How to Choose a 2nd Dog

Video Transcript

"How to choose a second dog for your household. It's a good idea to have your first dog at least six months to a year to make sure you have plenty of time to get used to each other or your dog can learn the ropes so they can teach the new dog and you get plenty of time to bond with each other, so that when the new dog comes in to the household, they're and addition and not a substitute for you. Then, choosing a second dog has a lot to do with having gotten to know your dog and figuring out what your dog likes in playmates, watch dogs that they tend to gravitate towards. Do they like a rough play style, do they like a really low key easy going dog? It's nice when you have an older dog in your household. You bring in a slightly younger dog, one that's not going to cause a lot of trouble or maybe injure your older dog, but one who will compliment your older dog's personality and help your older dog stay younger a little bit longer. In the case of Lady and Joe, Lady was in the household already and not doing well with other dog playmates. Joe came in and he is the kind of dog who will play really hard and have a good time, but when things go awry as they often do with two dogs, and they get mad at each other, just like we people get mad at each other from time to time, they are very adept at coming down and calming down without hurting each other which is critical in having a second dog. So, you can see that their personalities compliment each other very very well. It doesn't mean that they are the same type of dog, they just get along very well. I would say that typically Joe is a much calmer more easy going fellow, than Lady who is a bully in every sense of the word. So, but they find a great joy in playing with each other which is nice for me to see."