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Hey all,
I've been quite busy and not had much time to hit the forums. I was wondering if some of you with multi-dog homes could chime in with your experiences. Everyone I have spoken with have said 2 is easier than one. I have Bambam who is a male GSD/mix about 20 months old (he'll be 2 in October). Well currently fostering/adopting Penny a 6 month old rescue Aussie Shepard/cattledog mix. Sweet girl, posted pics in the pic forum. She's not housebroken yet and with Bambam I took 2 weeks off form work to devote time to him and was able to housetrain him in 2 days... Due to circumstances, I actually had 5 days off to devote to Penny, but she had already been adopted... and within a week the woman who adopted was already wanting to give her back So now i can't take the time off again.. When I first got Bambam, I felt like I wanted to go out and adopt EVERY dog and give them a home.. and now... well I'm not sure how I feel about just having an additional pup in the house.. I think the house training is really bothering me and our schedules are different where we don't have the same home time as 2 years ago. So If anyone can share their experience with bringing in a new member, I'd appreciate hearing it. Also any other input as well. As far as an update on Bambam.. He's doing great, he's absolutely awesome, I love him so much He still barks at strangers but now that I know his behaviour I can curtail it before it gets out of hand or warn people to not come up and pet him on his head, or stare at him(that seems to really set him off). Everything is good, I think I may have just become accustomed to how easy it is with Bam now, that having a high energy puppy in the house is upsetting that 'comfort zone' but maybe that's what I need.. I was thinking about it the other night and was thinking "Oh no! I'm getting old and set in my ways!"
I wouldn't say two is easier than one, but two is definitely more fun than one! If I could, I'd have three or four! Fortunately, my lease agreement allows me to only have two pets, and no more.
As for our "story" I did post about how we managed to integrate Dottie into the household. It was a bit rocky at first, but it all worked out. You can read about it here:
I would say that two is more than twice the work, hassle and exhaustion of one, and I would be a one-dog household if they were not working dogs. As it is, I need one young'un coming on, one who knows the job inside out, and one old'un gently winding down, as a minimum.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
I did read your experience.. The 2 dogs did provide quite some entertainment playing together last night.. They were playing "King of the Couch" and she was flopping around all over bambam like a fish out of water and he was trying rolling all over on her. Then she went and plopped down to catch her breath across the room and sat up on couch and put his rear in the ear in the classic 'let's play' position and started barking at her to come back!
I also think, I'm anthropomorphizing bambam a bit. I scared that I'm betraying him as being the baby in the house and he'll get jealous or feel left out.
Its fab, to be honest it is massively hard work and instead of having one dog living with you, you end up living with them, as one as one of them and they do gang up on you. The training can be difficult, training individually and then together and from our experience (ours are lurchers) if one sees something and goes the whole lot can just vanish and thats quite scarey- its a constant management issue and you cant really just chill and let them get on with things because their games are destructive, they steal, break into the feed bins etc.
Making it sound quite negative.
BUT
It is amazing, watching them run play and interact together is totally cool, even when they are digging up the garden or doing a wall of death around the living room. Muliple dogs does mean more than double the bad bits of dog ownership but there is also a collossial amount of fun to be had.
We've always been a multi-dog household. The weenies came as a package, so we've always had two. We were two for about 7 months then we got Bruiser and we became three. We were a tumultuous three for a year and a month and then we got Dixie--and then we were four. We stayed four for about three weeks and became 11 We were 11 for another 8-10 weeks or so and then we were 8. We've been 8 for a month and a half or so and hopefully will continue shrinking back down to 4. At this point, the amount of extra work has just become sadly, morbidly humorous. I don't think it would be AS bad if 4 of the 8 weren't stinky little puppies. If we were bringing them in 1 at a time I think it would be easier, cleaner, and a bit less stinky.
Oooooooh Leigha its going to feel so quiet and empty in your house when there are just the four left!
Mm - anyway Ive got five here, ranging from nearly 2, 3 and a half, 5, 9 and 10 years old - it is harder work than one! I think once you get to three, four isnt that big of a difference to three and so on, but everyone has their own suitable 'max. doggy saturation point' - mines five with these current dogs. If i had just deerhounds or just saluki/afghany types... it could be considerably more. If i had just tibetan terriers i doubt id want more than two!
Anyway I reckon what you are feeling right now is the 'oh no... what have i done' stage - which is where totally sane people realise that they have just signed themselves up for another couple of years of trouble and problem solving and confusion and frustration.....
That goes away. Honestly..... it does, but I think its a good sign, it tells me when someone has that, they HAVE learned from the past, they just remembered how much hard work it was! (If people dont have this AT ALL they tend to be the folk that have 97 cats and a house that smells of cats and cabbage....)
You have done much of this before and you will find a way round the new issues - say to yourself when times are a bit sticky 'this too shall pass' and you are already seeing the joy and fun of having a new dog around the house to play with Bambam, and Ill bet.. to teach you even MORE about dogs!
