Second dog or not

nickih28

Little_Chief wrote: »

I always found with friends that two girls can sometimes be a problem. Sometimes they are great together. When you go to a rescue centre you can see how they get on first, but be very selective as the worse thing you can do is get one and send it back a week later.

As they say - a dog is for life and not just for Christmas.

I had five boys and all were large or giant breed. Very rarely had a problem.

Thats interesting, i was thinking of getting another girl as i thought that would be better but perhaps not :cool:

Have to go to the local rescue centres but wont be able to go this weekend as DD is away and she would be upset if we went without her !

hethmar

I really think its down to personalities - our two boys are great together. Ive had two girls before who used to just ignore each other. Had a mix and they were fine too - its important to get a balance with their characters.

nickih28

We went to 2 rescue centres today but mostly the dogs were staffy's or staffy X, there was a pug x but he wasnt for sale yet, i also have the problem that DS wants a staffy type 'tough' dog and DD wants a little king charles type, i was hoping that one would stand out for both of them and that would be suitable for a friend for Ruby but we didnt see any!! have to keep looking ..

zaksmum

nickih28 wrote: »

We went to 2 rescue centres today but mostly the dogs were staffy's or staffy X, there was a pug x but he wasnt for sale yet, i also have the problem that DS wants a staffy type 'tough' dog and DD wants a little king charles type, i was hoping that one would stand out for both of them and that would be suitable for a friend for Ruby but we didnt see any!! have to keep looking ..

Why does he want a tough type dog? Is it to look intimidating when the dog's out with him?

nickih28

no he just likes bigger dogs, we used to have a boxer that he loved to bits, his dad has an english bull, he would have another boxer but DD wont agree ! he wouldnt walk the streets with the dog, more likely to take it to play football lol

bugslet

Bit late to this, but for what it's worth, I have 5 dogs. At the moment the make up is four girls and one boy, though I've had a pack of three that were all boys in the past. I don't have any trouble with them, maybe i've just been lucky that they have sorted themselves out as to who is boss. Admittedly the boy would like to think he's boss, but the girls just ignore him:p.

And I've never introuduced them on neutral ground - again I've had no problem. There's a bit of who do you think you are on the first day, but after that they settle in. Puppies seem to be accepted very easily.

Whatever you decide, I really do think it's better for dogs to have another dog around if the practicalities allow.

zaksmum

nickih28 wrote: »

no he just likes bigger dogs, we used to have a boxer that he loved to bits, his dad has an english bull, he would have another boxer but DD wont agree ! he wouldnt walk the streets with the dog, more likely to take it to play football lol

That's the problem with Staffs though, because they are seen as tough dogs the scally lads all want them. I've known some lovely Staffs but still get my own dogs out of harm's way if I see one approaching, especially if it's with a young lad.

And sadly whenever you hear of a kid being savaged by a dog, it's very often a Staff or American bulldog type dog. Almost never a labrador or whippet or cavalier spaniel!

lostinrates

zaksmum wrote: »

cavalier spaniel!

hmm. I've heard of a handful of these sadly.

Person_one

zaksmum wrote: »

That's the problem with Staffs though, because they are seen as tough dogs the scally lads all want them. I've known some lovely Staffs but still get my own dogs out of harm's way if I see one approaching, especially if it's with a young lad.

And sadly whenever you hear of a kid being savaged by a dog, it's very often a Staff or American bulldog type dog. Almost never a labrador or whippet or cavalier spaniel!

Actually, labradors are responsible for more bites than any other breed, if I recall correctly. Dachshunds were found to be the most aggressive breed in a behaviour study.