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Getting a second dog.
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11-12-2013 2:37pm#1
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I have a 4 year old neutered male and added a female puppy in July. At first he wanted nothing to do with her - especially after she tried to get milk off him lol!
It stayed that way for a week or so - he lost sight of her one day in the garden when we were playing with him and went bananas when he saw her again with zoomies and then started to play with her. After that there was more play and less growling pretty much until she learnt not to jump all over him. He'll share the couch/my bed/back of the car with her now but they're not at the cuddling up together stage yet which I hope will happen at some stage but no big deal if it doesn't. He's extremely patient with her and they have a good play session every day - sometimes to our annoyance when we're trying to watch TV lol She's never play bitten us - she has him for that and he's taught her well. She's also pretty polite around other dogs because he's taught her rushing in is not acceptable. She robs everything he has - even if she has the exact same thing she wants his but again he's patient with her so there's never been any snapping etc. 0 -
My fella was 11 months and had some training done, walking nicely on lead, house trained, sit, stay, etc.
I wanted to get another dog to keep him company (he suffered with separation anxiety) and waited until he had grown up a bit, then went for a female a bit smaller breed than him, and 8 weeks old.
He kept trying to run away from her for about half an hour, but they ended up curled up together in a couple of hours.
Not had a problem since, they love each other and he's fine being left with her since day one. She learned house training by following him, learned sit and walked on lead beside him.
Best thing I ever did.
I don't think the sex matters as much as the personality, she was very playful, but not as hyper as him, but she is definitely the boss.
Here's a pic from that first day, that's the puppy bed they are both in...
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Here's a pic from that first day, that's the puppy bed they are both in...
Mymo banned for posting outrageously cute photograph
:P
Ah no, just kidding
OP, I'd always be inclined to go for a female where the resident dog is a male, and vice versa, simply because this combination is by far the most successful. That's not to say that two males or two females won't work, but it is a significantly greater risk.
Whether to get a pup or not is difficult to say! Pups can mither adult dogs, but are generally accepted by them after the initial horror of a small, impolite, sharp-toothed, sharp-clawed tearaway coming into the home. Many adult dogs can act quite frightened of pups, whilst others are simply delighted with the new plaything! There's a good chance that if pup is too relentless with your dog that you'll need to intervene form time to time... but that's okay, that's what being a doggy parent is all about
An adult dog in some ways can be easier to merge with a resident adult, but in other ways it can be more difficult. Easier because they tend to get on with things, and sort things out between themselves reasonably quickly. More difficult because there is a high chance of some "handbags at dawn" incidents in the first few days... and this is where having one male and one female becomes important, because although they may squabble, opposite-sex pairings rarely hurt each other.
If you go for an adult (and Bichons come into rescue quite regularly), try to match her playing style with your fella's: if he's a chaser and not a wrestler, then study herself's style to make sure she's a chaser and not a wrestler too. If he is mental about certain toys, it might be no harm to choose a new dog who's not as switched on to toys, just so that they're not competing over them.
That all said, Bichons are not particularly known for being "dog hot", they tend to be quite sociable and companionable with other dogs.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but I think it's fair to say that once you have a pair of dogs settled with one another, it's half the work of having one!0 -
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Thanks for the advice folks.
I was thinking of going for a female puppy. My dog is a bit of a headcase but he's brilliant with other dogs. He just wants to play constantly. He's 2, but he still acts like he's a couple of months old.
I think it'd be great to get him a friend to keep him company and play with.
As I said, we're still only thinking about it right now. Well, she's thinking about it. If it was up to me I'd get one tomorrow!
We're moving house soon so I think we'll wait till then rather than trying to settle a new pup and then up-rooting them.
I'll post back here when we make a decision and keep you updated.
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Play lessons lol! I love showing these to non dog owners to see the shock reaction lol! (On the ipad so can't resize/embed)
You see what Bailey did wrong there, don't you?
*takes tip from German tourists*
He didn't put his towel on that sun lounger at 6am to mark it as hisDBB - care to give me a bit more food for thought on a male/male set up. It looks like we'll have a choice but we're both leaning towards adding Hugos half brother as opposed to half sister to our pack... Hugo is neutered and I'd get either new addition done when the time is right.
It is a tough enough decision, particularly when you're dealing with breeds that don't tend to be quarrelsome with other dogs. For example, I'd feel a lot stronger about placing two same-sex terriers together than I would about placing two same-sex Beagles together... the former are "genetically" independent, lone workers, the latter are a traditional pack breed and more sociable as a result... generally.
Huskies, to me at least, fall into the sociable category too, as long as they've been properly socialised etc, so they're less of a risk to pair up into same-sex pairings.
The problem is, if it's going to go wrong, you're not going to know it until your new pup reaches the 7-8ish month mark, when he becomes sexually mature. However, with a female pup, the chances of strife between them is a LOT less, for any breed.
For me, I'm not particularly into throwing a dice and hoping for the best on these things.. keeping two same-sex dogs together is a bigger risk (and I am specifically referring to a two-dog household here, not a multi-dog household) that I, personally, would rather not take because the stakes are too high. If things go wrong in a few months' time, it can be very difficult to fix things.
Does that help at all?
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