Are we wrong to get a second dog? Should we rescue or get a puppy?

[DogMum123]

DP and I have recently been discussing getting a second dog. We have a 5 year old lab rescue that we adopted a couple of years ago. She’s settled right in at home with us and came from a family. She’s good with kids and generally with other dogs.

We are due to move house soon to one that is a lot bigger. DDog has recently been diagnosed with arthritis. We would ideally like to to get a second within the next couple of years, have pretty much always said this but now with the move etc it’s been something we’ve been thinking about a bit more and the practicalities of it. Would be grateful if anyone has any advice on if we should rescue or go for a puppy.

I mentioned all of this to my friend at the weekend who promptly told me I was silly for doing it, we weren’t considering the practicalities. That in 5 years time we would have a child, an arthritic dog and a young dog and would want another child and would be working so it wouldn’t be possible to fit it all in. It really upset me, in part because of the assumptions made. We don’t have children and don’t want them for a few years and also don’t really want to be without a dog. It seems to us to be logical to get a second dog, make sure that they are fully settled (to adulthood depending on age when we get them) before bringing a child into the equation. We thought this would be better than waiting and getting a dog with a young-ish child and a 9/10 year old dog. Are we wrong to think this?

Having young DC and a puppy is very, very hard work; young DC and an adult dog is much easier. That's the voice of experience!

Likewise, settling in a rescue can be hard, and not many rescues will rehome to a family with both a baby/ young child and and existing dog.

So whichever way you get your second dog, doing it before DC makes sense.

It's up to you if you rescue or get a puppy. There are pros and cons to both. With a puppy you can ensure it is from health-tested parents, not inbred etc, but with an adult rescue, you can see it's adult size and character. Puppies are hard work, but the upside to that is that they are malleable and you can have a big impact on how they turn out.

I have multiple dogs and children and it works perfectly fine.
My older dog is 11 now and was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at 10 months and later arthritis and he’s still keeping up. I usually take him for a walk with the younger ones and then take the younger dogs for another walk later.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, you can’t live your life on what things may be like in 5 years.

Thanks so much for your responses. They make me feel so much better.

I think we probably do need to make our minds up re rescue or puppy fairly soon. I am swaying towards puppy because we do have all the time to train (both wfh, would take annual leave, moving to a more rural location etc) and would be malleable without some pre-existing issues that we would possibly train a rescue not to do. I think if we go down this route we need to spend our time doing lots of research now to get on a good breeder’s waiting list. Thinking either a working cockier spaniel (I know) or another lab.

I have a small child and my dog is now an old boy. I'm so glad we never got a second dog as managing one is enough at the moment. Sorry it that's not massively helpful! You could end up having to walk them seperately when your hands were full. If you didn't want DC I'd say go for it. If you definitely want a second I'd get a middle aged rescue so the dogs ages aren't too far apart.

Thanks @boarboar did you want to get a second before you had a child? I wouldn’t expect that we would have a child for another 4 years or so anyway. If we went down the rescue route I wouldn’t want a similarly aged dog though, the point is to have one younger. I wouldn’t want to have them both go at similar times. I didn’t mention this in my initial post as wasn’t sure it was relevant but DDog did used to go to doggy daycare (pre-Covid) a few times a week and if this or a dog walker is something that’s needed for whatever reason then that wouldn’t be an issue.

Maybe I’m strange but I’ve found multiple dogs easier than a single dog.
If I go out they have company, they play together and run more on walks as they are playing. They sleep together and rely a bit less on us although we do train separately.
We’ve found that the second (or third or fourth ) just sort of slots in with the older dogs, provided you find a good match that is.
I’ve found it harder to introduce rescues and we did have teething issues introducing adults whereas with puppies I’ve had no problems at all. Stable adults generally won’t hurt a puppy and the puppy will follow the older dogs.

With regards to the baby I also had no problems there. I would put baby in the pram and walk as normal, sometimes I am a bit baffled that people can’t cope with a dog and a baby but then again my dogs are well trained and I’m used to having horses so that set me up for a life of constantly running around with little time for myself

@Bergerdog I am hoping our experience is like yours really! Also hoping a younger dog will keep DDog young as she gets older and that they will keep each other company.

