Thinking of adopting...

[Willow]

A little brother for Willow

http://ottawahumane.ca/adoption/petharbor_dogs.cfm

2nd page his name is Rudy.

For anyone who has or has had two dogs, any issues with this? Yes we are going to meet him tonight to see how we feel, then if we like him we will bring Willow to meet him tomorrow. I'm well aware of the fact the vet bills will be more as will grooming and food. $$ is not the issue. My mother inlaw's dag stayed with us for 1 month when she was a pup and I didn't find it a big deal to wlk 2 dogs and pick up after them. Willow is 9 or 10 now their breed (as Rudy is the same kind) can live up to 16-18yrs. I wonder if it's a good time? and how would we know if Willow likes being an only dog if that is even applicable?

Thanks

[wutadumsn23]

Freddy may have some input on this, I know he has two dogs. I have two cats and a dog (but one of my cats is convinced he is a dog) but I think the biggest problem would be dominance issues with them. The "eldest" dog wanting the "newer" dog to know its place and what not. If it's not submissive may cause some dominace issues, but introducing them before hand like you have planned should give you a good idea. If Willow doesn't want a brother/sister you should know pretty fast. Could also be issues with marking or claiming of territory once you get them back to the house if the intro goes well. Hopefully it works out, I am a dog lover myself and am contemplating getting another Husky for a companion for the one I have now.

-Jeff

[muncybob]

Well, we are married over 30 years now and have always had at least 2 dogs. Usually they are a few years apart in age and usually we started out with pups. For us having an older dog helps to train the younger one. It's great to watch 2 dogs interact and play! I would say as long as one of them does not try to be the superior dog then you are in great shape! We recenlty lost my best bud "Rocky"(12+ yr St Bernard) and have "adopted" my daughter's 4 yr old female St Bernard (she was caged most of the time and now she has the run of our place in the country) so our really old gal "Casey" who is over 16 yrs old doesn't feel alone. Doubt we'll ever be a 1 dog family but it isn't for everyone that's a dog lover. If you're lucky enough to have them into the golden years it may get expensive(Rocky was on more pills his last few years than most peple in nursing homes!) but we feel it's worth it!

[Willow]

Usually, any dog that Willow meets lets her dominate them. She's not aggressive just let's others know she's the boss. I'd have to say that Willow is a tad obsessed with me. She will follow me every where, when my wife walks her after work she will run around the house looking for me, so we play hide and seek. If my wife gets up to get something Willow will stay with me, if I get up She will follow. She's daddy's girl for sure.

[Philip1228]

We have a dog (gabby-mini schnauzer) and we have also collected two cats and they all sleep together in the bed. In fact if one is away the other two always look for it. As far as expences one dog, two dog, it doesn't matter. I don't notice a difference. I personally think animals like company when no one is home. I will caution that you need to be ready for some mischeif. I think when no one is home they dare each other to do things they are not suppose to. I think you would be doing a good thing for all the lives involved, including yourself.

[shack]

We have had as many as 3 dogs at one time. They are really not that much trouble and have always bonded...so much so that when one has died, the others go through a period of grieving (for lack of a better word). Ours have gotten along very well...as you can see in this photo of Joey and Barney (a Beagle and Beagle mix):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2185/2288762167_7cae53cc84.jpg

We had 3 dogs at the time, and the other was off doing her own thing...

Sadly Barney, the black one, is no longer with us.

[kawizx9r]

Cute dog, btw I'm Freddy!

