So my wife and I are having a discussion argument over getting a second dog. We have a six year old Lab

who is in good health (especially as the poor bugger is currently on starvation rations to keep him under 34kg. He is a big boy tho who gets loads of exercise. Just not much food 😉 ) but I want to get him a companion as he’s very sociable and loves walking with other dogs and get a pup for us as I love dogs, my kids love dogs, my wife prefers cats (we’ve two of those and 4 chickens)

Friend of ours has these to sell:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/nN7Lk5]SCRUM![/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Good lineage, gun dogs but it would just be a pet for us. A lot smaller than murf but we love labs and wouldn’t really consider another breed. And as you can see, quite cute!

My position is dogs are like kids. Two of is not that much more trouble that one. We’ve enough room in the house/cars for another dog. We have friends who love looking after ours when we’re away and happy to take two, we can afford to buy/feed/insure etc so why not.

My wife’s posiiton – and I’m treating this as a negotiating gambit – is ‘one dog, one wife’, ‘two dogs, no wife’. And no before you get started, that’s not the consequence I’m looking for 😉

So any experience (good or bad) about having a second dog? I know I’ll miss murf terribly when he’s gone and it’d take me ages to go and get another dog. I really like the idea of having another dog already. I really wouldn’t want to be without one now and I can’t see any lifestyle changes that would mean they wouldn’t live in a really good environment.

I don’t see a lot more hassle from having 2 compared to when I had one tbh. Plus I think they are good company for each other, dogs are pack animals by nature.

Whatever you do, don’t let the new puppy sniff someone else’s unattended bag though!! 😆

The companionship is a definite plus. Our two are pretty much inseperable, it’s no more hassle than one. (although dogs aren’t hassle anyway, silly statement),

Fully understand why you would want a succession plan in place before you have the upset, sadness and stress of losing one. We are currently discussing getting a third for that reason.

er don’t see a problem. tell your wife that Mike says it’s ok.

Sorry for not being much help.

Boys playing:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/8ScK5o]My Stick![/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

Two of is not that much more trouble that one

Twice as many poo’s to clean up, twice as much fur around the palce, twice as much trashing of the house, twice as many muddy paw prints and the older dog possibly disliking the new one (it does happen as they see the new one as a threat to their position) are a few of the things people don’t consider. Two fat labs take up a lot of space (sorry but every older lab I’ve known is fat).

On the flip side, twice as much love, company for the older dog and as he/she’s six now you won’t have two old dogs in 6 years time.

Yes, I’ve been there before and it was fine but I’m not sure I’d go back.

Thanks both. I do like a bit of confirmation bias 🙂 We had two cats (sisters) from the cat rescue place specifically as they weren’t to be separated. They’re cats. They HATE each other 😉 Even so surely the same rule should apply to dogs.

Next question. Dog or bitch. Need to move fast if we want the dog as only one in a litter of 10. Amusingly he’s my favourite (bit bigger now than the pic), very friendly, first in the food queue but doesn’t move round much. Doesn’t seem to get stressed by his nine siblings lying on his head. Remind me of Murf 😉

Our lab isn’t getting fat. He might not know it, but it’s for his own good but yes I know old labs resemble legged barrels but ain’t happening with ours. A reasonable point on muck but we have wooden floors that are very easy to clean and dog-rugs specifically for muddy mutts. And there’s a chance our lab wouldn’t like a new one but since he loves every dog/cat/chicken/human he’s ever come into contact with, I’ll take the risk!

It’s definitely harder having two dogs rather than one – one lags behind on a walk, the other’s bouncing around up ahead. You need more space in the car/on the sofa etc. Puppies destry everyhting they can get their teeth into. The bills are doubled.

If you can cope with that, then go ahead. We had zero dogs, then got a rescue ex-race trailhound. Then a second; same breed, same background. And finally we got a lurcher pup (again, a rescue dog) about 12 months ago.

It can be a pain occasionally to have all three of them bellowing for food at the same time, or when one of them runs off on a walk and one of the others does the same thing 20 minutes later, but the upsides absolutely outweigh the downsides.

Just watch out for the chickens – we have some as well and the puppy thought they were tremendous fun to chase after. A few hard pecks on his nose sorted that out, but it’s something to watch out for.

I love having two dogs… But Sharkbait is also right… It is more trouble / expense than one (but not as much as you might expect two singles to be…)

The timing sounds good for you – I got mine too close together, so I had two young dogs at the same time, which caused some grief 😉 The companionship for the dogs is a big part of what I was looking for, and they are great together now that things have settled down. It is great to watch them play and bounce around the garden / living room / street etc etc

Well, we’ve just got a border collie pup to be a companion to our three year old westie.

We’re one week in so far and all has been well. Both getting on well, both enjoying each others company and playing/running around together etc. The puppy stage is always a bit difficult particularly when trying to avoid jealousy with our very needy westie, but i’ve no regrets so far.

We have a Choccie Lab and a Golden retriever. The Lab has always been a fairly lethargic sort of dog. He is older than my kids and has never really played with them much so we thought it would be nice for all of them if we got a puppy for the kids to play with and hopefully to liven him up a bit. I think the age difference was just too much and having a bouncy young dog around has pissed him off even more. He’s not a dominant dog but the new one is and I think its a bit of a conflict. My learnings are that if you are going for 2 make sure the age gap is not too great and try and make sure the first dog feels higher in the pecking order.

oh and the volume of crap in the garden is beyond ridiculous!

