Be prepared for new and new obligations and responsibilities that your new dog brings into your life, such as medications, food allergies and other health problems that your first dog did not bring.
In America, 37% of dog owners own more than a dog. Owning multiple dogs can be a lot of fun for you and your dogs, but owning multiple dogs also brings new challenges. Before you jump the gun it is important that you consider the pros and cons of owning multiple dogs.
Evaluate the behaviour and the relationship of your current dog. If you experience behavior problems that arise from a lack of leadership, a second dog won’t fix it. Also, if you have no control over your current dog it will only be worse with another dog that also jumps on people, blunders continuously and steals from your counters. Preferably, your current dog behaves and is manageable on its own.
Are you ready to train another dog? Remind yourself of all the effort and time you put into training your first dog – are you ready for round two? Note that once you train your second dog, the training then switches to training your two dogs together. Extra training drills have to be done to filter the wrinkles of hedging them at the same time, separating who you call to you and who should remain in the down, and many others.
It is not going to be exactly the same. Remember how much lifestyle change went on when you bought your first dog? Going from one dog to two will be a lot easier. You still have to plan and adjust your schedule to feed and run the dogs, you still have to make the boarding arrangements when going out of town and you still have to vacuum all this dog hair up. But be prepared for new and new responsibilities and obligations that your new dog brings into your life, such as medications, food allergies and other health issues that your first dog did not come with.
There are no guarantees that your dogs will always get along. Although your dog will play well with others at the park, bringing in a new dog will be different from your home. Are you prepared to work through topics such as a proper introduction, power struggles and resource control?
These are just a few things to consider when looking at a second dog. Talk to your friends, family members and colleagues who own more than one dog and ask them for advice, opinions and suggestions for having more than one dog. Make sure that you are prepared when it comes to being a new owner.