Regarding getting another dog after already having one for awhile it really requires some work on your part as well as seeing how the dogs behave. We've had our siberian husky since she was 8 weeks old and has played her role as our only dog for almost a year. Afterward, we went around checking out animal shelters and paying dogs a visit. I absolutely fell in love with a pitbull they had there and I just had to have her. I'll skip her past history and get to the point.
Brought her home and there were some slight issues with dominance, especially coming from our Husky. We worked around that by correcting any aggressive behavior she displayed, and kept it strict for the first 96 hours. That was to include when and how we fed them, who was walked first and where they slept. Shadow (my husky) being the more aggressive dog was always fed AFTER Jacquee (our pit) and kept in her kennel a few nights while Jacquee got comfortable in her new home. Don't just focus on whether or not they'll get along, it's a huge change for the dog alone to be introduced into a new home and family and will take them some time getting used to. Don't worry about being a bit "tough" on the new guy if he/she marks or chews anything up, they need to know whats right and whats wrong still. After about those 3-4 days, theyve become the bestest friends. Funny thing is, she favors me way more than my wife....I can't leave the place without having her whine or pace around waiting for me. Anyway, Im glad you chose to adopt a pet as opposed to buying one from a store/breeder...it's sad that there are so many animals needing to be rehomed and people continue to buy them.

Heres some pics of my "bitches"
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/sirsoapmaister/l_16e79c88b60e4d368e9762995b02471b.jpg
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/sirsoapmaister/lazyasses.jpg
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/sirsoapmaister/SNV11139.jpg
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab16/sirsoapmaister/SNV11053.jpg

[Willow]

Thank you to all so far for your info. One other question I have, is it that much more work having 2 dogs if you then end up having a baby? I might seem to be going over board but to me I have to put the animals in first priority. We will never be one of those people who place an add saying please take my dog we've had a child and con no longer care for the dog... to me that's BS what wil they do if they have 2 kids, get rid of the first? ( I know I'm talking apples and oranges) But more along the lines of responsibility.

[kawizx9r]

Thank you to all so far for your info. One other question I have, is it that much more work having 2 dogs if you then end up having a baby? I might seem to be going over board but to me I have to put the animals in first priority. We will never be one of those people who place an add saying please take my dog we've had a child and con no longer care for the dog... to me that's BS what wil they do if they have 2 kids, get rid of the first? ( I know I'm talking apples and oranges) But more along the lines of responsibility.

I can't agree more, I hate when people "rehome, get rid of, sell" their pets for BS reasons (imo). A pet becomes part of your family, you treat them with a level of respect and take care of them and love them as if they were your own. Having 2 dogs is a little more costly, but since $$ isnt much an issue for you I'd say not really. You will have to get the "new" dog to adapt to new habits such as taking them out at the same time for walks/etc. Think of it long term as well, maybe you'd want to go on a vacation or something, do you know of anyone that would take care of your 2 dogs for a few days at a time? There are alot of things to think about, I just tossed in a few but in my experience......the work done is well worth it. I have 2 very loving dogs and couldn't be happier. :D

[Willow]

If we do adopt "rudy" I told my boss, " If call in a holiday Mon. and Tues" it's because we adopted him. How do we know if it's "right" to adopt him?

Freddy, Thanks again for input. We also adopted Willow (her name at the time) Snow Angel....gag! from the same place. So we've been through the dog getting used to the house and such. Willow peed as at that time we had not had the time to establish a pee and poop routine. She peed that one time and thank god on the tile floor. Never chewed anything, they are not a the chewing breed.

[Willow]

I can't agree more, I hate when people "rehome, get rid of, sell" their pets for BS reasons (imo). A pet becomes part of your family, you treat them with a level of respect and take care of them and love them as if they were your own. Having 2 dogs is a little more costly, but since $$ isnt much an issue for you I'd say not really. You will have to get the "new" dog to adapt to new habits such as taking them out at the same time for walks/etc. Think of it long term as well, maybe you'd want to go on a vacation or something, do you know of anyone that would take care of your 2 dogs for a few days at a time? There are alot of things to think about, I just tossed in a few but in my experience......the work done is well worth it. I have 2 very loving dogs and couldn't be happier. :D

We have family who currently watch Willow when we travel. My dad loves dogs, but we usually travel with him and the family for a week in the winter. Willow stays at my sis-inlaw they live in the semi-country on a dead end road with only 4 houses on it and have a big back yard. Willow then plays with my 2 nephews. If we do day trips Willow is at my mother-inlaw's or dad's place.So we should be good.

