeek's single-profile breed averages above, but it's a useful yardstick: most breeds in the table sit below it, and it's the breeds with sharper, well-documented health risk — the Doberman, Bernese Mountain Dog, and Bulldog — that pull furthest above it.

Written by Hollis Barrow

Hollis writes Argos Paws, drawing on years of large-breed dog ownership (Labrador, German Shepherd). Every figure here is compiled from published industry and veterinary sources, checked against the original, and cited.

More about Argos Paws →

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Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest dog breed to insure?

The Chihuahua, at about $33/month in MoneyGeek's 2026 data — the cheapest of every breed it tracks. Shih Tzus ($37), Jack Russell Terriers ($38), and Shiba Inus ($40) are close behind. Small size and a lack of major breed-specific hereditary conditions both work in your favor.

What is the most expensive dog breed to insure?

In MoneyGeek's 2026 data, the Olde English Bulldogge tops the list at about $129/month, followed by the Bull Mastiff ($116) and the Doberman Pinscher ($114). Among more common breeds, Bernese Mountain Dogs ($108), English Bulldogs ($100), Great Danes ($99), Rottweilers ($94), and French Bulldogs ($90) are all near the top — breeds with well-documented cardiac, orthopedic, cancer, or airway risk.

Does getting a mixed-breed dog instead of a purebred actually save money on insurance?

Sometimes, but less than most people expect. MoneyGeek doesn't publish a generic mixed-breed average, but its popular crossbreeds do price below their purebred parents: a Cockapoo averages $40/month against $57 for a Cocker Spaniel and $58 for a Standard Poodle, and a Labradoodle $47 against $61 for a Labrador. Part of that gap is size — many crosses are smaller than the larger parent — so size and individual health still do much of the work.

Why do Doberman Pinschers cost so much to insure despite not being a giant breed?

Weight alone doesn't explain it. Dobermans carry a well-documented risk of dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition serious enough to require ongoing cardiac treatment or surgery, plus elevated rates of Von Willebrand's disease (a blood-clotting disorder), cervical vertebral instability (wobbler syndrome), and hypothyroidism. Insurers price each of those in, which is why MoneyGeek's 2026 data puts the Doberman at about $114/month — the third most expensive breed it tracks, ahead of much bigger dogs like the Great Dane ($99).

Can I lower the premium for a breed with known health risks?

The dials that work for any breed work harder here: enroll while your dog is young and before anything is on record, raise your deductible, and consider a 70-80% reimbursement rate instead of 90% if the monthly cost is the barrier. What you cannot do is insure around a condition that already has symptoms in the chart — that is the reason to enroll early for a high-risk breed specifically, not later once something has shown up. See our full breakdown of the levers in Is Pet Insurance Worth It.

Is a purebred dog always more expensive to insure than a mixed breed of the same size?

No — it depends on which purebred. A Dachshund ($43/month) prices within a few dollars of a Cockapoo ($40) in MoneyGeek's data. What actually separates the cheap breeds from the expensive ones is documented hereditary risk: hip and elbow dysplasia in many large breeds, dilated cardiomyopathy in Dobermans, and brachycephalic airway problems in flat-faced breeds like French Bulldogs and Bulldogs. A large mixed-breed dog with no known predisposition can land near the middle of the range, cheaper than several purebred large breeds.

How much does pet insurance cost for a Border Terrier?

Expect to pay $30-60/month for a Border Terrier puppy, according to RealVetCost's breed-cost analysis, with premiums rising roughly 15-20% a year as your dog ages — reaching $100-200/month by age 8-10. Border Terriers carry a lower-than-average documented health risk overall (dental disease and mild cardiac or seizure risk are the main claims categories), which is part of why the starting premium is toward the affordable end, even though it climbs meaningfully with age the way every breed's premium does.