Considerations When Homing Two Or More Dogs

If you are a dog lover, you may feel that one dog is not enough.However, before you add a second dog to your household, there are a few important points you should consider.

Firstly, you need to have a serious think about the personality and character traits of your dog.To avoid fights, you should seek to pair your dog with a dog of a dis-similar nature, that way they should be able to establish which dog is the most dominant.If you do adopt a dominant dog and your existing pet is also dominant you face the prospect of daily battles. Conversely, if you do own a quiet and submissive dog you should avoid homing a very dominant second dog as it will more than likely bully your existing pet.The ideal situation would be to have two dogs with a similar, placid nature that is neither dominating nor submissive.

Size is the second important considerationIf you have a Yorkshire Terrier, you may not want to buy a Boxer puppy.A large dog will find it easy to hurt a much smaller breed, even if it is unintentional.If you already own a big dog it can be possible to add a smaller dog to the home, but only if the big dog has a placid nature.

You then need to considerer gender. Two un-neutered females are unlikely to get on with each other. You really need to think about neutering your female dog before you add another female to the mix. A male puppy may be the best partner for a neutered female because even after the operation a girl dog can remain aggressive towards other females.(Of course if you do pair a male dog with a female you need to make sure one of them is neutered or it won’t be long before a new litter of puppies arrives!)

Age is another important consideration and you should avoid pairing a very old dog with a puppy.Your older dog may be less active than when he was a pup himself and may not be interested in playing with a puppy.Instead, you may want to consider adding a more settled and mature dog to the family.

Some breeds of dogs have more trouble accepting a new puppy than other breeds.Toy dogs can often be soiled, jealous and keen for their owners attention. Smaller dogs will be unhappy about you introducing a puppy to the home.More aggressive and dominant dogs like pit bulls are also not good at accepting a new dog into the home.However, each dog is an individual and some dogs who are members of these breeds have no problem accepting a new puppy.

Your last consideration is financial, so make sure you can actually afford a second dog.Dog’s are not cheap so make sure you can afford to pay for the dog food, vets bills, vaccinations and accessories.

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