6 is probably just on the edge of the threshold I reckon. An older dog doesn’t really enjoy the constant badgering they get from a pup. You’ll know better than us if your dog is the kind of dog that just enjoys a bit of quiet time between walks and meals. Also as your 6 y/o become 9-10 y/o then they are going to be slowing down quite a bit, just as your other is in it’s prime. It make walks very difficult.

As for dog or bitch…

I think the safest option is supposed to be one of each (less likely to be agro between them), but if you have neutered males then you should be on pretty safe ground too.

I have two bitches and had heard horror stories about them fighting to the death, but apart from the odd squirmish at the start they have been just fine. I suspect it is more to do with how you introduce / treat them than what sex they are if they are all neutered.

The generalised dog / bitch equations:
dog + dog = wag-wag
bitch + bitch = fight
dog + bitch = wag-wag (probably)

dog + bitch = wag-wag (probably) shag

My two bitches have always got on fine. Adding a dog has changed the dynamic, but only a little.

Some good advice ta. Yeah the walking thing as murf gets old hadn’t really occurred to me. Not worried about crap in the garden, we live next to a big field 😉 And before anyone throws their hands up about cleaning up dog poo, it’s on a footpath that has cows in it for six months of the year so the amount of poo our hound adds is pretty insignificant. And he eats some of the cows as well if I take my eye off him!

I don’t reckon the dog’d mind a mad pup. Hard to know tho without trying. Our friend is happy for us to take Murf in with the pups once they’ve had their jabs. That might tell us what we need to know.

Not read all the thread, but if I had the time and space, I’d have a second in a heartbeat. I’d go for a bigger breed than Molly (our BT) but only for the comedy value. I love seeing Big/Little dog “sibling” combos. It’s always funny to seethe different relationships, though I can understand how your heart is set on a lab. I’d probably spend a but more time getting all the human family onside first though. 🙂

I have two, the idea was for them to keep each other company but the reality is dogs crave human company, other dogs don’t deliver the same amount of seratonin to their brains.

Upsides its not a lot more work to walk/feed/look after two dogs; and it makes you less worried to leave them alone.

Downsides: Double the vet bills, double the vaccination bills, makes it very difficult to take the dog with you when visiting people, makes kennels much more expensive (not double as you normally get 50% off for the second one) makes it a lot less likely for people to offer to look after your dog, you need to keep track of two dogs when walking them, huge amounts of mess/water in the winter, when one gets injured and has a cone needs to keep calm the other one will wind it up.

Personally I like having two dogs, and will more than likely always have two; but its not cheap or really practical tbh.

Also Labs are born part trained so they are dead easy to get really good and they don’t really hunt so that would make life easier. One other thing to think about is all dogs *love* Labs including labs so you might end up with a post food rapefest………

We’ve got two, got the second to try and calm the first/sort out separation anxiety when we’re out, which it does to a small degree, we don’t get as much chewed up house damage.

However having to ride them both on a lead is a handful, together they’re very powerful and delight in going either side of a tree leaving me and the bike headed straight at it.

I wouldn’t be without either of them, even though everyone hates the big one because he is such a git. #neverbuyadoberman

Just been through the same discussion a few months ago with the current mrs gooner666.
However we recently took delivery of our 2nd dog (both ess) and its great having two but it is more work and cost (training time, vet costs, insurance etc) and don’t necessarily expect them to get on. Although they don’t fight they are not interested in each other at all.
The older one is trained for shooting as will the younger one, hopefully!
At least with 2 you will always have a trail hound to go out biking with

I know this one!

I’ve got a 10 year old Labrador bitch and a 2 year old Labradoodle. Get two it’s brilliant, it’s given her a new lease of life, he is happy as Larry and they are inseparable when they are in the house together. Only downside was a slight increase in chewed items.

bitch + bitch = fight

Never had this in 40 years of dogs in my life, all of which have been bitches. Generally no more than 2 at anyone time, but have been periods of 3 or 4 and never had a “bitch fight” 😆

Thanks everyone for the comments. Really useful stuff. I’m definitely still in the two dog camp. Now just need to convince the rest of the pack 😉

Tell her to do as she’s told, you’re the wage earner etc etc.

I’m not helping am I 😉

This thread needs more pictures

Have 2 female Labradoodles, one 8 and the other 4, and they get on fine. The older one is the dominant dog, but they have never had any kind of fight. Earlier on had 2 females and a male German Shepherd and no issues there either.
I think it really helps keep an aging dog “young” and they are great company for each. Not really much more work and the enjoyment is worth it.

Alex, I’ve just had the puppy from my 7yr old Springers first litter. He’s taking some time to get used to her and we are having to keep an eye on them when there’s food and dog toys around as he’s getting very jealous and wants it all to himself, but apart from that it’s good. I work my dog so I need to be looking at replacing him without any gap in the seasons so having another young dog coming on is ideal.

Those puppies look lovely, but I prefer a slightly nutty springer overall.

I’ve re-opened the discussion argument this evening. It’s fair to say that despite my most persuasive arguments, it’s not moved on much. Maybe I’ll just buy one and bring it home. I mean what’s the worst that can happen in that scenario 🙂