I want another one!

PuppyLove_2

Hi all!

Some of you may know that I got a beagle pup about 6 months ago. Hes has really come on leaps and bounds, and has just completed his kennel club good citizens bronze award.

I really want another dog but dont want to set my puppy back, i was thinking of getting an older rescue dog maybe 2/3 years old rather than a puppy, how do you think he would cope with this? Also as he is a male would it be better to get a female? (he has been castrated)

If i did decide to get a puppy should i wait until my current pup is older?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

krlyr

Personally I would give it a little while longer - if you got your pup at around 8 weeks old and have had him 6 months, you're right on target for his "terrible teens" at the 8-9 month mark. His recall may disappear, his "stay" may become a "stay unless something's more interesting" and you may find other bad habits cropping up that he's not done before/in a long time, like chewing, peeing indoors, etc. - a second puppyhood as such.
I would say you're probably best to wait until at least around 18 months for him to have progressed well enough in terms of mental maturity and training to add another dog. Ideally you want your current pup to be as impeccably trained as possible - because any minor issues could soon become major ones when you have two dogs doing them! If he pulls on a lead, it could be worsened by having another dog next to him, especially if that one pulls - they get a bit competitive at who can be furthest out front, for example. If his recall is hit and miss, he'll find it much more fun to run around on the other side of the park with his new buddy than running around on his own, so it may be harder to re-establish a solid recall. If he barks at dogs that walk past the house, not only may the second dog join in, but they may worsen each other - Dog A barks, so Dog B barks, and whereas Dog A would have stopped after 30 seconds on their own, they see that Dog B is still barking, so they carry on barking, so Dog B keeps barking...you get the idea! It can be more than double the trouble.
An older dog could be a good option, and I do feel a male/female pairing has worked well for my two, but two males can work out too. Does your pup currently mix with many other males? That could be a good way to decide which gender is best, by looking at the dogs he gets along with best and seeing if there's a pattern.

PuppyLove_2

Oh god Krlyr please dont tell me he is going to start chewing and peeing in the house again! The chewing was a real problem for him, put it this way my partners job over the bank holiday weekend is to repaint the skirting boards!

I think your right and i should wait until he is around 18 months, I may carry on with the silver and gold good citizen award as well.

Funny you mention barking, thats the one thing my pup does that i cant seem to train him out of, he constantly barks for no reason! I know that beagles are a barking breed so i dont mind him doing it, but sometimes it goes on, and on and on........ the dog trainer at the classes we go to advised throwing something on the floor that makes a noise, so i tried this and then felt really guilty as although it stopped him barking, it also scared the c*ap out of him and he wouldnt come back in the room! Have you got any ideas?

Caroline_a

I'd agree with waiting a while before you get another, and certainly finish off the Good Citizen stuff as it's much harder to train 2 dogs than one! Most training classes insist on one dog - one handler.

I waited until my first dog was 2, and am so glad I did because he was mature enough to teach the youngster good manners rather than bad!

krlyr

I find that a dog learns better when you teach them what to do, rather than what not to do. So rather than try to teach him not to bark, teach him a bark and a quiet command - so he specifically learns the difference between barking and being quiet.
http://dogs.about.com/od/basiccommands/ht/speakquiet.htm

If the barking is in response to noises/triggers outside, e.g. someone walking past the window, these may be worth a read, the general idea is to teach an alternative behaviour - so instead of barking to alert you of the "intruder", the ingrained/automatic response is to look at you/recall to you instead of barking.
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001c/manicbarking.htm
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/237

Are the trainers APDT registered? Part of the membership is a pledge to not use harsh or aversive methods, so if they're recommending noise discs or similar, it may be worth making the APDT aware. If they're not APDT registered then you may like to find an APDT registered trainer who won't recommend methods like this - http://www.apdt.co.uk