No. Unless you can answer yes to the following few questions -
Is the dog you already have very well trained?
Do you have the time and dedication to train a 2nd dog?
That's pretty much it.
Now, everything I ever say is only going to be from my experience of years of dog training. There are always exceptions... but there are also ALWAYS noticeable consistencies.
I cannot begin to think of how many training sessions I have done over the years where owners have brought another dog into their world and everything has spiraled out of control with both dogs.
Here are some consistent reasons clients tell me as to why they got the second dog -
To keep the 1st dog company.
Hope to help their dog with separation anxiety and to have a mate.
Expected the new dog to learn from the well trained 1st dog
Adopting a dog to do a good thing because the love dogs.
Spur of the moment decision
Kids wanted it.
I've always said "if you get a second dog while your first dog is not well trained, you end up with 3 dogs worth of problems!" Ok, that's probably an exaggeration.... but not always.
Also, If you have a well trained dog don't expect the new dog to just end up the same. Every dog needs to be trained individually to get the behaviors you want as much as prevent the ones you don't.
A common issue I usually hear is within 6 months of having the new dog, the 1st dog starts to regress in their behavior. I believe that this is due to dogs having perfect communication with one and other.
While you only had the 1 dog, you probably had a great relationship with each other and communication was good, but bringing a new dog into the home gets you at a disadvantage in the communication battle!
These dogs seem like they almost team up against you over time. Kind of like a 50/50 house mate agreement of dogs and humans.
They get even more distracted, fire each other up to a point of no return and often get overstimulated so the human ends up non existent in these moments.
So what do we do? Here are some ideas and thoughts...
Stick with 1 dog until you are confident it is well trained and a delight to have.
Understand you have to completely start new training with the second dog which takes time and dedication.
Realise your 1st dog may develop new behavioral problems which will require even more training.
Think hard as to whether you can afford the second dog as dogs, dog food and vets are getting ridiculously expensive in 2023!!! Our own dog food bill has almost doubled in the last 2 years!
If your 1st dog is say less than 18 months old... maybe hold off another 6 months and really get that dog solid in its training.
If your dog is less than 12 months definitely hold off unless you have plenty of time and experience with dogs and training! Get that puppy trained first!
Just give it a lot of thought.
Don't go ahead with it if your heart tells your brain to do it.
Do it if your brain agrees with your heart.
This is about your dog and the potential future dog's life. Make sure you give them the best life possible by being a responsible dog owner.
Give your dog a pat for me!
Cheers, Scott
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