Getting a second dog

[callmeearly]

I would love to hear your experiences of getting a second dog. We currently have a Maltichon who we have had from a pup. He is five now.

Considering getting a Golden retriever.

I rescued a female age 9 months to be a companion for my male 18 month old Staffie. They get on really well although my rescue has had terrible separation anxiety and she destroyed my home. Two dogs are easier than one because they play together so free up your time. Have fun choosing!

How it goes depends a lot on the personality of your existing dog. If the existing dog isn't that bothered by other dogs, the puppy will be largely ignored (other than to be put in its place). On the other hand, we introduced a new puppy to an existing highly social dog and they have slept together every night since. The oldest dog pretty much ignores the youngster.

We always do intros on neutral ground like a friend's garden. Once it's clear the existing dogs won't eat the puppy, we go home.

We made a huge mistake in that our Boxer puppy ( now 10) became and is overly attached to our ( 12 year old) Springer spaniel. We didn’t ever separate them, so when she went to be spayed at 18 months, I took Springer to school ( vet advised we keep her quiet, no playing etc..) and had to come back early as she was howling the house down. Make sure you do individual stuff with the puppy, time away from each other. When they went into kennels for one night I had to insist that they shared a kennel or she would have broken her heart.

One upside is that the older dog can teach good behaviours. Our spaniel took to growling at Boxer when she peed in the corridor, he picked her up by her scruff and dumped her outside. Puppy house trained within two weeks largely thanks to Spaniel and it being summertime with open doors and a large garden.

Watch out if getting a a larger breed puppy that the older dog doesn’t tire it too quickly and possibly cause bone, leg issues.

Also be watchful re food, we found that puppy would try to steal food from older dog and he would simply stand by and let her! We trained them with different type and shape bowls they now never ever go to each other’s bowls. If giving bones separate until manners and etiquette are instilled.

Having two is great and imo not that much more work than one. Enjoy your new addition :)

When I met dh my ddog was 3. He wanted a ddog in the future. 2 years on we got a dpuppy. And a month later another dpuppy.. Ddog bothered with them when it suited - as was her way with everything - her terms or not at all!!
We lost ddog 1 at 10 yo and so glad we have 2 still together...
As a trio they did get on better than I had expected - given she was a misery guts!!

We got a companion for our Lhasa, another Lhasa, never bothered with each other, one died of old age the other started to fret!
I would only get another dog on trial as long as it could be given back, some dogs change dramatically when another arrives

I’ll be honest, I regret it. I find having two much harder. Ours are the same breed, two years apart in age. They do play together but the older one is a lovely quiet dog. The younger one suffers from separation anxiety, is very jealous of the other one and very anxious and noisy. The older one worries terribly about him and is always checking him over and fussing over him. I can’t take one out without the other and it’s a PITA. I love no 2 but wish I’d never got him.

we are considering another....our one year old lab adores other dogs

do dogs actually thrive on company with other dogs?

I think it can be great having multiple dogs, but there's a risk of issues between them, which you can't know beforehand. That's really not fun (from personal experience). I have two just now who rub along fine and it's nice. But I also really enjoy going for a walk just me and one dog as all my attention and enjoyment is from that one special soul.