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Old September 15th, 2011, 12:21 PM
Hollys_Mum Hollys_Mum is offline
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Get another dog?

Hi there,
I am a complete newbie to this site and am just looking for some general info and some opinions.

I have a 4 year old female german shepherd mix and I love her to bits, she is my baby. My husband and I recently moved into a house out of the city with a big back yard and so now I would like to adopt another dog. My husband seems against this idea because of additional costs and he thinks that holly wouldnt like having another dog around.

I am of the opinion that holly is lonely when we are at work and having another dog would be company for her and she would like it. But sometime she can get quite jealous if i pet other dogs and also sometimes barks and gets her hackles up if we pass other dogs in the street. My other argument is that now we have a bigger house we have the space for another dog and I desperately want to give another shelter dog a home. Until recently I volunteered in an animal shelter and and it breaks my heart seeing them there.

There would be added costs, especially since my husband and I are english and so go back to england and have to pay for holly to go to a doggy hotel....so the costs would double....

What are your thoughts on having 2 dogs and does anyone have any good arguments for me to use against my husband
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Old September 15th, 2011, 12:45 PM
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Dog Dancer Dog Dancer is offline
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I have to agree that having a second dog for company for Holly would be nice. That said,you seem to have some issues with her that should be addressed before you get a new dog. Have you done some serious obedience training with her, with the help of a handler? If not I would do that first. She should not be raising her hackles at dogs that come near you, you would be looking for trouble if she's overly possessive of you but you brought in a new dog already. As for costs, boarding costs may not double, but they would go up. Most places will give you a discount if you put two together in one kennel. That said, your food costs will double, your vet costs will double also. Then again, so will your pleasure!

Most importantly though is that you and your husband BOTH have to be on board and on the same page about getting a new pet. If money is a factor then waiting a bit longer may be a good idea.

Welcome to the board, we'd love to see pics of Holly.
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Old September 15th, 2011, 01:07 PM
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Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
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Welcome to the board

We recently went through a similar situation. We have an old boy who will be 12 (Malamute/GSDx) on Christmas. We knew he was lonely while we were working, but were very skeptical about getting another dog. Thorin (our 12 yr old) was very protective of all 3 of us (hubby, mother in law and myself). He went to dogs parks when he was younger, but got attacked by a couple of Rotties, so we didn't take him back. He was not socialized with other dogs at all, and it was entirely our fault. But we decided to take a chance and figured we could enlist the help of a personal trainer who would come to our home if things didn't go well. We got a 7.5 week old Malamute puppy. We had the puppy crated. We had to do a very slow introduction (took about 2 months) where there was constant supervision, but they are now the best of friends and completely in love with each other . This happened last April. Our old boy just went through chemo and I would have to say the toughest thing about it was keeping them seperated for the first 3 days after each session. They both get so depressed when they are apart now
I can't say whether or not it would go that well for you, just giving you our experience!
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"Obey my dog!" - Mugatu

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"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" - Ok... whoever said this has never had a sick or special needs baby. They ARE our whole life!

R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
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Old September 15th, 2011, 01:12 PM
Hollys_Mum Hollys_Mum is offline
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I know she shouldn't be behaving aggressively towards other dogs, and she never used to, its more of a recent thing and now its like I expect her to do it and it makes me worry and so the problem gets worse. She doesnt always. On top of the she is very skittish aswell, a bag flapping in a tree and she'll watch it like a hawk skirting around it, moving a chair and she'll leap out the way as fast as possible, sometimes yelping, even though NOTHING even came near to touching her. Hmmmm I am making myself sound like a bad dog owner. She is so loving though, loves to cuddle, loves to walk and and run and play outside and is generally a good, well behaved dog. She has doggy friends too, a best bud that she has occasionally stayed over with, they played non stop for hours then crashed out and went to sleep together curled up.

I suppose you're right, these issues should be sorted before getting another dog.

