How did you know it was time for a 2nd dog?
 

I have read all of the threads about multi-dog homes, crating and rotating, etc., but I am wondering more how you knew it was the right time to bring another dog into your home. I have always wanted to have at least 2 dogs if not more, but I find myself worrying that my dog won't get along with the new dog. Everything is so great I feel like if it isn't broken we shouldn't fix it, but there are also a lot of dogs out there that need homes.

How did you know it was the right time for another dog?

I've taken on a second dog because I came across on that I really liked and he wasn't doing well at the shelter. Odin seemed to really get along well with him so I decided to take him as a foster dog for a while.

Things change a bit- for example, I don't get as much play time with Odin because he seems to prefer to play with the other dog. But, on the bright side, by 8:00 everyone is fed and napping on the couch, so I get some peace and quiet at night.

I knew it was time when my Pittie mix Rambo was starting to get really anxious when he was left alone. We also knew when he would be out and seen another dog and just spent hours playing. We knew we wanted a bigger dog and love the bully breeds so we went with an American Bulldog. When we got Diesel he was just over 4months old and we took Rambo to meet him and we knew if that meeting didn't go well we weren't bringing Diesel home. Well obviously it did and here we are.
Rambo has calmed down so much now that he has a playmate when we leave and they play for hours on end everyday. I love dogs and i would have another if i didn't live in a little apt.

I got Saydee (an australian sheppard mix) while my husband was deployed. She was not my first pick, but at 9 years old with food aggression, toy aggression, and everything else I figured I could handle her (since I didn't have any other pets). I worked with her and got her to the point where she was happy at doggie daycare.

I was never planning on getting a pit bull til I saw a puppy at a fair. I commented on how he was lucky he had a good home because otherwise I'd be in trouble...then I found out he was a foster. I spent the next two months doing tons of research and then I found Bully. Since he was the opposite sex and only 8 weeks old I wasn't to worried...I knew I'd have to be putting Saydee down within the next anyways due to health.

I ended up putting Saydee down when Bully was 5 months old after she bit my husband and then came after me and bit me. Without thinking, we went out and found Lucy. I wasn't planning on getting another dog, just wanted to kill some free time before we took Saydee to the vet and ended up at the shelter http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/tongue.png

Because both of my dogs are so close in age and so bonded to each other I have a feeling I'm going to loose them very close together if I lose them to old age and not a freak accident.

My husband wants to only own one dog after that, but I've never had just one dog (other than 5 months in which I owned Saydee before Bully) so I doubt that will ever happen http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/rofl.gif

My dogs have all come to me http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/lol.gif

I can honestly say I didn't go out looking for any of my dogs. Strangely enough, they've all been spaced at least a year apart in the joining, so everyone had a chance to settle in.

While I love having multiple dogs, it can be extremely exhausting. I'm extremely blessed in the fact that my dogs all get on pretty well, for the most part *knock on wood*.

My second dog came to me because my friend bought her after her dog died, but then realized it was ''too soon''. I actually didn't even want a second dog at that time. My friend had given her to my roomate, but he really had no long term commitment to her. For the first eight months of her life, I was actually looking to rehome her, but everytime someone showed interest, they soon showed me they weren't worthy of her so here she stayed until she passed at 12.

I decided to get a new dog when I was finished with "raising" Taz, and I wanted a different dog, for different purposes. So I got a new dog, and a new breed to suit what I want in a dog.

I knew it was time when I realized that I couldn't do what I wanted to do with Ladybug. She's really smart, but she gets lame from even small amounts of play. The vet can't even figure out what is wrong with her... So even though Ladybug is DA, I got a new puppy. So far, so good! Haven't had to crate and rotate like I thought I might have to.
Can't wait until spring to work my puppy! The snow will be gone, and he will be old enough to do some physical activities!http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/s...ilies_0005.gif

I have no clue about getting a second dog, never had just one dog. I was born to a home full of dogs and it is stayed that way my whole life.

