Hello,
I'm considering adding a second dog to my household. I've read the information on this site regarding the pack dynamics and how to properly introduce a second dog into the "pack."
My present dog is a rescue. She is very attached to me, in that she follows me everywhere. She tolerates my husband, but basically does not want much to do with him. Apparently, when I'm out of the house, she pretty much just waits for me to come home....(according to my husband) She is pretty much a one person kinda dog.
I"m wondering, based on this behavior, if the additon of another dog would be good for her, or the opposite, and stress her out.
When my sister brings over her male, she sometimes, "herds" him away from me.
Any thoughts???

Thank you for your time,

Linda

thoughts:

your current dog is not going to be a happy camper if you bring home another dog.

does your husband want another dog?

what if the second dog is just "his" dog and you continue to give your undivided attention to "your" dog?

it's just one woman's anecdotal experience, but i had a rescue who was about 4 years old when we brought home our new puppy. he also was bonded only with me and never formed much of an attachment to my husband.

the new puppy was a catastrophe, in his eyes. he treated the puppy well, and remained his usual mellow self with us, but he suddenly became aggressive with strangers. this was a dog who had aced his delta society exam and was trusted with kids at the children's home jumping all over him and with the elderly at a rest home. delta society was so confident of his temperament, they'd insured him for $1 million in liability insurance.

along comes the pup, and he starts biting strangers. we could no longer trust him when out on walks.

the vet, who is actually a pretty good behaviorist, felt he was expressing his frustrations outside the family pack, since he was a submissive dog and wasn't willing to violate the taboo against aggression within the pack.

i don't know how much credence to give that theory, but his behavior shift was coincident with the arrival of a second dog.

two dogs are more than twice as much work as one. my pup, who is now almost five, is also much easier to live with now that he's an only dog. i don't think i'll ever have two dogs again.

that's a highly personal decision, but much depends on the kind of relationship you want to have with your dog. a second dog does change the nature of your relationship, unless, maybe, the second dog is your husband's.

For what reason do you want the second dog? Are there things you can't do with your rescue that you want to do with another dog? I agree 100% with the previous poster. A second dog is a lot of work (I'd say more than double the work of just one), and with the clingy temperament of your current dog, you will have your hands full for a long time. I had 2 dogs together in my house for over 4 years. The first was a rescue dog, who had every problem in the dog dictionary. When he was off-lead trained, I added number 2 because the rescue just couldn't be trusted with children. I really wanted a dog I could just go to the park with and play fetch and a more reliable demo dog for my business. So we added a second dog, after I carefully researched and found the perfect match for our pack. After just one month, the rescue tried to kill the new dog. We managed to keep them both for almost 5 years. I got pg, so we had to put down the rescue for his fear aggression. We are now back to being a one dog family, and its going to stay that way a while longer. If your pack is stable and you can enjoy your current dog in the dog activities you want to do, why risk upsetting things?
Good luck in your decision, don't enter into it lightly.
Best,
Michelle

Totally agree with previous posts in that two dogs are *a lot* of work. Essentially, you get a synergistic effect, 1+1=3. You got the one you have now, the pup, and then the two together. But, if that is something you can and *want* to handle--go for it...time, money, attention to training are all things to consider, as well as the possibility of having to keep the dogs separated.

I will say, I am so glad I opted to let my dog live out his days as the top (and only) dog in the house, even though I was wanting a new pup for months before.

Oh, and I forgot to add, I have lived with a mature dog, puppy, and a rescue in my past and I had zero yard. It was a muddy muddy mess in the spring and I will likely never, ever have more than one dog again (unless there are special circumstances beyond my control, or however that goes).

Linda ,
Add another dog if you want ,I can't say don't since I have 4 dogs.All you are going to do is make your pack bigger and up your expenses and have to be a consistent strong pack leader and a STRONG one.As far as your dog that you have now ,she sees you as her posession and you have allowed her to think that way.If she saw you as a true pack leader she would not make decision on who can approach you and who can't that is for the pack leader to make that decision.To add another dog you really must evaluate yourself as a "pack leader" and really ask yourself how good of a pack leader are you ?
Good luck to you,
Angelique
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r77/cadogancna/

Wow,
Thanks guys, I really appreciate your personal accounts. You have made me really reconsider. I have had 2 dogs in the past. They were pups from the same litter, born up the street, so I brought 2 home. They were 2 females, they cohabitated quite well together, and were two GREAT dogs. I lost on at age 9 to kidney failure secondary to Lymes?? The second lived to age 15....just 2 local mutts!!
I guess, I was wondering if another dog would help the rescue come out of her shell so to speak. When my sister's male is over, she does seem more playful in the yard. However, she does seem more vigilant of me, and perhaps jealous if he gets near me.
Anyway, it is something I've considered, but I will not go into it lightly. Thats why I'm soliciting opinions from the board.
I appreciate you all sharing your experiences. This is my first rescue, and it is indeed very different from raising a pup "from scratch." I'm dealing with someone else's lack of effort/training, which I do not regret one bit.......she has opened up a whole new avenue about dogs that I did not ever have any exposure to.

Thanks for sharing.

Linda

Angelique,
Very interesting. I did not think of it in those terms. Me being a possession, thats kinda creepy really. I do make her wait to enter in and out of our house. She must wait, and sit before I release her for her meals, and before we go for walks. I usually work some obedience after we have walked a bit...sit, stay...recall....which she is doing very well with. She will wait, until released to enter/exit my car. She is not a dominant type dog, she does seem pretty "soft," acutally.

Linda

I've had my 2nd dog for about a month now. More work, defintely, best decision I made? definitely. I may have just lucked out, but so far so good on the dominance issues. Gabbi, my 1st dog, is the dominate one and Biz accepts it. It may change later on but for now, it's working out just fine. The worst part is him becoming an inside dog. 4 accidents thus far.
Gabbi being a velcro dog didn't matter. Now both of them follow me. They are 4 days apart and are 16 months old. They play well together and so far no fighting. They do eat seperately and have their bully sticks/bones on their own dog bed, always supervised. Gabbi is no longer allowed on my bed or the sofa to prevent any future territory issues.

Linda, just remember that dogs that sit before you open door and wait to exit the car is simply "obedience",it has nothing to do rather you are a pack leader, a good one, a strong one, or not one at all.They know what comes after they do the exercise and so that's what they look forward to, the reward.It can be that they get to go in the house and be with you after the've behaved properly, what ever it is...As far as posession, a dog that some people call "jealous"is simply posessive and nothing else.And by the way it's a common behavior because the handler simply allows it.Ceasare millan had several cases of such exact behavior on his show, where the owner was telling ceasar that their dog gets jealous of other dogs or people coming near, and he replied the same thing I wrote to you.Sometimes its good to look back at our own behavior and see how we handled the behavior the firs time it came up, for me I always see that I allowed the behavior to go on , cause for one I thought it was cute but than it grew to something less desirable.You can always fix that problem Linda by not allowing your dog to block any one that comes near you. It's your dog and it's your call..