Second dog

TheBlaaMan

I've been 'offered' a pup from a litter that needs rehoming. As the owner of a 5 y/o dog, I had been thinking ofb getting a companion for him, but now that it has presented itself, I know I need to think a bit more about it, so I'd be keen for experiences from the forum on the following :

• Is the workload of caring for a second dog twice (or more!) that for the first? Our guy is a Border Collie, very clever and easy to train, but needs lots of exercise . I had it in my head that a second dog would provide company and stimulation for the first but wonder will the extra care needs outweigh any benefit?
• Do second dogs often cause undue stress in the first? I should add that my collie is 90%blind due to PRA so that risk is a worry to me.
• Is there any likely difference in getting another male, or a female?

The litter is from a farm collie, BtW, similar to the background of our existing fella.

As I said, I'd be grateful for responses based on real experience of the situation.

Thanks

mymo

I have two, same walking, tec.
More food, moe cost for vaccs (vet charges for one visit for both dogs though so not double cost just an extra vacc). More time grooming in my case as mine need regular brushing and clipping.
I got a second as my first suffered terrible separation anxiety, stopped straight away once she arrived, I got a bitch as he was a dog, never any problems, but he loved other dogs.
Really depends on your dog, is he good with other dogs, how is he with pups?
Also depends on the pup, crate training is good to allow both dogs a safe place away from each other.

I have seen a blind dog take well to a pup, pup wasn't over boisterous though and I think was about 12 weeks when it arrived, as it got older the blind one followed the younger dog and it helped him immensely. But as I said it really depends on the dog and pup, you know your dog best.

Hooked

We took on another husky just over a year ago.. I won't lie - it was tough at the start. Jack, the pup, was busy being just that. Hugo, then 3 (now 4) was like... What's going on here. Who is this little pest. I'm not sharing with him. Kinda upset his 'groove' for a few weeks. We did think we'd made a mistake. But we toughed it out. They say to have mixed sexes, but we had no choice. It was two dogs or wait another year.

Once you get past the toilet training, the training to feed together, play together and share toys - it 'can' be great.

Couldn't imagine how we'd have coped without first having Hugo crate trained. Had Jack crate and toilet trained in 2 days. He followed Hugos lead for everything else.

Our two are now Inseperable. They genuinely love each other's company and Jack shadows Hugo something wicked. They have great fun.

Walking, feeding and general stuff is just as easy with 2. Food costs more obviously but as we've no kids or serious vices - it's an extra 5-10 euro per week. Don't ask about twice as much 'coat blowing'... Fun!

Had to change the car to fit them both comfortably.

Long story short... Put the hard work in for 2-3 months at the start... Then sit back and enjoy the next 10 years (or more) of rewards!

If we had more room, we'd be on to number 3. No doubt

tk123

We were the same as Hooked although I added a girl because I knew my then 4 year old boy would be more put out with a boy and with them being large breed dogs I knew I'd be waiting as long as possible with to view to not neuter a male pup so thought that'd cause problems too - the older guy is neutered. He gets on well with other dogs but was not impressed with the pup at all - especially after she tried to latch on and get milk from him lol She was constantly running between his legs, jumping on him and just annoying him and he'd growl telling her to go away when all she wanted to do was play with him and sleep beside him etc. We had to make sure he had space away from her for the first while where she couldn't pester him. When I was training her he wanted to join in so I spent a lot of time just treating him for sitting near her and he warmed up to her in the end and she learnt to give him his space. She'll be 2 in May and they get on well now. I wouldn't call them insuperable but he definetly likes her more than he lets on lol! The first few weeks/months of training definetly takes up some time but she learnt nearly everything from copying him. I do a lot of training with them so they just take it in turns so it takes the same amount of time? Food wise depending on the pup there could be a time when the pup is getting 2 or 3 times more food than your older dog but it evens out as the pup grows. Mine still gets almost double what the other guy gets but I raw feed and buy the food in bulk so I don't really notice a huge differnce?

TheBlaaMan

Thanks for the responses folks, all good stuff so far .... Keep it coming!

The crate approach seems wise, just to allow them some space. My fella is generally great with other dogs, he growls and gets a bit grumpy when some dogs jump about him but it's down to his blindness and he's very submissive really so I'm fairly certain it is just frustration.

I don't at all mine the work in the first few months to get a pup used to the rest of us, and the first dog, my concerns are the longer term effect it could have on him if they don't get on...

nala2012

Totally depends on your dog. Bruce would be very put out by a new puppy where as Nala is so easy going she takes everything in her stride! I know you already have pup picked out but think about fostering if you can because even though you might think your dog would like the company you don't know until the puppy is in your house a few days!

lulu1

Our dog is 5 and I really dont think he would like it if another dog came on the scene. He is grand with other dogs as long as they are not jumping all over him or annoying him. He just wants a quiet life.

Pretzill

My experience I've always had two but over a year ago three - puppy introduced to 3 yr old and 15 yr old all border collie types - 15 yr old and puppy immediately bonded (both male) but 3 yr old girl wasn't altogether impressed with the pup!

10 months ago the elder male passed - and things have changed my puppy now a grown male idolises his big sister and her him too - they are great buddies - but for a few months early on I'd never have thought it would happen.

Yep double vet bills (vaccination boosters or check ups) food bill didn't increase because I always catered for two - but company for each other outweighs that, once your prepared for the puppy phase and the way your resident dog accepts them. Male/male & female/female or male or female I never really had a problem with any combination but whoever was here first is normally more confident.

Ashbx

It mainly depends on the dogs. I had a (then) three year old Border Terrier who I had from a pup. She was always very good with dogs in our house but a bit touch and go with dogs outside.

We then got a (then) 5 year old Border Collie. Thankfully both my dogs are very laid back so integrating them together was fine. At first, they didn't really interact with eachother much. It took about 2 weeks for them to sit on the same couch and about 2/3 months to actually play (like tug of war etc) together. But there was never any bad blood between them. The odd growl here and there but nothing to make me worried.

As for the effort, again it depends on your dogs. Both my dogs have similar personalities. Both laid back but quite energetic so they both need the two (sometimes three) walks a day. So I didn't have to increase the walks. The only thing I do notice is training. Its impossible (and lazy) to train two dogs at the same time. So I have to separate them and train with each dog at a time.

I used to have a blind dog when I was growing up (100% blind). We owned her mother and when the mother died, we got a new dog. Our blind dog did take a bit to get used to. If the new dog got in the way of the blind dog, there was a little scrap but this was all down to the blindness. We didn't have any other issues with regards to the blindness.

A year and a half after getting my second dog, and I do think its worth it if your dogs are open to it. I love having company for the two of them. And its nice when you are walking that they have something else to run around with.