Getting a second dog

Cherry Blossom

Just looking for opinions

My plan was always to get a second dog once my puppy is well established, am torn between a beagle and cavalier king charles now :rolleyes: The second dog will be male as the puppy is a bitch and my intention was to wait untill the puppy was fully grown and neutered and possibly until my old dog passes on. However my current circumstance is that I'm not working at present so I'm starting to wonder if I should get the 2nd sooner. I have something brewing in the pipeline and may well be back at work at the end of september The puppy is almost 4 months now and is almost house-trained, doesn't need her crate anymore, will go outside for the toilet as long as we notice she wants out, if not she'll go on the puppy pad inside the front door.

I just don't want to put my older dog out too much, he has adjusted well to the puppy and she has injected a bit of life back into him. Would definately consider a rescue although the Westie is very active and brimming with confidance and not too sure how a possible rescue dog with questionable history will take to this, think a beagle might be a better candidate as a companion for her than the cavalier but current cav. owners please feel free to correct me on this

The puppy is the Westie and my other dog is a 14yr old golden labrador with health issues.

My mother will be here all day with 3 kids (one who lives here and 2 who live next door) after I go back to work and an extra one outside school hours. All the kids are getting on great with the Westie.

What are the possible reactions my older dog could have to young male invading his turf? And I'm happy to hear anything else anyone has to add or any points I'm not considering that I should be

Penrose

I had some issues with this years ago with a new puppy, if you simply bring the new dog in the established dog will not be happy one bit either they get jealous or start territory fights.

The best thing is to get someone to go to the park with the new dog and then your old dog gets to meet the new one on neutral territory, do that for a while and if they get a long and play then after a week or so bring the new dog home.

TelePaul

My old girlfriend had a Lab and a staffie/rhodesian ridgeback cross. They got along pretty fabulously. I was under the impression that dogs could keep one another company, though I suppose it depends on the breeds and personalities?

Sigma Force

Beagles are very intelligent dogs and can become bored, you need to see if your mum will be ok with adding another dog if she's the one that will be there with the dogs once you get back to work.

If you can afford the time, have the energy and can afford a third dog then sure why not, might be a play buddy for the pup you have now but also on the other hand might be too much for the elderly dog to cope with.

We have three dogs, and the addition of our youngest has brought the other two to life but it can pose some practical problems like vet trips etc. trying to fit three in a car can be tricky.

Cherry Blossom

I do lead a very active life myself, so would be getting plenty of exercise in the mornings, evenings and weekends. At the minute I let the Westie come with me when I'm mucking out stables in the mornings (after the horses go out obviously) and she has great craic digging up the beds and it burns off a lot of her early morning energy! Needless to say I'll still be doing this before work when that time comes. Had no problems at all with her settling in having one of each sex.

Will be getting another dog at some stage anyway but I'm just torn between having more time on my hands to house/toilet train at the minute (easier for my mother!) and probably the wiser decision of waiting till the older dog passes on. Just to elaborate a bit - He was attacked by 2 greyhounds a few years ago that cleared the garden wall. 23 lacerations on his body - 7 of them into the bone and his ear was hanging off. He sustained permanant damage to the ligaments in his back legs and has arthritis into the bargain. He has always prefered to sleep in the stables with the horses (by choice, he guards the horses at night and likes their company for some reason) and is still able to manage the short trek from the house to the stables and back. When he's no longer able to do this I feel it would be best to put him to sleep as I don't think he'd be at all happy if he's unable to do his 'job' and I have to draw the line somewhere He has always got on great with any dog he's come into contact with and the incident with the greyhounds didn't affect that. I'm a bit concerned that bringing another male dog that may well challange his position in his home might be a different story and I don't want to be disrupting him too much at this stage in his life.

lrushe

As I have said here before I have 3 dogs, small, medium and large, different breeds, different sexes, each has a four year age gap. When I get a new dog I like to give it a couple of years of one on one attention, training, socialising, getting to know it inside out and letting it mature. Do this with your first dog, then adding a second will be alot easier as you will have one bomb proof dog allowing you to give more of your attention to your new addition. I think this is partly the reason I've never had any problems introducing a new dog to my household.
If a Beagle is really what you want then I'd suggest going to an all breed dog show and talking to some breeders, they will give you some pointers as these dogs can be a handful in the wrong hands. If however you are not too fussed on breed but rather personality I would recommend bringing your dogs to a resuce and seeing if there is one dog who fits in with the rest of your dogs. You could find an older dog perfect for you that is already house trained plus as you know you have added advantage that a rescue dog will be vacc'd, microchipped and neutered.

suziwalsh

I have a rescue beagle. Beagles in general are hard work, active and difficult to train, they have a mind of their own. Generally they get along with everyone but a 3 dog household can be hard. I would wait until your young pup was at least 6 months of age, it could be very unfair on your older dog to have 2 pups in the home.

boxerly

I am minding a 9 month old beagle and as Suzi sai they are hard work hehehe but beautiful friendly and very loving.They can walk for Ieland,there seems to be no tiring this lad out.The other night he ate part of a sofa,ripped blankets and chewed through some wires which were thankfully unplugged :)He likes to bury EVERYTHING so I have to go round looking in all his hiding places to see what he has hid hehehe.They are lovely though xxx Cavaliers are beautiful aswell I had one for 8 year.Ye have to be so careful though because of mass breeding alot of hem have so many health problems that could cause alot of heartache and a deep dent in your pocket.Both breeds are fab xxxxx

Steve30x

If I wasnt living alone I would love to get a second small dog for company for my Cavalier King Charles female. If I was going to get a second dog it would have to be a second small dog and my preferred breed would be a miniature yorksire terrier.

Then bonny would have some company and a companion to play with. She is already having other dogs over because I mind my parents dog every second weekend for a few days and my brother brings his dog over every once ina while.

But because I live alone I will stik with my wee bonny.

Penrose

My family are pet mad so we have a lot of experience with dogs, each dog is different and has its own personality, introducing the two of neutral territory is always the best way to go, most dog behavioral experts recommend the neutral setting for introduction.

As for training a puppy will learn 10 times faster by watching another dog do a command, my Springer learned to sit the second time I got my older dog to do the action.

Cherry Blossom

suziwalsh wrote: »

I have a rescue beagle. Beagles in general are hard work, active and difficult to train, they have a mind of their own. Generally they get along with everyone but a 3 dog household can be hard. I would wait until your young pup was at least 6 months of age, it could be very unfair on your older dog to have 2 pups in the home.

I was looking for advice on timing really and I think I will put it on hold for a bit anyway, most likely untill my lab passes on. Thanks to everyone for their insight into beagle traits but I have experience of working hounds and am well aware of what I'd be letting myself in for this was really something I just mentioned in passing, would be more interested in hearing advice on Cav's ;)Needless to say I would be looking for one from show stock if I was going to buy a beagle, if it was a rescue it would most likely be one from the lodge that turned out to be unsuitable for hunting for some reason or another most likely a young adult and I could assess it for suitability as a pet.