honor21

How old (and well trained) was your pooch before you introduced a second dog to the home? How did you do it? How fast did the adjust? Interested to hear all answers!

*A bit on background info as to why I ask: I have a newly adopted baby. He's around 2 or so. He came with a LOT of issues that we're slowly working on. I hope to be able to get another dog (with any luck a Dobe!) within another 2 years or so, once I'm totally satisfied with how he's behaving.

njdobermom

I always have my present dog very trained before adding a second dog. I never stop training but after a point its more about reinforcement and my dogs and I enjoy Ob. we attend classes about 2x a week. But with your new dog take care of all those issues before adding 2nd dog if ever.

Dobiemom33

Following. I have the same question.


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Toby'shuman

I have just added a rescued Pointer x Lab girlie to our family.

I have to admit my intention was to wait till Toby my Dobe was 3 possibly a little older before I got another dog but of course things don't always go to plan when it comes to getting a dog out of a bad situation.

Luckily Toby has taken to the latest addition very well, he is in fact helping her behave in some areas and well not helping in others.

To my mind it depends entirely on the dog/s. There is no hard and fast rule regarding when you can add another dog safely.

ZeldaRules

3 year old mature female Siberian husky. I brought in a 5 month old male dobie pup. My husky is an alpha and helped teach him boundaries and play manners. I had to spend a LOT of individual time with my Dobe because he wanted to bond to the husky like glue and it was important that he grew up being his own dog with his own personality. She is 6 and he is 3 now. I have since added a 3rd dog. My Doberman has welcomed many foster dogs of both genders into the pack because of his politeness and good social nature. My husky girl had a lot to do with it


I posted an article on how to introduce a new dog to a resident dog here:
Play dates with same sex?

Beaker

I think it totally depends on the dogs!

My parents had a really alpha 130lb male American Bulldog- He was a slow introduction crate and rotate small introductions very controlled until all dogs could be very acclimated sort of dog. I don't mean to make him sound awful, he was a sweet dog just huge and definitely dominant with other dogs!

My hound is so laid back I could probably introduce a pack of other pups to him and only get an eye roll! He's somewhere in the neighborhood of 5ish (real age could be anywhere from 3 to 7) He's alpha to my doberman but the introduction went really smoothly, no crate and rotate necessary just initial supervision.

brw1982

Depends on the dogs and the extent of issues, also the nature of issues to be handled.

If the project dog has dog issues that involve dog related fear or aggression, I wouldn't introduce them right away. Rather crate and rotate for a bit, separated by gates but loose in the house for a bit, then some walks together off property, etc.

If you have a good trainer near-by I'd ask for their input.

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