Double the joy – or cost? How bad an idea is it to get a second dog?

If you’re the happy owner of a dog, you might find yourself asking at some point if your four-legged friend would like a friend of their own to play with and cuddle.

The positive aspects may seem to outweigh the negatives, and the additional work and expense involved might also appear to be manageable. But it is worth pausing a moment and having a very careful think.

Double the costs

Two dogs not only double the joy, they also double the costs – for food, vets and insurance.

Your household circumstances are also important. “Of course, you should also have enough space and enough opportunities to spend time with the animals,” says Rolf Franck, a behavioural consultant who, with his wife Madeleine, runs a dog training centre in Germany. “The more dogs you have, the better you have to train them.”

The timing also has to be right. The first dog should definitely be properly trained by the time a second animal moves in “otherwise it will be difficult with the second,” says Franck.

And don’t bank on the idea that two dogs will educate each other. “It doesn’t work at all,” warns dog trainer and author Petra Führmann, because “little problems then become big ones.”

She says any issues should be sorted out before the arrival of the second pet, “because it usually gets a lot worse afterwards”.

Get advice

If you decide you do want another dog, you’ll then have to decide whether to get the same breed again or perhaps get a different one.

“With a Great Dane and a Chihuahua, there are practical risks,” says Rolf Franck. But that doesn’t have to mean that it can’t work.

Führmann has four dogs herself – including a German Shepherd and a Chihuahua. She recommends seeking the advice of an expert before getting a second dog, so that they can take an objective look at it.

After all, it is quite possible that an animal would be better off as the only household pet. She does not consider it helpful to base this decision only on the characteristics of individual breeds. Just as with people, “every dog is different!”

Don’t treat the dogs the same

Even if this hurdle has been overcome and a second dog has been found that gets on well with the first one, there are still things that can go wrong. “The biggest mistake is to treat them the same,” says Führmann. After all, the animals are not the same, and have different statuses.

Even with uncomplicated dogs, there are points at which the owners should intervene. For example, if the puppy is constantly bothering a good-natured, older dog. “Then I can definitely say to the newcomer ‘You leave him alone now!'”

And when it comes to food, “it’s important that everyone gets their own. I don’t allow any swapping – not even of a chewing bone,” says Führmann.

“You have to be aware that every dog has specific needs,” says Rolf Franck. These can vary greatly, even if the animals are of the same breed.

Age also plays a role. If you choose a puppy as the second dog, you have to invest a lot of one-on-one time with it, especially during its first year of life. You have to work towards the puppy developing a close relationship with humans who become its favourite playmates.

And this is precisely where owners have to perform a balancing act, because the old dog must not be neglected either. “He still has to be given his due and also be able to have his rest,” says Franck.

According to the dog expert, when animals are annoyed or feel harassed, they don’t always show it by being defensive, but can also react depressively.

Two dogs make a pack

From his own experience, Franck knows that multi-dog owners have particular problems because a special group dynamic develops between two dogs.

For example, one of them sees a squirrel and runs after it. This kind of chasing and hunting is a self-rewarding behaviour in which happiness hormones are released.

“There’s nothing better than doing it together,” says Franck, but the opposite can happen when two dogs don’t get along well together. “In most cases, though, this can be resolved surprisingly well,” he says. “Peaceful behaviour in the pack should always be encouraged.”

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.