Second dog

[daffodilbrain]

We are considering adopting a second dog. Not a puppy but a youngish dog. We already have a lovely 6.5 year old lab whom we adore and thought it would be nice for her to have a 'sibling'. Any advice or things to consider?

Our cocker was 6 when we got our pup and I think that’s old enough so if you’re going to do it I would soon. We tried to allow for them to be separate so the older dog had space but it turned out they were happier together tbh. We were also advised to allow the older dog to tell the pup off and that they would work it out and they certainly did. The first few weeks were hard and I worried we had done the wrong thing by our older dog but it settled down and now 7 and 1 they get along great 👍

@daffodilbrain, I have 2 labs, 5 years between them. DDog1 is a male and I was advised to get a female as he is such a softy. We had a long wait to find her but DDog2 , who was rehomed to us, has been a great addition.
DDog1 was getting a bit lazy and she has really perked him up. It wasn’t instant love between them but they accepted each other and now they won’t be separated. Labs are generally sociable anyway and we meet a lot of ‘pairs’ , seems to work for that breed.

I am not convinced that dogs enjoy a sibling quite so much as humans think they will.

Some dogs do seem to thrive in multi dog homes.
Some dogs seem to muddle through.
Some have their lives made worse by it.

For that reason, I would be thinking carefully about why I thought a 2nd dog would enhance the life of my first.

I agree with Silent. Also, consider what will happen to the 2nd dog when your older dog is no longer with you. We have several friends who have had this scenario, with the remaining dog becoming very depressed once their companion has gone. They then get another dog but they never really get along.