Time to get a new dog - advice needed please.

BenEadir

Hi all,

I've a beautiful 7 year old German Shepard/Labrador/All Sorts bitch (Let's call her Minnie) which I got FOC from a farmer as a 12 week old pup back in 2005. She is fantastic with my two kids (aged 11 and 7) and has never been an ounce of trouble. She sleeps in our kitchen/living room, is a great guard dog and is fed exclusively on good quality complete (dry) food. She is walked at least twice a day, has been spayed and has had all her medical checks including chipping etc.

We (my wife and I) are now thinking that it might be time to introduce a pup into the equation as Minnie isn't going to get any younger, we'd like her to impart her good behaviour onto a pup and we'd like to give the kids the experience of helping to take care of and seeing a pup grow up as they were too young (6 weeks and 5 years old) to remember Minnie as a pup.

There are four questions I would really appreciate some feedback on:-

1. Is introducing a pup into the equation a good idea or not? It sounds like a good idea to us but we are concerned it might undermine Minnie's confidence/position in the family hierarchy and she can be a bit jealous if we give any attention to other dog's, particularly puppies, when we're out walking her in the park.

2. Given Minnie is a bitch is it better to get a dog this time? Would two bitches be more likely to clash then an older bitch and a young dog? If we do get a pup we intend to make a huge fuss over Minnie and to basically try to create a situation where Minnie 'adopts' the pup and see's the pup as her own rather than a threat who is stealing our affection.

3. What sort of dog should we get? (The eternal question?) We're only interested in rescue dog's or dog's being offered FOC to a good home (or close to FOC) by their owners who might otherwise be forced to put them down so I know we won't be able to go a la carte in terms of what we get but in general we'd like something medium sized (Jack Russell up to Labrador/Retriever) and preferably something which won't shed much hair.

4. Where should we get such a dog? We're based in south Dublin so I guess <Rescues> and classifieds in DoneDeal where people are looking to find homes for unwanted pups?

Really appreciate your input on this as it's a very important decision for us which I don't want to get wrong. I certainly don't want to go from a situation where we have one fantastic (but aging) dog to a situation where we have an upset senior dog and a young pup who isn't settling in and constantly bickering with Minnie.

Cheers,

Ben

Cherry Blossom

BenThere wrote: »

Hi all,

I've a beautiful 7 year old German Shepard/Labrador/All Sorts bitch (Let's call her Minnie) which I got FOC from a farmer as a 12 week old pup back in 2005. She is fantastic with my two kids (aged 11 and 7) and has never been an ounce of trouble. She sleeps in our kitchen/living room, is a great guard dog and is fed exclusively on good quality complete (dry) food. She is walked at least twice a day, has been spayed and has had all her medical checks including chipping etc.

Hi OP,

Your dog should still have half her life to live yet at 7 years old she is in her prime. You have left out the most important factor - how well has your dog been socialised with other dogs? How often do you meet other dog owners so she can interact and play with them off lead. Have there ever been any problems with this and how is she with puppies? My 12 week old pup likes to drag my two year old dog around by the hair, I keep her well de-matted and she doesn't seem to mind but it has always been crystal clear that she absolutely adores puppies.

BenThere wrote: »

There are four questions I would really appreciate some feedback on:-

1. Is introducing a pup into the equation a good idea or not? It sounds like a good idea to us but we are concerned it might undermine Minnie's confidence/position in the family hierarchy and she can be a bit jealous if we give any attention to other dog's, particularly puppies, when we're out walking her in the park.

I see you have answered my question above somewhat, I should have read on :rolleyes:. Can you explain exactly what her reaction is? It is very hard to picture what she does from your description, also how do you deal with this when it happens? What is her daily routine? Is she an indoor dog or an outdoor dog? If you decide to go ahead, I imagine you have a bit of work to do first, training classes are great for socialisation in a safe controlled environment, some places also do socialisation classes.

BenThere wrote: »

2. Given Minnie is a bitch is it better to get a dog this time? Would two bitches be more likely to clash then an older bitch and a young dog? If we do get a pup we intend to make a huge fuss over Minnie and to basically try to create a situation where Minnie 'adopts' the pup and see's the pup as her own rather than a threat who is stealing our affection.

100% - go for a dog, I'm not sure what you mean by creating a situation where she 'adopts' the pup as her own. How would you go about doing this? As far as she is concerned you are her family, she is well established in your home and I doubt she is going to welcome a puppy with open arms. We have a rule in my house that if kids want to play with the pup they have to spend the same amount of time on the older dog before they are allowed, however in practice it is almost impossible to ensure this rule is not broken. Kids love puppies, they are way more fun than the old dog that's always been hanging around. The other side of it is that puppies do need a lot of time spent on them by everyone in the house.

BenThere wrote: »

3. What sort of dog should we get? (The eternal question?) We're only interested in rescue dog's or dog's being offered FOC to a good home (or close to FOC) by their owners who might otherwise be forced to put them down so I know we won't be able to go a la carte in terms of what we get but in general we'd like something medium sized (Jack Russell up to Labrador/Retriever) and preferably something which won't shed much hair.