Current Ddog isn’t 100% well trained and does have a few less desirable traits but those are better generally and are things we are working on and so would definitely need to work on those before introducing a new dog. Not anything sinister, she just isn’t great on a lead and likes to bark a lot when someone knocks on the door. She’s pretty good with other dogs anyway and dog care have said she’s really good with pups.

I think it depends on your lifestyle. I have multi dogs and when I had DC they just fitted into, I guess the dog type lifestyle. so it really was no issue for me.

However for some people with different lifestyles DC and dogs may find it harder. Dogs are obviously another level of commitment. (but one I would not be without)

One thing I would like to mention you say malleable without some pre-existing issues that we would possibly train a rescue not to do. puppies are not all malleable and will come with "issues" that will be breed into them and the environment of their breeders. During the first 8 weeks the puppies situation will affect them for life. No dog will come with a clean malleable slate unfortunately. You could argue that with a rescue dog you can see what you getting before you commit.

@PollyRoulson I think I’ve probably poorly phrased that. I know that training and a puppy will be hard work. When we got Ddog her previous owner said her recall was poor around other dogs and she pulled on lead. We’ve spent a lot of time training her (and used a lot of treats ) and she is a million times better than she was when we first got her. Another example would be that she will not let anyone clip her nails. I suppose what I am trying to say in a ramble-y way that in some ways we would have trained her and so wouldn’t necessarily have to train her out of certain behaviours that she would already have as a rescue. I do take your point though about knowing what you’re getting with a rescue. My only concern is that they may not bond well.

Also re lifestyle we are probably quite boring and don’t do a lot anyway! We are moving from a town to a village (plenty of fields, walking routes) and our lives will mostly be at home, I guess once things start to open up we will have to do some commuting for work but not more than 1-2 days each so should be able to tag team the week. Our lives are v much centred around our current Ddog and making sure she is always cared for. She spends most of her time with us unless we happen to go out for the evening. This will be less frequent after moving on account of needing to drive to go out rather than walk.

Simplistic answer I know, but in my experience, labs like company and adapt well to new members of the household, canine or human, though feline may be a challenge.
We rescued ddog2 (bitch) and I had several opportunities to see the 2 dogs together. They played well, and he tolerated her ( can’t say it was love at first sight ), and they were able to nap together which seemed like a clue. It was not long before they became inseparable. She is 3 years younger and keeps him on his toes.
My vet recommended a female for him, so consider sex carefully, probably based on which she relaxes with if you see what I mean. DDog1 can play hard with other males, but probably cannot rest with them , for example.

I have seen it go wrong a few times as it can just not work out, so make sure you have a back up plan, a good breeder will take the dog back, but many dont want to know once its sold.
Only the dogs can decide

@Svelteinmydreams I had actually thought that we would get another girl and then just spay her when the time is right. I do feel a bit conflicted about puppy vs rescue when so many already alive a home (which was why we adopted in the first place).

I know if we go down the puppy route it will be a bit of a wait. It’s a bit of a gamble to ask this and I have read so much on trying to avoid puppy farmers etc I do find it a bit daunting but can anyone recommend a WCS breeder? I will obviously then continue to do my own diligence. Are breeders planning to breed next year or is it likely to be another year before they start again? I am conscious that we will be on a waiting list for a while. I’ve done so much re-reading up on it. Also, how “good” is the champ dogs website? I ended up on there after trawling through old posts on here looking at advice others had given and some of the Puppies for sale ads didn’t sit right with me, including one where puppies weren’t going to be vaccinated because of interaction with other brand vaccination. Is that a thing?!

one where puppies weren’t going to be vaccinated because of interaction with other brand vaccination. Is that a thing?! yes and personally I would prefer my breeder NOT to vaccinate before I picked up the puppy at 8 weeks. This is not a sign of a bad breeder. If your vet does not do the same vaccine as the puppy had orignally you will have to start the vaccine process all over again. Equally if you vaccinate too early the puppies may have antibodies from their mother.

WCS are you sure ?- owner of two here

@PollyRoulson thanks that’s really helpful. I had no idea that was the case and from the various bits of reading I had done I hadn’t come across that. Haha yes I am sure. Despite all of the work I really want one, our neighbours have one and Ddog seems to love playing with them. Plus a bit smaller than having two labs!