Unforeseen Consequences of 2 dogs?

2391 Views 27 Replies 20 Participants Last post by BajaOklahoma, Oct 25, 2009

bert

Discussion Starter · Oct 21, 2009

For the past two years I have been living with friends who have both had dogs. I have a 1 year and 4 month old golden that is great. He has always gotten along well with the other dogs. I will be moving away soon and was considering getting another dog/golden since it seems he is a lot happier when he has another dog to play with when I am at work or away.
Other then the obvious consequences of getting another dog, such as additional food, vet bills, added complications when traveling what in your experience has been an unforeseen consequence of having more than one dog?

Although it wouldn’t be a puppy (probably over a year old) I figured this was the best place to post this.

Your input and opinions are welcome and wanted !

1 - 20 of 28 Posts

Debles

· #2 · Oct 21, 2009

Besides the financial, I see no downside.

We have had two goldens since 1987 (not the same ones) but almost always two.
In 2000,Sophie died at 14 when Selka was one and we waited three years to get Gunner. Now Selka is ten and Gunner is 6.

I don't think traveling with two is any different than one. Except maybe taking more food. : ) Mine are both obedience trained and no problem on walks,traveling to relatives or to the mountains where we go often.

Also they love each other, entertain each other when we are gone for a few hours or like today, when I am sick. : )

Good Luck!!!

missmarstar

· #3 · Oct 21, 2009

Other than what you already listed, not really anything. I do think its more of an inconvenience if I want to take them anywhere while my fiance is gone... its much more difficult for me to take both myself than if I had another person to help, or only one dog. I also feel bad taking only one dog somewhere and leaving the other at home alone so usually its bring both or bring none.

Other than that, I love having 2 and think they both loving having a buddy and I will always be a multi-dog household now.

Loboto-Me

· #4 · Oct 21, 2009

The only thing I think about is the "what if" situation. If something ever happened and we lost our home and had to rent, it would be so much harder to find a place that would rent to an owner of 2 dogs. It's hard enough to find ppl who will rent to a 1 dog owner, let alone 2 dogs. I told my husband I'll live in our camper instead of getting rid of either one of them.

missmarstar

· #5 · Oct 21, 2009

Loboto-Me said:
The only thing I think about is the "what if" situation. If something ever happened and we lost our home and had to rent, it would be so much harder to find a place that would rent to an owner of 2 dogs. It's hard enough to find ppl who will rent to a 1 dog owner, let alone 2 dogs. I told my husband I'll live in our camper instead of getting rid of either one of them.

Oh yea, that's a good one... definitely a factor to consider too. The one slightly good thing is, many landlords are willing to make exceptions for friendly Golden Retrievers (rather than a couple bully breed dogs) atleast in my area. But still, much more difficult to find housing if you rent with two larger sized dogs than one.

Debles

· #6 · Oct 21, 2009

I'd live in the car to keep my dogs. But there are plenty of places in our city who rent to people with dogs. My youngest daughter and boyfriend rent and they have two dogs (who aren't obedience trained either)

Allan's Girl

· #7 · Oct 21, 2009

Well, other than a lot of unforeseen smiles, the only thing I can think of is if you are renting. Sometimes they will allow one dog but not more. I also had had two dogs for a number of years. Because they are pac animals by natural they do crave another dog, but many do well with their human pacs alone.

wagondog

· #8 · Oct 21, 2009

I am always in the more the merrier crowd with one exception....if the additional dog if taken in only for company for the present dog... that is a bad reason. So many one dog owners feel the need to entertain their dog with a playmate and that just isn't necessary. Very often the second dog brings a host of problems to the house that never existed with one dog. think carefully!
WagonDog

FlyingQuizini

· #9 · Oct 21, 2009

My only add is that if you have two dogs, I think you should still teach them to be OKAY w/o each other. Fast forward 14 years.... you lose one, you don't want the other to be completely lost emotionally and stressed out. I see that happen a lot with clients... so they go get a puppy... and now a 15 year old dog has to put with a puppy, which usually isn't high on their list of things to enjoy.

I have two dogs myself, but I alternate who goes with me so that one is left home alone. They're fine with it now; it's become "normal" to them.

FlyingQuizini

· #10 · Oct 21, 2009

Oh, and if they engage in rough play a lot at home, it *can* in some dogs, lead to dog arousal toward other dogs outside of the house.

