Adopting a Dog to keep another company

Benburb Dog

I have a 1+ y.o. beagle. He is very sweet and friendly. He stays inside *at home during the day while we are at work and he seems to be doing well. Nevertheless, we want to get him a buddy he can play with.

My preference would be to rescue a dog that has been house broken and is at least 1 year old. However, most rescue organisations will not allow you to rescue a dog if he is going to be left at home.

While I admire their care and commitment, I am conflicted by this restriction and would prefer not go the breeder way, but it looks more likely.

Have you been in the same situation? What are you thoughts? Any advice?

*When the weather improves, the dogs will stay in the back garden.

namurt

I know exactly where you're coming from, most rescues seem to have an issue with dogs who will be outside at all. Have you tried Dog's Trust? We recently got a dog from them and while I didn't draw attention to the fact that she would be sleeping outside (in a kennel of course), they didn't ask and it wasn't a question on their application form.

Sigma Force

Perhaps try some more rescues outside your immediate area as well, it would be ridiculous for a rescue to turn down a good home because an owners works..how else are people supposed to pay for food and vet care. Rescues themselves can't be with their animals 24/7 much as most would love to there's other animals to take care of, vet trips, homechecks, their own lives to sort as well.

There should be a reasonable rescue out there who at least would do a homecheck and have a chat with you to see if they can match a dog to your needs and match your home to the dogs needs.

So many homeless dogs out there bound to be one to fit into your home.

Obviously two dogs is twice the work but if your willing to put the time in I don't see why you can't adopt one.

One thing though is that even if a dog is house trained being brought into a new home can upset their routine and you might end up with accidents now and then same goes for buying a dog.

I've always had rescues and only bought one dog ever and we love him to bits but to be honest if ever I was getting another dog again I'd go with rescue, at least with a good rescue you get can get help and advice plus a dog that really needs a home gets one which frees up space for a rescue to take in another one.

Don't give up yet, can take a while to find the right pooch there are tons of rescues out there.

votejohn

A way around this for some people is to hire a dog walker to take the dogs out in the middle of the day.

TooManyDogs

You could try Dogs Aid, they judge everyone on a case by case basis and match a dog accordingly.
www.dogsaid.ie

Paul91

I was in a very similar position in August, had a 4 year old male who was outside (after his morning half hour walk) during day and inside in the evening (after his evening walk which was as soon as i got in from work - and i mean walk in, go upstairs, change, get his lead and i'm out for an hour) wanted a "buddy" for him during the day, so we contacted a welfare group about a German Shepherd male they had, had the home check and they saw no problem in us taking the dog from them, they understood we where doggy people and that a lot of the time the dogs needs came first.

anyhew, when we talked to the lady i mentioned seeing a GS in a CSPCA in Cork and we both felt that it was better to get her out and looked after than a GS that was sure to get a good home - the rest is history as they say - the regulars here know

jrd_old

Was in a similar position to the OP earlier this year, we had a 3 yr old rescue dog and wanted to get him a friend to keep him company as I got a new job which meant that he was being left on his own for about 6 hours a day.

One of our friends dogs had a litter so we decided to take a female... To cut a long story short, there has been a massive change in our older dog.. he seems much more content and has had a new lease of life.

Whispered

We're thinking about adding to our house too. We'll be looking for an adult dog/bitch, preferably housetrained. The dog will have to be 100% comfortable with cats and we would hope that the dog could be a calming influence on my current mad fella, but still big and active enough to play with him.

We will basicially be looking for a dog who can fit into our current lifestyle with a minimum of training and change for us. Do you think thats a lot to ask?

seamus

helena.ryan wrote: »

We will basicially be looking for a dog who can fit into our current lifestyle with a minimum of training and change for us. Do you think thats a lot to ask?

If you don't already have another dog, yes it is.
Our dog has been what you would consider a "minimum" of change for us. So far, here are the changes we've had to make:

1. Getting up 30 minutes earlier to get her outside for a short walk/piss, then feed her and cuddle her.
2. Fitting an enormous gate between the kitchen and sitting room to keep control over where she can go (was a lifesaver when she was in heat)
3. Her stuff - bed, food, box of toys, etc, taking up a not insignificant amount of room in our kitchen.
4. Having to remember that the dog needs to go out every few hours. So if you're leaving the house to go somewhere and you won't be back for a few hours, I've to factor in ten minutes before I leave to let the dog go to the toilet.
5. Having to check on the dog when I come in at night, regardless of whether it's 2am and no matter how drunk or tired I am.

And last but not least, not being able to sit down or walk into the room without having a big licking lump diving on me.

A dog will cause as much upheaval in a household as a child. The only difference being that you can leave the dog alone for short periods of time and they can take a bit of a scrap

Whispered

Oh we have a dog (as you say a big licking lump )so we have to do all of that already. The walking, cleaning, cuddling etc is already part of daily life. We would like to adopt another dog who will easily fit into his life too and get along with my cats.

seamus

helena.ryan wrote: »

Oh we have a dog (as you say a big licking lump )so we have to do all of that already. The walking, cleaning, cuddling etc is already part of daily life. We would like to adopt another dog who will easily fit into his life too and get along with my cats.

D'oh, sorry. Somehow missed half of your post, and assumed you only had a cat.

Introducing another dog will take time, they shouldn't really just be thrown into the same room together on the first day and be expected to get along.

The general advice is to try and keep the dogs segregated in the house if possible and introduce them under supervision. Keep beds and food out of the equation when they're being introduced and until they are comfortable around eachother. Then you can try having them sleep in the same room, and eventually eating together.

So while there would probably be a month or so of upheaval, eventually you'll get back to your current routine. The personality of the new dog will obviously be a big influence on this.

rainbowtrout

helena.ryan wrote: »

We're thinking about adding to our house too. We'll be looking for an adult dog/bitch, preferably housetrained. The dog will have to be 100% comfortable with cats and we would hope that the dog could be a calming influence on my current mad fella, but still big and active enough to play with him.

We will basicially be looking for a dog who can fit into our current lifestyle with a minimum of training and change for us. Do you think thats a lot to ask?

I don't think it's a big ask. I adopted a Jack Russell about 18 months ago. She's really clever and sweet, but was extremely nervous of everything when I first got her as she had been badly abused. Anyway over 9 or 10 months, I was able to work on that to a certain extent. She goes to training and a dog social group where she got on with the other dogs. However she was on her own at home while I was at work and while she didn't seem particularly unhappy being on her own - I think she's just grateful to have a home where she's not abused - I reckoned a second dog would be great company for her.

So I adopted a second Jack Russell, a male. He's a lot more outgoing and I brought her to meet him before I adopted him and brought them on a good walk. There were other dogs which she didn't like and was nervous around.

Well it was the best decision I've ever made. They're the best of friends, they sleep in the same bed (despite having one each) eat out of the same bowl (two of those too!), groom each other and are both curled up together on the couch at the moment.

The biggest change was in Milly's personality. She used to be very nervous of visitors to the house and wouldn't go near them. She's really come out of herself now and will go over for a pet and to say hello which never happened until Norman arrived. Norman also protects her if he thinks she's under any threat. Seeing as he is like a small boisterous teenage boy, she also keeps him in check being that bit more as she does look at him like his behaviour isn't up to scratch sometimes!:D

Best decision I've ever made!

In terms of changing routine, it wasn't a huge change, i was doing everything already for Milly, so it was feeding two, walking two etc. The one thing that I've found more time consuming is training. I have to train them separately as they both spend their time trying to get the treats and distracting each other.