I would never get a dog without my husband, it would be a joint decision in every aspect, it took me months to persuade him to adopt holly..... he'd never had a dog before. Now he says its the best decision he ever made

So if we do decide to get another dog, would you suggest another female or a male? And should we get a dog thats similar in age? Or does it not matter?

Thanks for the reply!!
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Old September 15th, 2011, 01:15 PM
Hollys_Mum Hollys_Mum is offline
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Rgeurts - thanks for telling me about your experience! I am glad things worked out so well for you!
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Old September 15th, 2011, 01:18 PM
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Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollys_Mum View Post
I know she shouldn't be behaving aggressively towards other dogs, and she never used to, its more of a recent thing and now its like I expect her to do it and it makes me worry and so the problem gets worse. She doesnt always. On top of the she is very skittish aswell, a bag flapping in a tree and she'll watch it like a hawk skirting around it, moving a chair and she'll leap out the way as fast as possible, sometimes yelping, even though NOTHING even came near to touching her. Hmmmm I am making myself sound like a bad dog owner. She is so loving though, loves to cuddle, loves to walk and and run and play outside and is generally a good, well behaved dog. She has doggy friends too, a best bud that she has occasionally stayed over with, they played non stop for hours then crashed out and went to sleep together curled up.

I suppose you're right, these issues should be sorted before getting another dog.

I would never get a dog without my husband, it would be a joint decision in every aspect, it took me months to persuade him to adopt holly..... he'd never had a dog before. Now he says its the best decision he ever made

So if we do decide to get another dog, would you suggest another female or a male? And should we get a dog thats similar in age? Or does it not matter?

Thanks for the reply!!
Holly sounds SO much like our Thorin! He's very neurotic as well. We have always called him our "Prozac puppy" lol
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"Obey my dog!" - Mugatu

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" - Ok... whoever said this has never had a sick or special needs baby. They ARE our whole life!

R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
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Old September 15th, 2011, 01:24 PM
Hollys_Mum Hollys_Mum is offline
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I am trying to post a picture of my Holly Dog, hopefully this works...

She is wearing my scarf ... I don't usually dress her in my clothes !
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Old September 15th, 2011, 02:17 PM
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Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
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What a doll!!
Holly has a very pretty face. And she looks very fashionable in her moms scarf
__________________
"Obey my dog!" - Mugatu

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" - Ok... whoever said this has never had a sick or special needs baby. They ARE our whole life!

R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
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Old September 15th, 2011, 02:23 PM
Hollys_Mum Hollys_Mum is offline
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Thankyou, I think she's beautiful!
And I am glad to hear my dog isnt the only neurotic one
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Old September 15th, 2011, 03:14 PM
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Dog Dancer Dog Dancer is offline
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Oh sorry guys, we have the neurotic market cornered at my house! My Halo sounds just like Holly, who by the way is fabulously gorgeous! I don't think you sound like a bad mom, but it's very easy for our dogs to feed off of our behaviours. If we expect them to attack another dog, our body tells them that and they do it. This is part of why I think you would benefit from training first if you have not already done it. A good group class teaches both of you, not just the dog. A good instructor will instill confidence in YOU that you can control your dog and earn the dogs respect and trust.

We got a second dog when Shadow was three years old and had severe separation anxiety. We thought a second dog would help. No it did not!! That said, we love them both to pieces. We have two females, some people say that's a bad mix, I've never had a problem with it. Shadow was three and we adopted Halo as a puppy. Shadow took to mothering her like she was her own, and it all went well. To this day (eleven years later) they're still inseperable and Shadow is not fond of other dogs. Much like Rgeurts she was also attacked by another large dog and since then is not good with unknown dogs.

Glad you will have your hubby on board before you do anything. That's most important. Maybe start saving some money now for vet care, spaying, etc. while you do some training with Holly and then you'll be better prepared for the expense and both be on board for another dog at the same time. I love having two dogs.
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