Getting a second dog

[RedLem0nade]

Hi all,

We’re thinking of getting a second dog and I’m looking for advice.

We have a 2.5 year old miniature schnauzer dog who hasn’t yet been neutered. He is a lovely boy. Extremely well socialised and has met other dogs and gotten on beautifully with them. We have a family members (spayed) bitch to stay on occasion and he loves her company and she his.

He hasn’t been neutered because he doesn’t need it on temperament grounds, he has his walks on our land where there are no other dogs, and DH always wistfully thinks it would be lovely to let him be a dad some day as he’s such a good dog😊 (Note I have no plans to actually act on this thought.)

We have two DC also aged 7 & 9 who love our dog to distraction of course and are also very sensible and gentle with him.

We had always thought about adding a second dog at some stage- both because we love dogs and because we think Ddog would love a buddy too. But…. Is this madness? Or no?

If we were to get another boy would we need to neuter our fellow first? Or should we get a bitch and have them both neutered/spayed? We’d love a male I suppose as that’s what we “know” now but open to all advice.

We are very much at the contemplative stage here and if I’m getting “hell no” feedback then I will shelve this idea.

Any advice from those who have gone before would be most welcome! 🙏🏻

We have 2 dogs and they adore each other. Almost always had 2 over the years.
The neutering would be an issue. Male dogs do far better with a bitch in the home. Two males can fight.

Often the bitch will be the boss even if she arrives second. Ours certainly is.
Our boy is nearly 4 and our girl nearly 2. She really has enhanced his life. They play together, play fight ( sock wars etc) cuddle up and sleep together.
Same breed and colour different breeders.

Our boy was neutered around 1 year but this doesn’t stop the attempts at “ humping”
Advice is to spay females a bit later and certainly after one season. Your vet will advise. All things to think about. Good luck.

You need to be sure it is right for you and your family rather than what others think. There’s going out and about, holidays, costs room in the car etc.
I had to retire early and my husband works from home so ours are rarely left. We have lots of time for them. Ours are an absolute joy.

The sex really depends on the dogs.

I have always had a multi dog household. At the minute I have 6 male dogs. 4 are entire and one has one bollock and the other one is neutered. No issues at all with them.

If I had a bitch I would spay the bitch after the first season so would have to have a plan how to deal with the season with my entire boys around.

Do think hard about the impact of two dogs. You may not get such an easy dog as the one you have already, they do learn off each other but often the wrong things not the right things - You will have to work to create a bond with the new dog away from the existing dog (get used to feeling guilty)

Remember fair does not mean equal with dogs

((Knock some sense into your OH that most dogs are really lovely but we do not need to breed from them all the number just do not work! Miniature Schnauzer need regular eye tests if they are to be bred from as a minimum health test)

Thank you both for sharing your experiences. Definitely food for further thought. It feels half like the decision to have a second child!

we added a second male but our lab is very sociable with other dogs and believed he would tolerate a puppy well. They are besties.

personally, I don’t think you need to neuter older dog if they are sociable for it to work.

In my (admittedly limited) experience, it's more down to personality than anything else.

Also, it's worth remembering that just because he's happy with one bitch staying for short periods, doesn't mean he'd be happy living with another full-time, and sharing all his resources. A temporary house guest is very different to a full-time house mate.

I agree with @IngGenius that you need to think about the reality of two dogs. If you get a puppy, that generally means separate walks for a good period of time. It means thinking realistically about your current dogs flaws and deciding whether you could cope with two dogs with the same issues.

Is your current boy trained to a standard you're happy with or are there things you need to walk on? There are things that are annoying (but manageable) with one dog but a nightmare with two lol.

Ddog1 was 8 when we got a puppy, nearly two years ago. He hated it and has never really gone back to his previous personality. I feel very guilty, but as Dog1 was bought as a puppy when previous dog was 8 and it all went well then, I hadn't anticipated any problems. When Ddog1 goes to the Happy Hunting Ground I won't be replacing him. It was an utter nightmare for six months, despite professional input.

Thanks for these comments- they are really helping guide me thoughts more.

I do think our boy would take well to another dog but I’m thinking back to when he first arrived and it was such hard work. I think a slightly naïve part of me felt I’d be a dab hand this time around because I’ve done it before but there’s just no getting away from the level of work involved with a puppy.

My vet seems to feel he might do ok without being neutered if we were to get another male…

But do I really want all the work of a puppy?! I love Ddog now but I did have puppy blues when he first arrived in spite of all the prep I did. Hmmm. I’ll mull over it a while longer with DH.

Thank you all again.

If you don't want a pup, how about a retired guide dog or one that's not made it through training? We've done the pup thing twice now and I'm thinking about this for our next lab when the time comes.