Loisiana

· #11 · Oct 21, 2009

It can be a huge pain if they do not get along. Even if a dog normally gets along fine with other dogs, there can be a particular dog it doesn't like, or it can decide that it doesn't like having to share its home. It's an issue that I'm working out now. I just added a fourth dog to my house, and my oldest male, who always got along fine with my other dogs, decided that he did not like this new one. While I do have a plan to manage this and make it better, it is a pain in the mean time because I have to keep hawk eyes on the two of them at all times they're together, or else I have to seperate them.If it is two girls that don't get along, that is an even tougher one. Females don't tend to make up once they've become enemies. I know of several people who have females that must be kept seperated at all times because as soon as they get in a room together there is blood shed. I'm not mentioning this to discourage you from getting a second dog; I can't imagine ever going back to only one dog myself. I was just putting out that it is a possibility.

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esSJay

· #12 · Oct 21, 2009

I really want to add a second dog to our family next year when Molson is a little older, but my boyfriend doesn't think that we have enough room in our house for another (I disagree - our house is not small w/4 bedrooms + a yard and only 2 people).

He also says that we will never be able to go away because it's so much harder to find someone to watch 2 large dogs.

I admit, he does have a good point. Having just one dog, it is really easy to find someone to take care of him and it would be easy to adopt him into their routine, but other than my mom, I can't think of any friends who would be willing to take on 2.

GoldenJoyx'stwo

· #13 · Oct 21, 2009

I love having my two, but I've recently found I have to do some reconditioning training with Shadow. Shadow and Tucker are now 7. I need to do this training without Tucker. When I go out the door it's not so easy leaving one behind. It's also much easier IMHO to train one dog to be the perfect dog at a time. If your dog is now perfectly trained, I'd say go for it. If not, train first, bring in number two later.

Loboto-Me

· #14 · Oct 21, 2009

Oh Kim that's so true! Sometimes I wish I'd have taken that advice with getting Duke when Sophie was 7 months old. Seems that her quick learning ability slowed right down when he came into the picture. All they wanted to do was play play play. I still have a hard time separating the two of them, it's my issue more than theirs, true, they don't like to be away from each other, but I've humanized the feeling for them and it hurts to see the other one cry when one is gone.

buckeyegoldenmom

· #15 · Oct 21, 2009

I love having two dogs, but in all honesty....

It is harder to find someone to help watch both of them...I hire a pet sitter when necessary or pay the big bucks for boarding times two.

More vet bills and grooming bills and food and treat bills. And twice the health insurance. Twice the heartguard and frontline costs!

I find it harder to train, and keep trained two dogs.

More time involved to give one on one attention.

Dog walks can be more of a challenge at times. Especially when you run into other dogs...and it is just me trying to keep the younger less trained puppy in check!

More housecleaning...more dust bunnies, twice the dirt from muddy paws, twice the towels to keep the muddy paws at bay!

But twice the love, and they do love each other and keep each other occupied when we are too tired to play!

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GoldenJoyx'stwo

· #16 · Oct 21, 2009

Loboto-Me said:
Oh Kim that's so true! Sometimes I wish I'd have taken that advice with getting Duke when Sophie was 7 months old. Seems that her quick learning ability slowed right down when he came into the picture. All they wanted to do was play play play. I still have a hard time separating the two of them, it's my issue more than theirs, true, they don't like to be away from each other, but I've humanized the feeling for them and it hurts to see the other one cry when one is gone.

Tucker sort of beats up the house.

: LOL He was pretty good today. He stood in the window and waited. He was so good I brought him for a walk and some training, too.

Karen519

· #17 · Oct 21, 2009

Two Dogs

Two Dogs

In My Opinion

Moving is stressful on everyone ,dogs included.

It might be smarter to wait until after you've moved a few months, and they take your current dog to meet potential buddies.

I've had two dogs for 20 years or more and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I love the fact they have one another!!

missmarstar

· #18 · Oct 21, 2009

esSJay said:
I really want to add a second dog to our family next year when Molson is a little older, but my boyfriend doesn't think that we have enough room in our house for another (I disagree - our house is not small w/4 bedrooms + a yard and only 2 people).

Our house is only like 700-800 sq ft and while sometimes when they are in full wrestling mode, it can seem a bit small... usually they are laying on top of us... they don't need much room at all as long as our laps are empty.

Granted... we also have a 6000ish sq ft fully fenced back yard... so on those random times when they are just a bit "too much" for our little living room area, we throw them out there to have the WWE match and get it out of their systems.

Mssjnnfer

· #19 · Oct 21, 2009

Uhh, I'm now noticing that when they are done playing for a while... sometimes they will conk out and take a nap. But OTHER TIMES they will be very curious puppies. Separately. Meaning, one goes one way and gets into things while the other goes another way and gets into things. LOL. That's been the most difficult thing for us right now. That's twice the mouths that we have to keep scooping non-edible things out of.

Then again, BOTH of mine are still puppies.

missmarstar

· #20 · Oct 21, 2009

Mssjnnfer said:
Then again, BOTH of mine are still puppies.

LOL It takes a brave person to take on that task.

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