for those of you who have 2 dogs

When did you decide to get your second furbaby?
How did your first pet take it?

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

We always knew we wanted more than 1, but we waited until we had Brinkley for a year. Good thing, because we had challenges with his health and just getting "into the groove" of dog ownership.

I credit the easy transition to the personalities of our dogs. We knew Brinkley was very enthusiastic about other dogs, but was also submissive. He likes to rough house but is also independent and doesn't like to be stuck to you all the time. It's important to consider these things to help choose your 2nd dog correctly.

We told the rescue coordinators all this, and they helped us. We didn't want a puppy, which was a blessing. There's always going to be personality changes, but with a puppy, they've still got a lot of developing to do which means a changing dynamic between both dogs.

Our second is dominant to our first and we were right about the natural roles that we thought they would take. It has made it so easy. In the first month, there were "spats" but no injuries. Usually over possession of toys or attention from us. It was scary the first time, but we developed a command ("TIMEOUT!"), and when said in a deep, loud voice, they listened. It really reinforced us as pack leaders too.

In the 8 months since, our 1st (Brinkley) has become more energetic, playful, and competitive for our attention. The competition is playful and not dangerous, but it's really funny to see. Things that other people see as affection towards us, is really just competition between the two of them.

Something we've started doing too was having "quality time" alone with each dog. When we take walks in the park, DH takes one and I take the other.

I hope this helps, and congratulations on starting the process! What kind of dog are you looking for, do you know? I think it's good to get that in mind first.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

we had max (puggle) for like 5 months and then decided it was time fo the tiny chihuahua (Elsie) that we always wanted. He was weirded out by her at first, but warmed up quick. We had to watch them together for a bit because she is so small, but he really took to her nicely. Now weighting only 4 lbs and almost 10 months old she runs the show, she is definitly his boss and he doesn't mind

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

My male was one year old when we got him a sister. He LOVED her from day one. Best thing we ever did.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

My dog didnt start living with another dog until my DH and I moved in together. He has a Lab and I have my Shih Tzu. The Lab was 5 and my Shih Tzu was 2. They instantly bonded. It was really cute but then we added a 3rd to the mix and my Shih Tzu kinda got the boot and now the lab and baby shih tzu are BFF's. My Shih Tzu would rather be around me then them now :(

Message edited 11/3/2010 1:42:02 PM.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Message edited 11/6/2010 4:33:03 PM.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

we had leo for about 3years before when we decided to get our little ginger.

when she first came home she was sooooooooo happy to meet him.

he hated her.lol everythime she went near him he would bite her. it took him about a month to get use to her.

they get along GREAT now. she loves him so much

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Posted by greenfreak

Posted by Goobster

when we got him a sister

We call ours brother and sister too. So it was weird when people would say "Oh you got Brinkley a girlfriend!"

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

We never really decided to get a 2nd dog. We were going back and forth with the idea though when one fell into our laps. We had our older dog, Irwin, for 2 years and we just thought it'd be great for him to have a playmate. On the whole, he loves Lucy and has a good time playing with her, butttttttttt Lucy is a lot more dominant than Irwin is and he's not used to that. He's used to being top dog and sometimes doesn't take it so well. Like sometimes I'll be playing with them and Lucy (who is a pit/boxer mix) will just shove him out the way and then he loses interest and goes to lay down which breaks my heart. Sooooooo sometimes I love it, sometimes I regret it. But I love them both so dearly I don't know if I could ever give one up! I just try to give them equal amounts of attention.

ETA: And what sucks is Lucy loves Irwin. She always tries to cuddle with him on the bed or the couch and as soon as she gets close he jumps up and lays down elsewhere. She just wants to cuddle!!! Ironically enough, he was better with my BIL's cat when he lived downstairs. Irwin looooooooooved that cat.

Message edited 11/3/2010 4:54:29 PM.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

I don't know how true it is but we've been told that ideally, the first dog should be around 2 years old. If you get them two young, some people believe that they will bond and form their own pack and not look to u as the leader.

WHen the dog is 2, he is mature and hopefully already sees you as the leader and will 'teach" the new dog as well. 2 is also young for a dog to adjust to a new member, etc.

That made sense to us so we did wait until our first pup was almost 2. He is scared sh1tless of our puppy for days though but after he got over it, they are GREAT together!

The little follows him around like an annoying brother!