I wouldn't go for something high energy as this could add extra complications, puppies are crazy bouncy yolks at the best of times. I would also go for something that will be similar in size when full-grown. All dogs shed to some degree and with dogs of mixed-heritage its nearly impossible to tell what the coat will be like when fully grown. Most short haired dogs shed heavily, some will blow their coats several times a year meaning at certain times they will shed a lot more, dogs generally blow their coats less often than bitches.

When you are bringing a dog into a house with kids you need to be very careful about where it comes from. The first few months of pups life are crucial in it's development and can have a huge impact on how it fits in at it's new home. Read the information on this site, both the new owners section and breeder/early care givers section, it will give you a good indication of what to look for if you decide to go down the 'free to good home' route. Also read the thread linked in the 'puppy farms' sticky at the top of this forum that gives advice on what to look for when getting a dog.

BenThere wrote: »

4. Where should we get such a dog? We're based in south Dublin so I guess <Rescues> and classifieds in DoneDeal where people are looking to find homes for unwanted pups?

Puppies are always in high demand and are rarely 'advertised' by rescues as the space is used for those dogs that are more difficult to find homes for. This said many rescues reserve puppies for homes with kids only, contact any in your area, but be aware that you may have to wait for some time.

BenThere wrote: »

Really appreciate your input on this as it's a very important decision for us which I don't want to get wrong. I certainly don't want to go from a situation where we have one fantastic (but aging) dog to a situation where we have an upset senior dog and a young pup who isn't settling in and constantly bickering with Minnie.

The 1st rule of getting a second dog is that current pets come first - always, no exceptions. Do you have a back-up plan of what you will do if it just doesn't work out?
Would you consider an older pup or adolescent? If I was in your position, based on the info you have given on your dog, I would look into fostering from a rescue with a view to adopting that dog if it works out, if it doesn't work out then you haven't committed to keeping that dog and have an 'out'. Pups needing fosters would be quite rare though, so perhaps it's something you could also consider doing regardless as it would give you an idea of how your dog would adapt to having another in the house, but there are never any guarantees as she might take well to one dog but have a personality clash with another.

BenEadir

Hi AndrenalinJunkie, much appreciate your detailed and insightful response.

You've given me a few more things to think about all right particularly in relation to Minnie's socialisation with other dog's. In general when we're out in the park she can be very playful with other dogs, particularly dog's of a similar age. She's never bitten another dog or anything but she can assert herself with a snappy bark and show her teeth if another dog is annoying her and it won't stop jumping on her or pawing her etc. 99% of the time Minnie is completely happy to interact with other dogs and other dog's seem to like her or certainly don't see her as threatening in any way and she's very obedient. A quick whistle or call of her name and she'll stop what she's doing and return to me.

She is predominantly an indoor house dog. She gets excercised in the morning and afternoon and is free to wander out into the (walled and secure) garden but she generally prefers to stay inside on her mat where she can monitor what's going on in the house.

What would also help would be if someone here had experience of introducing a pup into a home where there is a similar situation i.e. a well settled mature dog already and what issues arose or things you'd do differently etc

Ben

**Vai**

I know it goes against what most people think but I introduced a second female pup into our house with no problems. I allowed our established dog to discipline her, to a point of course and she really did take the pup on as her own. Im not saying its going to work that well everytime but it most certainly can be done. Ive never had any issues with them fighting, even when neither was spayed.

Just to add, you say your dog was never any trouble, be prepared for some trouble. It seems to be the way with children and dogs, the second one always causes more hassle!

Wizard01

We have our 2 older dogs, male 11 and female 7, we got our maltese almost 2 years ago, had no problems with introducing her into the family, our male accepts any female dogs into our home but we found out the hard way we will NEVER have another male in our family. We never had a problem with females accepting other females.

Does your female has a preference? Don't get me wrong we can meet other male dogs on walks, beach, park etc and he will play quite happily with them but bring another male to live with him and all hell breaks loose. He's the Boss of the pack, he must eat first and they wait their turn, even the new edition, he's only about 6 inches tall

Our 7 month old fitted in quite nicely, although her paw is the size of the other dogs, she does push the boundaries playing rough with the Maltese who are best friends but with a lot of training she listens to voice commands. The other dogs aren't into her rough play at all so a bark or grunt from them and she leaves them alone.

I do the feeding, cleaning, training etc but the two younger dogs have their "young" owners and they get spoilt rotten by each of them, they play fetch, catch, hide and seek and do exercises (what 3 year old says for walks) with the dogs every day. Our 2 youngest adore their pets and even have arguments over whose dog's are the best

Just introduce them slowly, try and tire the puppy out so it shouldn't be too jumpy and playful with older dog at the start, show more affection to older dog, don't leave them alone unsupervised, we don't even do that now, Maltese and BMD are left in different rooms when we go away.

Hope some of this helps.

Wizard01

Meant to add we found house training a lot easier with older dogs to follow, Maltese was done in about a week, BMD took about 2 - 3 weeks.

They learned the rules and boundaries quicker too, even the bad one's only 1 used to come to bed, now 3 follow

Male prefers the sofa and his own independence, he guards the house while we sleep

BenEadir

Thanks for the input Wizard and Vai, much appreciated.

Ben