[Willow]

Well Rudy is home now, he's funny as hell quite the personality on him. He is underweight (he was a stray) we will find out this PM as he's off to the vet for a check-up. IN the pics, Willow is the bigger of the two as well as being the older one. She is 9 and Rudy is 6. We are not sure if we will keep the name they gave him. We are still trying to get to know him.

[kawizx9r]

Thats awesome, hope everything turns out for the better. Keep in mind what I said about feeding arrangements/etc and get Rudy on your schedule. Keep us updated in the weeks to come :D

-Freddy

[SolidSqual]

Two dogs means twice the mess, and a friend to play with. When I had two dogs, all the time was playtime . . . and anywhere. This can be overcome with good training.

[chillywilly]

Glad you adopted. My wive and I rescued a couple mini eskies about 4 years ago.

[wutadumsn23]

Good luck man, glad you were able to get the dog.

-Jeff

[TouchOfEvil]

I have two dogs. Lab and a husky, lab was here first for right at three years.
Got my husky as a rescue at 2 weeks old mother died etc etc. But basically let Echo"lab" see Aries"husky" the first day. She didn't know what it was at first then she was like oh....a puppy, ok cool. So yeah didn't have any trouble with that. They do tend to destroy a house fast if they are playing rough though lol.
We also have three cats one which is a rescue as well that we got two weeks ago. It was kinda hard to get the other two cats to take to him even as a kitten however both dogs are like ummm yeah ok whatever.....get off my tail brah lol.
Of course my they don't really care about the other two cats either. Aries will chase em from time to time because she wants to play with em. The kitten was messing around aries was watching and got interested ran after him and put her paw on his tail so he couldn't get away.
Fun times.....good thing i don't have to clean up after em all.:)

[Willow]

Glad you adopted. My wive and I rescued a couple mini eskies about 4 years ago.

I knew someone here had eskies!

So far so good, Rudy went to the vet today. He was hacking and coughing. Turns out it's a viral cough. He's on some meds as his coughing would keep us and him up at night. The vet also wants him to gain another 4lbs.
They do play maybe a couple times a day the rest o the time they sleep. We've been walking them 3x a day and they get lots of backyard play/roam time. Sunday we left them for an hour he in his crate and Willow has always had free run of the house. He did not like being crated while we left. He is ok to sleep in his crate just not watch us leave. Yesterday they were left for 1 hour without crate and he didn't freak out. Tomorrow is the big day as it's back to work so we'll be wondering how it's going all day till we get home to see if he did anything. We won't get mad if he does, as these are the chances people take when getting a new dog. I think if he has not shown any interest in marking his territory as of yet and or chewing things we might be ok.

[kawizx9r]

Expect the weight thing to be taken care of over the next 2-3 weeks. Our pit was very thin (you could see her rib cage without trying), but over the weeks shes really put on some weight and looks, and is, extremely healthy.

[cfrizz]

Congrats JF, I know Rudy will have a very happy long life with his new family!

[chillywilly]

So far so good, Rudy went to the vet today. He was hacking and coughing. Turns out it's a viral cough. He's on some meds as his coughing would keep us and him up at night. The vet also wants him to gain another 4lbs.
They do play maybe a couple times a day the rest o the time they sleep. We've been walking them 3x a day and they get lots of backyard play/roam time. Sunday we left them for an hour he in his crate and Willow has always had free run of the house. He did not like being crated while we left. He is ok to sleep in his crate just not watch us leave. Yesterday they were left for 1 hour without crate and he didn't freak out. Tomorrow is the big day as it's back to work so we'll be wondering how it's going all day till we get home to see if he did anything. We won't get mad if he does, as these are the chances people take when getting a new dog. I think if he has not shown any interest in marking his territory as of yet and or chewing things we might be ok.[/QUOTE]

If he's neutered he most likely won't feel the need after we got our male fixed he has quit. good luck