My mother had small dogs (Dachshunds and Poodles)and my father had hunting dogs (pits, curs, hounds, rottweilers) and then guard dogs (Dobermans and German Shepherds) when I was little. And I played with all of them! His best catch dog had to wear dresses, sunglasses, hats, have HIS nails painted hot pink! http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/smile.png He was stylin when he went out to catch those hogs!

Then my parent separated. We took the small dogs and one of the curs and moved to the city. The cur wasn't happy, so Sparky went back to my Dad. Then we adopted Buck a black lab, then I was sick one day and didn't go to school and went w/ my mother to get her hair done. The hairdresser's dog had puppies and I cried and my Mother agreed to go look. They were black labxAmerican Bulldog. So I got Rambo. Then my Mother was given a Dobe and I was hooked with them. Then it really went down hill once I hit highschool age! Every stray that I found came home with me! Then I started volunteering at the shelter and if you ask my mother over half of them came home too!

I currently have 10 dogs. 5 are mine (1 Dogo Argentino, 1 Amstaff, 1 Greyhound, 1 JRT mix, 1 Min Pin, 2 are my roommates (1 Rat Terrier, 1 Great Dane), and 3 are fosters (1 APBT, 2 Dogo Argentinos), but I do have one on the way, my cute little Frenchie b/c I wanted one! http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/smile.png

All get along except the 2 male Dogos. But Dexter has an approved application and will be going to his new home next weekend. He is a lucky boy getting a country home with 7.5 acres!

Although sometimes I think it might be nice to have only 2. I had planned on getting down to 2-3. I lost 3 GreyhoundS (cancer), 2 Dobes (cancer/bloat), Dogo Argentino (health issues), and 2 Italian Greyhound (liver problems) all in the last 5 years and said I was just going to keep Casper, Pongo, and Red that I already had. Then Ripley came b/c Casper didn't like going hiking by himself after Zeus died. Then Ronon came b/c I couldn't stand to be w/o a Greyhound.

The others were going to die at the shelter and I have sucker on my forehead so I said bring them on, I'll foster them! http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/smile.png 10 is the limit though! I refuse to go over that amount (again!)

Emmy was at a point of her training where I could take on another one.

I didn't.....it was sheer impulse.

I had Sassafrass (JRT) for 5 mos. and my daughter wanted me to go look at puppies with her, she was interested in getting one for her family.
So.....I go....I look.....I leave with one in tow. http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/lol.gif

Gretchen Josephine (Lab/Rott) became doggie #2....
See her here ~ http://www.pitbull-chat.com/showthre...t=50940&page=3 post #41 http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/wink.png

Lily was brought into the animal hospital I worked at at 6 weeks. The first time I saw her I knew I had to have her. Liberty was just about 8, and lazy, and didn't seem very happy. As soon as I brought Lily home it's like she has a new lease on life. That young dog spark is back. It was definitely what she needed. I thought I was getting Lily for me, but really I was getting her for Liberty. I've had her for about 3 months, and even though I wasn't so sure about it for a couple weeks (stress of a new puppy), I now know that it was the right decision.

I've always had a multi dog household...

By the time Sheaba died, I had Gizzmo...only dog. Then in Aug 99, I went to the Humane Society, "just to look". Maxx was there and he looked so much like Sheaba it took my breath. All the other dogs were barking and stuff. I went to his cage, he never barked at me, he never backed up, he licked my fingers and my face through the cage... so he came home with me. Thing with Maxx is, he won't let anyone get near him if he doesn't know them, he barks and runs.... until after he's gotten used to you. But that day at the shelter, he never did that to me. I think it was meant to be, it was like Sheaba was working through him, telling me to move on. I've had him 11 yrs this coming Aug., he's around 13 yrs old. I lost Sheaba when she was 14 yrs old.

