My dog hates the heat. We walk only early in the morning or later in the evening. He prefers the shaded yard and the A/C house in the summer months ; ) I also use musher’s secret year round. Any similar product should work.
My dog is 8 and he’s had his teeth cleaned once at the vet. I do “brush” his teeth at home and give him dental chew products as well. I don’t love the idea of anesthesia either but he came out of it very, very quickly and was back to himself as soon as we got home. (Much different than his neutering surgery).
That was reassuring to know @momofsenior1, my baby’s spaying process has been pretty painful, the stitches got infected and she had to go back to the vet a couple of times. I may give the vet a call about teeth cleaning. Thank you.
@4kids4us
Hat off to you! We had our girl at 8-weeks and luckily the house training was not difficult. People was telling me that having a new pup is like having a new baby, it felt a lot easier in our case.
@4kids4us , we have thought about getting a dog or puppy as companion for our dog (GSD mix). She loves us so much and seems like she has more love to give…and it would keep her company when we are gone (which isn’t much, I’m a stay at home mom, but she’s overly attached to me). But we’re not sure, we’ve never had two dogs either, and what if current dog doesn’t love a new dog? She’s standoffish/shy around other dogs we meet on walks. But she does love our cats even though they barely tolerate her. She’s definitely herd/pack strong. I might try fostering to check it out.
When we got our second dog (a first for us as well), our current dog was 11. Honestly, she liked other dogs, but we did it for our family because I didn’t want to be dog-less. She seemed to be sleeping more and just slowing down.
We chose our second dog very carefully. First, we got an adult (primarily because I couldn’t take on a puppy. Housetraining, fine, but not the rest of the “eyes on you” that goes along with a puppy. We also didn’t want a super high energy dog due to our current dog’s age/energy level. I wanted a second dog, but didn’t want to disrupt our current dog’s golden years.
We went through a rescue that had foster homes in lieu of a shelter (1st dog came from a shelter - we brought her home same day). The foster mom was able to give us lots of insight into his personality. She, conveniently, had an older resident dog and so we knew he wan’t going to be a pest to our older dog.
We took it really slowly for a dog adoption. First, we met the dog (at a pet store adoption show). He passed that test. Then, the foster mom offered her backyard as a neutral meet site, so a few days later we brought our older dog to her house and the dogs met there. All went well. Then, they had to do a home check anyway, so they brought the new dog to us and we met at a neutral place down the street and walked the dogs together and then into our home. Again all went well. At all times, we were ready to ditch the adoption if our current dog was uncomfortable. So, since there were no issues, we finalized the adoption. I believe they had a 7 or 14 day no questions asked surrender policy, which would have been the last safety, but we didn’t need it.
I can honestly say, it’s the best thing we ever did (dog ownership wise). Our older dog came (almost literally) back to life. She acts younger at almost 14 than she did at 10 or 11 before we got the second dog. She is so much happier and our new (well, now with us 2 years) dog just fit right in. We had a few bumps in the road, but they never fought and they are the best of friends.
@TS0104 I was a little curious about how our older dog would adjust. He barks at other dogs when they walk past our house and can be unfriendly when on a leashed walk. However, any time a loose dog has come into our yard (this has happened frequently), my dog has totally enjoyed running around with the other dog. I wasn’t sure if he’d react differently with a dog that he realized was sticking around. Initially he was indifferent then when she was constantly trying to play, he sometimes got annoyed. Being smaller, she would go underneath his tall body and nip at the back of his legs, playfully, but he’d look at us like “Really? How long must I endure this?” She has really settled down though since getting spayed. They love to run around in the yard, but she doesn’t bother him much in the house anymore. While they don’t curl up and sleep together, they do peacefully co-exist and she has definitely been a nice companion for him.
I think for as long as we are able, we will continue to have two dogs moving forward. However, after years of swearing I would never get a puppy, I think in the future I will do like we did with our first two and adopt a dog past puppy stage. My mantra for years when my kids wanted a puppy was “I potty trained four kids and have no desire to potty train a dog.” While I know this dog’s difficulty potty training had a lot to do with her history/anxiety, I’m done with potty training! BTW, I’m a SAHM as well which is the only reason we were able to manage the issues with our second dog. While I’m home a lot, I’m also in the car a lot. She went, and still goes, with me a lot if I’m taxiing kids around if no one else is home. I try to limit the time she is in her crate, she still really hates it. I’d leave her out (our other dog isn’t crated) but don’t want her to revert to doing her business in the house. It’s only been about two months since she has really been house trained with no accidents.
If you do decide you are interested in a second dog, I suggest doing what 3kids2dogs did in terms of slowly introducing the second dog or fostering.
BTW, changed my avatar - that’s my desert dog. Can’t really see but she has these feathery ears like Afghans but hers aren’t as long, and a long, curly, feathery tail. She’s about the size of a fox and a couple of times people told me she looks like one. We have a lot of foxes in our neighborhood.
We added Sabapup to our family when now deceased Sabadog was around 2 years old. Even though he was older, she was the boss. When he died a few months ago, she was very depressed. Stuck to me like glue. She only likes a very few other dogs so I was nervous about adding an adult dog, so we went with a puppy. Sabapuppy is now 12 weeks old and has been here 4 weeks. It’s been an adjustment for sure, but Sabapup has been a great role model and disciplinarian. Having the puppy has been good for all of us, especially Sabapup who will turn 6 in September. She enjoys mothering the puppy I think!
This is the first time we had more than one dog as well. Our first is very well socialized with people and animals. We’ve also had many animals come to visit. The Bernese can get lonely though we all seem to be home most of the time. This puppy has been great for her. They’re very sweet together and she instinctively knows how to be a bit more gentle with her. She even makes sure he eats first and lets him eat her food too before she’ll eat. She was trained before we added on. He’s been much easier to train because he sees her.
Thanks for all of the input on adding a second dog. I do think my current dog would be a great “mother”…she really seems like the caretaker sort but of course the cats do not want her love or caretaking! And she used to like to play with other dogs, but after a couple of bad experiences with other dogs out on walks, she’s shy now. I do think she would play with someone “safe.” We walk a lot, but she doesn’t get much play time. The slow introduction plan is great and yes, we would have to make sure that they get along before making it final. I do think though that once the new dog was in the home and the pack, she would welcome and care for it. We’ll see someday I hope!
Just want to say, my dog did really well with the fireworks last night. He is usually a wreck; last night he was pretty good. Our other dog doesn’t care at all - maybe her chill is rubbing off on him. Hope all your pups had a stress free 4th!
Our neighborhood was a war zone last night, but it didn’t bother my dog. He has a lot of phobias (driving in the car, shiny floors, grates on the sidewalk, etc…) but fireworks have never bothered him. He hasn’t been trained to hunt, but his mother was a “master hunter”, so maybe that is why the noise doesn’t bother him.
