My eco solution to rat problems

[CatieB]

We have never had two dogs previously but are seriously considering it. Any advice welcome but this is the background.

 

We currently have a two and half year old female shih tzu. We have had her since she was a puppy she is happy and sleeps in a crate.

 

Years ago we had a lovely spaniel, snoop. We had him a number of years but our circumstances changed and he was left alone for very long periods every day. We made the decision to rehome him. We know we made the right decision as we gave him to a dog mad friend who is a stay at home mum and he is rightly living the life of luxury. They are all very happy.

 

Within a year of rehoming snoop our circumstances changed again as my husband got a new job and he now works from home. Hence we got our shih tzu Coco.

 

My husband particularly misses a spaniel. Coco is not one for much exercise and certainly doesnt want to go jumping through fields and training spaniel style. My son is dog mad and loves to rough and tumble with friends more robust dogs. He does with Coco to. So there we are. We were thinking that a second dog would be company for coco husband and son. Husband would love a dog he can get out with away from the work.We have looked at cocker spaniels and are also considering a cross cocker x poodle.

 

My dog mad colleague is very vocal and anti. She says what if our circumstances change again and the dog needs to be left again. Whilst I know what she means I cannot predict the future and don't foresee that scenario but it has made me think we need to steer away from working strain dogs. Any other pointers and thoughts welcome.

 

Can people tell me the downsides of two? How do you introduce? Do we have two crates or eventually a big one for both.

Anything else to think about. Thank you

[CatieB]

Well we have done it now. We've put a deposit on a sproodle. Little ginger or orange boy, he comes from a welsh springer mum and miniature poodle dad. He isn't ready to leave for another week or so. So now the planning.

 

Can anyone who has a taken on a second dog please give me some pointers about how best to do introductions. Coco has her own crate. I assume we should get another for the new puppy. Should they be in the same room or not. Will we ultimately be working towards one big crate or forever keep them separate.

 

How is it best to transport two dogs in a car. With coco alone she has a fabric type crate but that isn't big enough for two dogs and the car isn't big enough for two such crates.

 

Thank you

[mollyripkim]

Congratulations,bet you can't wait, sounds like he is going to be very pretty, I love the deep orange of the welsh springers. I have always had two dogs, three for several years, and never found it to be a problem. My two now, a cocker and a dachshund play and sleep together but have separate beds if they need it. We did have a crate when we got our little yorkie 10 years ago now as the cocker at the time was elderly. We have a custom made crate to fit the boot of the car which they both travel in. It's nice as it's a stable door so good for putting leads on and they can't jump out until the bottom but is opened.

With regards to intros take it slowly, we put the puppy in the garden and allowed the older dog out to meet her. For ten days Pebbles the cocker would have nothing to do with the dachs, wouldn't acknowledge her in any way and would leave the room if necessary. Then one day I heard a racket in the kitchen, raced in worried there was a fight but they were playing. Pebbles is now 9 and lulu is 4 and they are best friends.

I guess you know the temperament of Coco best so tailor intros to her and don't let her miss out on fuss when everyone is excited over a new puppy.

All my dogs have always been fed together with no problems but again just see how coco is, some dogs can be protective over their food.

Anyway,sorry for rabbiting on, just enjoy your new family member and don't forget to intro to chickens, it's easier when they are little.

[kinsk]

How exciting!

 

Last summer we were give an 18 month old jack russell, already had a 7 year old rescue rottie. We live in a farm environment though so have pleanty of space. We just let them run around together and sort themselves out, within reason obviously, we were there to step in if needed.

 

For the first few weeks the JR slept in the kennel he came with, he'd lived in it all his life so it was familiar to him, but eventually they slept in the same bed. We have a 'dog room' where their night time beds are, they had one each but shared, and likewise when they are in with us there are two beds. They were always fed seperately though as the rottie had food issues.

 

We lost the rottie earlier in the year and a few weeks ago got a JR puppy. We brought her home and introduced her straight away. Max spent the first 24 hours absolutely obsessed with her, but I think that was more that he could smell her mother on her. He sleeps in the big bed in the dog room and at the moment she has a bed in a cage. During the day/evening when they are with in with us there are still two 'day beds' but most of the time they share. They get fed together side by side, took a bit of supervising to start with, only to stop them swapping bowls as they are on different food.

 

Travelling wise I have a cage in the boot which they both go in together, my husband has a van and they both just sit on the front seat together.

 

Keep up whatever routine you have and let the pup fit around that, and let the dogs work out their standing with as little interfearance as possible. Until the pup has had all it's jabs you'll need to keep the other dog confined to barracks which can be hard.

 

Stock up on kitchen roll and enjoy!

[Grandmashazzie]

Enjoy,as said let them meet outside first and let them get to know each other.We have always had two or three dogs and never had problems.They are pack animals and I think it is nice for dog to have canine company,that said you are not their best friend in the way a single dog might depend on you.

[Purplemaniacs]

We have introduced a black lab puppy to a very old cairn and then a silver lab puppy to the very very old cairn and the black lab who was 4 by then.

 

Both puppies were just old enough to leave their mum each time. A friend told us to use an old jumper and let the original dog sleep on it so it gets the dogs scent and also has your scent. When we collected the puppy we wrapped pup in the jumper so puppy got some of our scent.

 

I think we put the original dog or dogs on a lead for the introduction and then supervised time together, make sure the original dog has time on their own.

 

Both our labs went in crates and still do but the cairn never did, we inherited him when OH's Dad died and he had been rather spoiled

 

Good luck

 

Chrissie

 

[Mercedes55]

I think as your shih tzu is still quite young it shouldn't be too difficult. We also have a shih tzu, she is just over 2yrs old. When we got her we already had a chocolate labrador who was 13yrs old at the time. Lots of people told me that having a young dog would be nice for our older dog but in reality we did have a lot of problems.

 

Our older dog wasn't interested in playing with a 5mth old puppy. Our puppy kept eating not only her own poo, but our labrador's poo too, apparently quite a common shih tzu trait. We had to feed our puppy in her crate as our labrador would try to eat both lots of food and due to the poo eating we also ended up fencing off our lawn so that our labrador was allowed on the lawn but our shih tzu was only allowed on the patio. I can tell you there were days when I was tearing my hair out with opening and closing doors and gates!

 

Sadly only 9mths after we got our shih tzu our older dog developed cancer and we had to have her PTS. With hindsight I think she was possibly too old to cope with a puppy and it probably wasn't fair on her.

 

However your circumstances do seem to be very different and I look forward to seeing pics of your lovely new addition

[CatieB]

The family have just sent me the most gorgeous photo of our new puppy but I don't have photobucket or anything similar. Is there any other way to share?

[quickcluck]

tried facebook?