Doggy Dilemma

Cheeky_gal

Hi

We have a 5 year old male Golden Retriever. He's an outdoor dog. He's a lively dog and has a nervous personality.

We want to get a second outdoor dog to keep him company so he's not lonely.

Can anyone recommend ...

1) an outdoor breed
2) whether we should go for male/female
3) how we could go about having a trial with a dog without having to adopt/buy one

Thanks

Cheeky_gal

Anybody able to give advice?

are you serious

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

Hi

We have a 5 year old male Golden Retriever. He's an outdoor dog. He's a lively dog and has a nervous personality.

We want to get a second outdoor dog to keep him company so he's not lonely.

Can anyone recommend ...

1) an outdoor breed
2) whether we should go for male/female
3) how we could go about having a trial with a dog without having to adopt/buy one

Thanks

Is your first fella neutered? If not then another male would be the obvious suggestion, are you thinking of a pup or a junior dog?

Why not get another Retriever??? How is he with other dogs?

Sigma Force

How is your own dog with other dogs at the moment, do you ever have other dogs come to visit in his house?

To be honest even if they get on if he is lonley you'll need to give him more time, and if he's nervous you need to put some work in to him and get him more socialised with people and other dogs before thinking about getting another dog.

If you think he comes out of his shell with other dogs then a new addition might be a good idea.

A lot of dogs often kept outside like collies, labs, huskies etc. are all working dogs so need a lot of walks or need to have a 'job' to do. A second dog can be great but it means double the work and double the time commmitment.

Discodog

The trial/adopt idea may be a problem as some rescues will want the dog to be kept indoors. Have you got friends who can bring their dogs to your home to see how he reacts & to get him used to the idea ?.

Cheeky_gal

Sigma Force wrote: »

How is your own dog with other dogs at the moment, do you ever have other dogs come to visit in his house?

He goes away on holidays now and again with other dogs. He's a bit of a player, he loves female dogs. He tends to argue with male dogs as he loves to be the one in control.

garkane wrote: »

Is your first fella neutered? If not then another male would be the obvious suggestion, are you thinking of a pup or a junior dog?

He's not neutured at the moment however, we are 100% going to neuter him when we get a female friend for him. We've been told a puppy would be the best bet as he would care for the puppy and there would be none of this "dominant" factor.



I guess another Golden Retriever would be the best option. A smaller dog would be our preference, but they're not suited to been outdoors 24/7 we're told. We would LOVE a cocker spaniel!

The other option was a bernese? Anyone any experience with these?

Shanao

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

I guess another Golden Retriever would be the best option. A smaller dog would be our preference, but they're not suited to been outdoors 24/7 we're told. We would LOVE a cocker spaniel!

The other option was a bernese? Anyone any experience with these?

If you wanted something smaller than a retriever then forget about a bernese for definite, they are quite big dogs. On top of that, they are very people-oriented and are far better off in the house. Have you thought about getting a puppy from a pound? There are a lot of retriever cross puppies out there that need homes right now, and even a few purebreed pups.