when is the right time to get a second dog?

[Owllady]

I have always had two dogs
I lost the most amazing dog last year under traumatic circumstances. I was walking her along a country lane and someone mounted a grass verge we were on and drove over her :( then the bastard drove off and left me to deal with it all
I have a young collie, constrained, lovely but mad. When I have the second before it has either been accidental or the other dog has been older. This one is young and mad but I really feel lost without two dogs
Or do I just miss my other dog?
I am at loggerheads with my dh because I think she needs company, he thinks it's easier having one dog (though we have lost two dogs in less than two years and I think it has hit him hard :( )

I just wondered what was the sensible advice

I do really miss my other dog, she was my dog. I had her a few months after my young sister had died. A farmer was going to shoot her so we brought her home with us from Wales. I suppose I am worried I am trying to replace her iykwim, rather than being sensible and waiting

I've always generally had two, but three weeks before I moved into where I currently live, I lost my old girl, and was just left with my then 3 year old. I thought I'd stay with just the one, as this house is not very well laid out for dogs, being upside down, open plan and with no real garden, just a gravelled parking area. I've recently looked after a couple of dogs belonging to friends and the change in my girl in the house when she had company was amazing! She was like a different dog, playful and happy.

I picked up my new puppy yesterday but I'm also moving house in a month or so, so will be somewhere more suitable by the time pup is too big to be crated when I'm not home. After a day of running up and down 23 stairs yesterday every time he needed to go out, I'm beginning to think I've lost the plot however!!

You will know when the time is right, and often its when you're not looking.