We are loving seeing Ellie blossom into a confident happy dog - shes been here just under three weeks and it is going really nicely. Shes sussed out how all the other dogs 'operate', shes really getting the hang of how the human beanz operate and this last few days shes been doing 'Sofas and sleeping on them 101'.... apparently her previous owner would have LOVED her to get on the sofas but she never did - here.. m well last night i couldnt prise her off it! (I didnt particularly try... i left her to it!). It is so nice finding out who this new dog is and how she thinks and behaves and seeing what shes going to teach ME!
I have had the exact same feeling lately... One dog for 2 years was easy. She was pretty much 'insync" with me - I could take her anyway, do pretty much anything and she just "went along" - that was until we moved house and she became very unsettled- we ended up getting another dog for two reasons 1. My partner wanted a dog of his own to form that special bond and 2. It was apparent Ushi was not happy at home alone in the new house. (I know you should nto solve a dog problem with getting another dog, but in all honesty, I beleive she was bored and lonely and a companion for the hours I was at work has made her a much happier dog)
Anyway- I am getting off track... 2 dogs is like 4 times as much work (like the others said- seperating for training purposes, double feed and clean up and bathing and health care and vet bills .. the list goes on) - I think back to the easy days of one dog and think to myself I must be crazy to have set out with a new puppy and new house when I already have to contend with 2 horses and a pretty demanding career and trying to fit it all in... but to be honest... I LOVE them both to bits and peices, and I would never change a either of them for the world (I need ti improve on a few behavioural issue, but I woud never change there little personalities for anythinf).
They are insane together at times, but its a happy insanity, they hardly ever diagree, even from the first meet and greet. - The biggest problem is that they 'gang up" on me - two against one means that the Recall I had so down pat with ushi is out the window, because she is chasing that Rabbit with her new Buddy Zeph.. why would she come back to boring old Mum !! - Gone are the days of off leash strolls in the fields... I cant even take them both on a walk together or I get dragged if they see another dog ! (a behaviour I am working on) so now my pleasant stroll is now a double whammy of training, and I cant feed the horses and have my dog by my side anymore, so there is a new fence to be installed, oh, a new one... vistors are no longer ok .. oh the list goes but the long and sort of it is, I would still make the choice to have another puppy givent he time again, and if I could, I woudl probably have more dogs, cats, horses - because I love animals and being around them... god help me if I ever dont have a full time job- I will be spending all my time with four legged friends !!
I initially grew up with one dog, a terrier. And then we got our Poodle when the terrier was around 11. It was like having grandpa dog (with heath issues) and an infant the same time! A couple years later, our terrier passed on and went back to having a one dog household. Later, a chi-poo puppy joined us.
Currently, the Poodle is 8 and chi-poo is a little over 2. They are closer than my poodle and terrier were but do sometimes have boundary issues when it comes to toys. I'm working on training out the resource guarding. I've also noticed that they both teach other things---such as pawing at the doorway to signal "potty" or proper dog-dog communication.
That is also one concern I have.. Bambam has become so 'easy' and I'm afraid that training will come undone with the new puppy.. The house training issue, I'm afraid that Bambam may start to mark over spots where she has piddled on the carpet (only once so far). Since I see him do this outside ALL the time..
Sometimes you can get lucky and the "good" dog can influence the "bad" one, but I don't know if I would risk it knowing it could also go the other way around. She seems lovely though, Rob. Tough situation. Good luck.
Noobs wrote:Sometimes you can get lucky and the "good" dog can influence the "bad" one, but I don't know if I would risk it knowing it could also go the other way around. She seems lovely though, Rob. Tough situation. Good luck.
We were actually very lucky with this in that Bruiser is our "bad dog" (please know that I really don't think my dog is bad) and Dixie is the "good dog" and she has actually done a lot to mellow Bruiser out. He's not really a fence runner anymore and doesn't show a lot of the same behaviors that he used to.
Leigha wrote:
We were actually very lucky with this in that Bruiser is our "bad dog" (please know that I really don't think my dog is bad) and Dixie is the "good dog" and she has actually done a lot to mellow Bruiser out. He's not really a fence runner anymore and doesn't show a lot of the same behaviors that he used to.
That's really good to know, Leigha. And a relief, huh?
So now i can't take the time off again.. When I first got Bambam, I felt like I wanted to go out and adopt EVERY dog and give them a home.. and now... well I'm not sure how I feel about just having an additional pup in the house.. I think the house training is really bothering me and our schedules are different where we don't have the same home time as 2 years ago. So If anyone can share their experience with bringing in a new member, I'd appreciate hearing it. Also any other input as well. As far as an update on Bambam.. He's doing great, he's absolutely awesome, I love him so much He still barks at strangers but now that I know his behaviour I can curtail it before it gets out of hand or warn people to not come up and pet him on his head, or stare at him(that seems to really set him off). Everything is good, I think I may have just become accustomed to how easy it is with Bam now, that having a high energy puppy in the house is upsetting that 'comfort zone' but maybe that's what I need.. I was thinking about it the other night and was thinking "Oh no! I'm getting old and set in my ways!"
If I could, I'd have three or four! 
Fortunately, my lease agreement allows me to only have two pets, and no more.
