2nd dog or not?

[pipsy76]

I'm after some level headed advice please as I am tempted to get a second dog but want to carefully consider the pro's and cons before the committment. Basically I have a lovely 6 year old rescue lurcher who is the perfect dog, we've had him for 4 years and he is great fun, soppy and great with my kids. I called in at woodgreen on friday on the way home from holiday and now keep thinking about getting a second dog.

I would want to get another rescue lurcher probably female to go with my dog, from a lurcher rehoming organisation again as most centres don't seem to rehome with young kids.

Basically I think we could offer a good home and are already out walking and playing with a dog so would a second be much more work?

We can afford it finacially. My big worries are that a new dog would upset the current status quo and I wouldn't want to take on a dog and then send it back.

Any advice appreciated!

I didn't find it much more work. Going from two to three is harder. Going from one to two is a walk in the park.

What I will say is that two dogs = twice the noise. When mine play they do it bloody noisily. I'm surprised the neighbours have not reported me for keeping savage dogs. Also if one dogs barks the other joins in the fun. They egg each other on and it can take longer to train them.

Training must be done seperately. This is the only thing which really takes up more time. You can give them their main walks together but any walks for training purposes should be done with just one dog.

Twice the dogs - twice the poo.

It is very possible that they will co-operate to empty bins, open doors, generally be a pain the arse.

Pros
It is easier to leave them for a couple of hours or when they go to kennels they are happier
They play together when you walk and run off more energy
It is better for their pack instinct
it is easier on us when one dies

Cons
It's harder to get friends to look after them
They make twice as much mess
They bark more (in my experience)
It is hard on them when the other one dies

We have tried to have 2 when space allows

We have also had 2 lurchers. One was boss, the other had the brains. When the brainy one wanted the boss dogs comfy chair in the night she would bark to be let out into the garden but rush back in after seconds. The boss would also go outside but for longer and come back to find brainy dog in her chair.

After a month of this we worked out brainy dogs cunning plan and just made sure she had comfy chair before we went to bed, led to much more restful nights

Thanks both of you some useful points here, I think the only really significant con to me which you have pointed out is the need to train the new dog seperately, which could be hard to achieve and I would feel guilty not taking Murphy out too!

Other than that the pro's seem to be winning, Murphy would certainly not be the brainy one!

You can guarantee that the dogs will teach each other their bad habits and not their good ones. You will not have so much time to cuddle one if there are two to make a fuss of.

The need to do separate training for both dogs for all their lives.

It depends on the dog if two are more work than one. One of my dogs is more work than the 5 others!

Fitting them all in the car may be a issue

Went from one to two back in July (one's a greyhound so similarly sighthoundy).

Pros:
Sorted out the issues we'd had with separation anxiety starting to rear its head - no more kitchen destroying (went and re-did alone training with number 1 when we were doing it to start with with number 2)
They play together... bloody noisily and to the severe detriment of the remaining part of the charred wasteland that was once my lawn - but they have a whale of a time doing it!

Cons:
Double the poo - particularly fun when they both go together at maximum opposite lead distance from each other with you being pulled apart in the middle
We have some minor issues when one remembers the cat exists and then it kicks the other one off... thankfully they both have a healthy respect/utter terror for the furball o'doom - but I'd never trust the dynamic duo in a room alone with her as the pack-dynamics change when multiple dogs are concerned
We now have NO human sofa space left whatsoever
Found it quite hard watching our beloved woofbags being bashed into being second-tier in the pack by madam bossyboots at first - he's very calm, placid and accepting of it all but I didn't half want to shake him and yell for him to assert himself (he's definitely not an alpha dog type)!

With the training - we take both of them to the same training class - hubby takes dog number 1 (as he's better trained because I'd been working with him for months) and I take dog number 2 as Madam Pointynose is bloody stubborn and hard work (and I'm better at training than he is). IMPOSSIBLE to do anything on your own with the pair of them together - even recall work or something simple where you'd call for Nancy the hound and you'd be greeted with a slobbery grinny thing sitting in front of you with an "for a bit of chicken, baby, you can call me Nancy all you want." Hilarious - but bloody annoying when you're trying to train a stubborn girlie!

Oh and until you get used to it (and THEM used to it) - walking two at a time can be mildly tricky just in managing leads so you don't end up knitting your legs together.

Many thanks there is a lot to think about here so I won't be rushing into anything (although I have fallen in love with a dog on the greyhound rescue west of england website so you never know!)

this thread has made me feel sooo much better, were getting a second dog in just over a week, dont feel so scared now,

thank you everyone xx

Sitting in bed sick, so lots of time to think.

Christmas before we got married we had both lurchers with cuts on their legs. Boss dog had cut before Christmas and had a professional bandage. Brainy dog managed to cut herself during the afternoon walk. Being a bit of a tight fist over money and having spent so many hours in vets surgery while she had legs etched up, I decided to bandage it myself and wait until Boxing day to phone vet.

We have photos of the two of them under the Christmas three with their mirror image bandages :)

Lurchers have cost us so much at the vets, including when brainy dog found a massive bar of chocolate I had hidden for a Christmas present the next year

We got a puppy in July to join our 8/9yo patterdale x rescue mutt.

Old dog has picked up some bad habits from the puppy, like chasing the cat a bit and they playfight/wrestle/go nuts together a lot, it gets a bit wearing. Plus old girl is a bit elderly in her ways and just prefers a peaceful life - ie she often doesn't want to go for a walk, esp if it's raining, but the puppy must be exercised regardless of weather.

Old girl still gets her privileges though, she sleeps upstairs with us but puppy doesn't. Hard to let them run off lead together, as puppy has fab recall but old girl just ignores, don't want him learning that