Getting a second dog..... Pros and definitely cons please!

[MummyHT]

Hi everyone.
I'm after some advice about getting a second dog and was hoping you lovely lot can help me.
We have a lovely female Schnoodle who is 4 years old. She goes to doggy day care 3 days a week when I'm working, plus if we are out..we only ever leave her for maximum of 5 hours at.a.time. she's very low maintenance, has never been disruptive or naughty.
I have just changed roles which gives me more flexibility to be at home. I would only be out of the house for a maximum of 5 hours a day when I do need to be in the office. I was thinking of getting my lovely girl.a.friend to play with so that I didn't have to rely on doggie day care each week.

My worries are, will a new dog be disruptive?
I have two boys 8 and 4 and have been looking for a rescue dog, but many places won't re-home.to.a house with young children, so I would be looking for a puppy.
Anyone have experience of an older dog and a new dog.
Any hints/tips/ advice.
Is it a good idea??? Thanks everyone

We had a three year old Marrema which are notoriously snooty and tricky to handle when we got given a rescue Frenchie of the same age.

We were open minded about the intro but they both adored one another right away and it's been great.

I advise you to get a rescue of similar age as puppies are obviously not to be left alone and can annoy older dogs.

You can’t leave a puppy for anything like 5 hours.
And getting another dog won’t stop you needing daycare. It’s more work. Not less.

We got a puppy with our 18 month old....we were told not to have 2 boys because they can fight - we had 2 boys, they had some squabbles but no wars broke out.
We took the first to puppy school but not the second, we should have done because he missed out on early socialising and he used to have some dog reaction.
2nd ddog didnt like to be left alone, we always had to take both dogs out, to the vets, etc etc. Although when 1st ddog died he adjusted just fine.
When they opened the kitchen cupboards and ate everything we didnt no who had done it - both looked equally guilty / innocent.
Obviously the cost of everything doubles. 😊

Please look again at a rescue. We have done both a rescue and a puppy. You will need to stay at home with a puppy for a long period or they will trash your house ( very costly). After the start week with are rescue we could leave her alone for the whole morning.

At the time my children and grandchildren were aged between 22 and 1 we also had a cat.

Thanks all for your hints and tips. I will be at home most of the time and will only be working a couple of days a week so wouldn't be away alot. I agree, that would be cruel to be away for so long. It seems a.mixed response for those with two dogs.
I would love to adopt not shop so I will keep my eye out, that may be a better option.

Just saw you're looking for a puppy....you can't leave a puppy alone for three days a week! It will shit everywhere and possibly rip things up in addition to being very distressed.

As others have mentioned, if you got a puppy it would probably be about a year before you could be even close to leaving the pups alone for 4-5 hours.

Does your girl like other dogs in her home? How she behaves outside the home on walks or in day care is very different to sharing her personal space, toys, bowls etc. One of the top reasons you see dogs being sold on is because of this exact reason, the owner thought they were helping out their dog getting them a friend but it's caused a doggy war in the household.

Oh yes by the way my dog loved having a friend

I agree, I would be working from.home.mostly. and if I did have to go out (which wouldn't be very often) it would only be for up for 5 hours max. I would never leave my dog now.for any longer than that. Sorry if that wasn't clear in my post.

All valid questions thanks, her doggy day care has one other female dog only and they play and get on very well..my dog.isnt jealous or guarded with toys/food or treats which is why I thought it could work.well.

It can work but you can't leave a puppy home for anything like five hours - you will come home to a toilet!