Thinking of adding a second dog to your home?

It’s a huge decision to make, the addition of another dog to the family when you already have a dog.

There are a few things to consider when thinking about adding another dog to your household. It might even be a second dog, a third dog or even a fourth or more! Heck, a friend of mine just added a FIFTH!

For some families the reason for adding another dog is for company for a single dog in the household. The reasoning may be because that dog likes playing with other dogs in a park, or they are worried they’re lonely at home during the day when their humans are out at work. It’s important to reaslise though, that a dog that is social at the dog park doesn’t necessarily mean that they may want to share their home with another dog full-time. If your dog has separation anxiety and you think adding another dog is going to fix that, the more likely outcome is that it won’t make a difference at all and you may in fact end up with two dogs displaying problem behaviours when you’re not home.

If you’ve ruled out the above reasons and still decided that you do want to add another dog because the humans of the home want another dog (and can give an additional dog what they need), then finding the right dog for your home is the next big task!

You may not be sure as to whether you want to get a puppy or an adult dog, or perhaps a puppy or adult dog from a rescue or from a breeder. Getting a puppy is a very personal choice. Puppies are hard work! Getting an an adult dog can have benefits of already getting to see the personality they’re going to have as an adult and you get to skip all of the challenges that come with owning a puppy. But, there may be some unknown behavior issues that you find later on with an adult dog and some past unknown trauma or fear may rear it’s ugly head when it’s least expected. With children or other dogs around these behaviours could be dangerous. These behaviours can also be more difficult to influence with training than they can be in a younger pup. Not only are puppies hard work for their humans though, they are also really annoying for adult dogs, especially more senior dogs. So you need to be prepared to set up your environment to help your adult dog to not be annoyed by a puppy. If you have an elderly dog this is a very crucial consideration too. You may even have an elderly family member that lives with you or visits a lot. A large strong breed or puppy teeth and claws can be a lot more management here too as they can pose a risk of injury. It doesn’t mean it’s not possible, it just needs to be considered too. Puppies have poorer emotion and arousal regulation and ability to switch off. If you’re adding a puppy to your home, you need to set up your environment so that the adult dog has very controlled, positive and managed interactions with the puppy so that they don't end up developing a resentment or a negative association with the puppy.

Choosing a breed and a personality that is going to match is really important too. If you have a dog that can tend to get a bit grumpy at other dogs or they may be older, a smaller breed, have pain issues etc, you're not going to want to get a boisterous strong breed or a large breed that will exacerbate those injuries. You also want to get a personality that is going to match well. You don’t want to have a lazy dog entering it’s retirement with a working breed puppy that may try to herd them constantly or bark excessively to attempt to get them to move. Behavioural characteristics such as any resource guarding issues or other aggression concerns needs to be watched for closely too. If you have a dog that already has any behavioural concerns, that will enhance the likelihood of conflict. If you have a dog that is a bit more bossy, you may want to avoid getting another dog that is very confident and shows bossy behaviours around other dogs. Getting a good match in personality characteristics is very important and you may want to involve a trainer in helping you assess this.

If you want to get a dog with a very specific personality, and you know that they won't suit your dog. It does not mean that it's impossible to pair the dogs together, it is just a lot of a longer road and one with an unknown outcome of whether they will get along. You also need to implement a lot more management at home to ensure that there is a less likelihood of conflict occurring when you introduce them and work on building their relationship. You would do things like an initial meet and greet in a neutral environment, a large open environment where the dogs are on longer leads and walking in parallel so that it can be a very relaxed, fluid greeting where there is no restriction or tense leads. You don't want to have a new dog come rushing into your dog's household in a confined space and challenging them over access to their most treasured resources. Small periods of time together in larger open spaces that are kept positive and safe such as going for walks together and then brought back into the house and having rest time apart with lots of things like enrichment toys, and settling on mats away from each other or behind baby gates for instance. This helps to reinforce being calm and relaxed together while sharing space. Gradually introducing time off lead together outside, then relaxed inside time with the new dog on lead but existing dog off lead and so on. If there are any concerns regarding any of the dogs’ behaviour however, getting a session with a trainer to help support this would be strongly advised.

Other factors to consider when choosing another dog are that the opposite sex generally have less conflict, and two entire females are often the worst combination. Dogs of the same age, gender, breed/size are always more difficult also. You may hear the term ‘littermate syndrome’ thrown about. This is a label that was given to the challenge of having dogs that are developmentally similar in age and size growing up together, it can predispose the relationship to having more challenges.

You might find that your dog tends to like other dogs of particular breed groups. Retrievers for example can tend to like other retrievers, or a working breed they may tend to match well with other working breeds. You might meet and greet a few different types of dogs. You might like to consider going to a dog show or a meet up of a particular breed to get an idea of the different breed traits and characteristics.

You may hope to have a match of dogs that love playing hard together, but if they struggle to take time off and rest you may need to police play time more strongly so that nothing escalates into a fight or neither of them get sore. I will be choosing a new dog soon but in my situation, I quite like confident, strong, high energy dogs that could do dog sports. But, that's not going to match well with Benny's personality, it's going to be more likely that there will be conflict. So I want a dog that is more likely to defer to Benny having possession of everything to avoid conflict. I will also have a young baby so a big, strong pup that is very active and mouthy will be a lot harder with a toddler, not to mention unsafe.

Another consideration is your interest in another dog and if you want a dog for particular activities like dog sports for example. If you get a working breed dog or a dog with higher drive and energy levels, what time do you have available to meet the needs of that dog. If you don’t meet their needs you will end up with behavioural issues and it’s also not doing that dog any favours not allowing them to reach their potential.

Sometimes as humans we worry if we have an only child that they don’t have companionship. If we think about having another dog then we worry about can we give the same amount of love to another dog when we love our only dog to pieces already? Are we going to feel guilty that that takes love away from the current animal? Would they prefer a sibling to play with or would they prefer to be an only child? There is no right or wrong answer. It has to be a decision that’s right for everyone in the home (human and dog), you’ll feel guilt no matter what, these are all totally normal dog-lover thoughts :) When I had Thomas I was really worried about Benny resenting him because my time was taken up so much with him. It’s important to have that one on one time with each too, especially your first dog/child. I get my partner to mind Thomas so I can have that special one on one time with Benny too, even if it’s just going to a park for a snuggle, a play or for him to visit his favourite friends without Thomas. When I am taken up by Thomas I try to ask others to give Benny special time or give him loads of enrichment things so he doesn’t have a negative association. Making sure his routine and fun, special things aren’t diminished by the addition. It’s a juggle and it takes time but it’s a commitment adding another being to our home and it’s important they still get to have that one on one consideration and love. You need to nurture that relationship you have with your first dog too. Having a second animal may also mean less money available and may restrict your ability to holiday and do other things you enjoy. Getting people to mind two dogs is harder than getting someone to mind one. You may need to get a bigger car! The money you have available for pet insurance and the health care that you can give them may be impacted negatively too. There is going to be pros and cons to both and these are considerations we make when thinking of having more children It's just a matter of which way you feel outweighs the other.

If you want help or support in making a decision about what type of dog might match your dog's personality or your family's needs, please feel free to reach out to me or to another trainer in your area. To help work through this with you of what might work might work with your dog might work for your family and how to do gradual introductions over time. Some dogs may cope with just getting or be more tolerable. Have lots of different types of dogs walking into your house. Other dogs may not be more may not be tolerable of that experience what's going to be the right answer is what is the best for your family and situation