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Zoey was 2 when we got her and 2 years later we got Schultz. We knew we wanted another dog, Zoey likes other dogs and knew she would like having company. Last year after Schultz died she was very depressed, as we were too. She is dominant personality with other dogs, so we knew we would have to get a dog that would be submissive to her. Since we wanted a German Shepherd we knew it would have to be a puppy - 3 months after Schultz died we got Logan.

4 months later DH came home from work - a woman he works with rescues "on the side" - she had a German Shepherd - almost 1 - male - that needed a home - he has some social issues, but was submissive so we knew he would be ok with Zoey and Logan didn't really care. So now we have Sam too.

Zoey was a little irritated when we brought each puppy home, but we made sure she knew she was still #1. When we brought Sam home Logan was THRILLED to have someone "his age" to play with and zoey was happy to have Logan stop annoying her all the time! LOL. But they all get along great and play together.

Message edited 11/3/2010 6:21:34 PM.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Our dogs are 2 years apart and are awesome together!

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

Thanks for all the advice! We definitely want a second dog. We both grew up in multiple dog homes so it just seems natural.

Rexy is a border collie mix with high energy and loves attention. He likes to great other dogs when we are out for walks and is curious but timid around them. He's only 9 months now so when he does visit other dogs its all about playing!

He annoys the crap out of my inlaws dog who is 5 years old. He chases her around to play and will even drop toys by her so she will pick them up. It's really funny to watch we call her the "old lady" with the "get off my lawn mentality"

I think we may wait until Rex does some growing up from all your advice.

Thank you

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

we got our second when our cocker sp. was 5 years old.....he always loved other dogs, but we made sure that the rescue organization knew that keeping the seond pup depended on if our cocker sp. liked him.....they get along great and it has been two years!!!

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

quinn was 2.5 when we got ava. he was pissssssed. i remember sitting on the floor of my kitchen, crying (literally) to dh that i ruined quinn's life and he was going to hate me forever.
i'm not sure how long it took for him to warm up to her exactly, but i do know that we got ava in december, and had her fixed in april. she had to stay overnight and we thought quinn would be happy for the break, but man - he was a lost soul without her.
now 5.5 and 3 years old, they are true brother and sister, i'm so glad i got a companion for him. the rough 1st few weeks were absolutely worth it.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

We got the second just 5 months after getting the first, since she was a puppy and had so much energy and we thought she could benefit from a playmate.

She hated the new guy. As in, wanted him out of her space and tried to attack him. It was rough. We didn't sleep at all the first night we got him, because they wouldn't calm down and go to sleep. Things got better slowly, but we couldn't leave them alone together for a while. We were very lucky that DH was working from home so he could help monitor the situation. I was afraid we'd made a huge mistake. Then she started to tolerate him and ignore him... that was an improvement... and it took months, but eventually they did start to play together. It helped a lot when he grew bigger than her, so she couldn't bully him as much.

Now they're great - do everything together, best of friends. I'm very happy with our decision to get a second dog. But no two ways about it, it was NOT easy for us in the beginning. Hopefully your adjustment will be much easier than mine was, but I want to warn you just in case - we never expected it to be such a difficult change for the first dog.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

When we got our 1st dog she was really sad when we would leave for work and she LOVED other dogs. If she saw another dog on her walks she would harass it until s/he said hi to her, or at least sniffed her butt. We threw around the idea of getting her a friend for a while. Two co-workers of mine decided to breed their havanese and sent around an e-mail to see if anyone was interested in taking one. I figured since it fell into our laps we should take it so we did. My 1st dog did not take this very well. From the time she was a puppy to the time we got our 2nd dog (about 2 years later) she became really mean towards other dogs, not sure what happened. She sometimes plays with the puppy but it's not too often and she seems to just be annoyed with him.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

We got a second dog so that our 1st wouldn't be alone when we where at work during the day. She would cry when we left. So we got Toby. They loved each other from day one & he really brought her out of shell. We just had to put him to sleep. He was with us for only 3 years. Sandy is not the happy dog she was. Back to hiding etc. We will get another dog but its to soon at the moment.

Re: for those of you who have 2 dogs

<<--We had Buddy (black & white) for about 4 years...we had always talked about getting a 2nd dog & happened to meet our 2nd pup at a non-dog related event...she was being fostered...we asked if we could adopt her & we took her home that night. Buddy was staying at my Mom's so we left him there for a few days while Belle adjusted to us. Buddy was not happy when we brought him home and he now had a little sister. It took them about a month to get used to each other...but now they we find them like this...

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