After Maxx, we got Chuck, a Chow from the Human Society in Memphis. They didn't tell me that he had severe Demodex, and I knew nothing about it, didn't have internet then, and didn't know how to research like I do now. I was in a tiny town, with one vet who was about 110 yrs old. Eventually, we had to have Chuck put down because of my uneducated knowledge of Demodex, and apparently the vets either unknowledge of it, or unwilling to try to treat it.

After Chuck, came Mollie... 5 weeks old as a Christmas present to my daughter from a boyfriend.... I knew nothing about the breed, and I seldom believe all the stories I hear on the news regarding dogs, so luckily that hadn't shaded my view of this breed. She had Demodex when we got her, but luckily, with a different vet that explained it and told me it was very treatable and manageable, we worked through her first round of dips, and she hasn't had an outbreak since.

After Mollie.... all the rest just sorta found us.. Titus was next, I like to think I rescued him, as they were handing out pups at Walmart to anyone that would take one, and God only knows what he would have ended up with if not us. He's Lab/Husky mix.

Zoe was rescued off the side of the road beside her dead mother by my daughter, she's a spastic Lab, but really small for a Lab, so I'm not sure if she's mixed with something or not.

Bella, our second APBT, was total accidental.. we went to a Pit Bull Bark in The Park simply because I wanted to meet other pit bull lovers, since they are few and far between around here. They had Bella there, she was dumped at a vets office in Mississippi, and when I saw her, I fell in love... I was told "no more dogs" and cried all the way home, pouted, and acted like a 5 yr old... unbeknown to me, the plan was already in motion to adopt her for me on the ride home that day and to surprise me with her the next Saturday.

Pigg is my son's girlfriends dog, a Malti-poo or something like that, and one day, he just was here and started staying here all the time. He is totally unsocialized and tries to bite me everytime I go into his room. I cannot let him out of his crate because he tries to attack me, but once my son is home and he gets him calmed down, Pigg is actually sweet and will love on me and let me pick him up and begs me to play with him. Personally, I wouldn't want to own a dog that was so unsocialized, but it's not my dog. After he gets used to me, he's a good dog, but every day, it's like he has to "get used to me" all over again. http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.png

I would maybe suggest fostering a dog, and see how your dog reacts to having a new dog in the home, but make sure you introduce them first, in a nuteral area, so you can see if your dog is going to accept him or her. Usually, it's best to get opposite sex dogs, as same sex seem to have problems getting along, but Mollie and Bella get along great... but they are never allowed together without supervision, and Bella is always crated when I leave.

I knew right after getting Lily that I eventually want a second dog. I really like having multiple dogs around, even though it is more work. Also, its been nice taking the time to research my chosen breed for what I'd like to get and to put a whole lot of training and one on one time into Lily.

Fostering a rescued dog is a good way to test drive it in your home environment with your existing pets while also giving an animal much needed attention. Many rescue groups give foster families the first opportunity to adopt the dog if it works out.

Stuka fell in my lap...needed a retirement home because of a bad prolapse...She loved Phantom...that was it for me.

DH had another dog when he adopted Rosie, when he split with his ex, she took both dogs, a year later he got Rosie back. After we hooked up, DH kept saying that I "stole" his dog. So once we moved to a larger house with more yard, I kinda looked around, but nothing real serious.
I'd show DH pics of some dogs, and he'd say no.. Then I saw an ad for "pit bull" that had been dropped at a vet clinic and needed a home asap. I showed the ad to DH, he said 'email them'.. I did, we set up a time for the dogs to meet on neutral ground to see if they would get along. The gal called DH, he ended up meeting her at work (vet clinic), one he met Nick (then named Romeo) that was it. We've been stuck with him every since. LOL

Thanks to everyone for this thread.... It's kinda funny when you read around on this site alot of people say it's not good to have multiple Pits. The ironic thing is warnings like this intimidate the logical owner, the stupid ones will do what they will anyway. It was nice and refreashing to see this, we've been thinking for a second for a while now.