Two dogs or not two dogs? That is the question.
August 30, 2008 8:33 PM Subscribe
We've got two dogs. A neighbor approached us about one of hers.
My neighbor offered us her beautiful one year old St Bernard/Border Collie mix. The dog is fixed, up to date on shots, and pretty well house trained. She's sweet, submissive, and playful. The family has an older do which they will be keeping.
They are wanting to find this girl a new home because of a grandparent has become a permanent member of the household. The care needed by the grandparent is, of course, a huge stress.
So, here's the question: Do we take her? We've got two large dogs already. All three have met previously and gotten along.
How do you transition from 2 dogs to 3 successfully? As an alternate: how to help them find a home for her?
My neighbor offered us her beautiful one year old St Bernard/Border Collie mix. The dog is fixed, up to date on shots, and pretty well house trained. She's sweet, submissive, and playful. The family has an older do which they will be keeping.
They are wanting to find this girl a new home because of a grandparent has become a permanent member of the household. The care needed by the grandparent is, of course, a huge stress.
So, here's the question: Do we take her? We've got two large dogs already. All three have met previously and gotten along.
How do you transition from 2 dogs to 3 successfully? As an alternate: how to help them find a home for her?
I had five dogs for awhile back in the nineties. They become great friends for each other and make each individual dog a little less needy. They didn't seem to get jealous when I would take just one or two for a walk, or to the groomer or vet. Obviously, multiple dogs require more food, more medicine, more care ... but the expense isn't that much more if you buy in bulk.
Two of the dogs were miniatures and stayed indoors, the other three in a fenced back yard, but they all came inside during cold or exceedingly hot weather. I had all five for a total of about 6-7 years and it wasn't really any more of a burden than the periods when I just had a couple. The last one passed away about four years ago and I miss everyone of them dearly.
By the way, the breeds were chihuahua, toy poodle, cocker spaniel, greyhound, husky.
posted by netbros at 9:02 PM on August 30, 2008
Two of the dogs were miniatures and stayed indoors, the other three in a fenced back yard, but they all came inside during cold or exceedingly hot weather. I had all five for a total of about 6-7 years and it wasn't really any more of a burden than the periods when I just had a couple. The last one passed away about four years ago and I miss everyone of them dearly.
By the way, the breeds were chihuahua, toy poodle, cocker spaniel, greyhound, husky.
posted by netbros at 9:02 PM on August 30, 2008
We had three dogs for a long time, Blue Healer, Border Collie and Golden Retriever- and it was quite easy- we had silly neighbour issues- so we had to make a sad choice.
posted by mattoxic at 9:12 PM on August 30, 2008
posted by mattoxic at 9:12 PM on August 30, 2008
Why don't you take the dog for a trial period? (Assuming you are okay with the $$$ and shed control, and the poo picking - that household harmony is your only concern?) Give it a couple of weeks. Set the expectations for a trail on both sides. If it doesn't work, well, your neighbors are no worse off then they were before.
There are all kind of idiots who have one or two dogs of their own and also foster various shelter and rescue dogs throughout the year. Sometimes our household cats think it's a bit much, but the dogs tend to get along.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:15 PM on August 30, 2008
There are all kind of idiots who have one or two dogs of their own and also foster various shelter and rescue dogs throughout the year. Sometimes our household cats think it's a bit much, but the dogs tend to get along.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:15 PM on August 30, 2008
The dogs will work it out fine, particularly if, as TomMelee says, you are the alpha. As close pack animals they're very good at working out intra-pack relationships (unlike cats, which are solitary in the wild.)
The book "The Secret Life of Dogs" answers the question of what dogs want: they want to be with other dogs.
posted by anadem at 10:05 PM on August 30, 2008
The book "The Secret Life of Dogs" answers the question of what dogs want: they want to be with other dogs.
posted by anadem at 10:05 PM on August 30, 2008
We made the transition from 2 to 3 dogs quite smoothly. Our second dog came in as a 2 month old puppy when our 1st dog was 9. Our third came in as a 3 month old puppy a year later. What helped was that I introduced them to each other with a very matter of fact "this pup is here to stay, so get used to it" attitude. Vigilance was key here, as I had to make sure to stop any skirmishes as soon as I saw the other two even think about it. After a couple weeks and some rough play, they figured out who was who and settled in. They know their order within their little threesome, but they also know that the three humans in the house are higher than they in the chain of command.
Before you do take this pup in, I would check with your local animal control to make sure you're not exceeding a certain "pet quota" per household before you need to get a kennel license.
If you decide that you can't take her, you can try putting an ad on petfinder.com and screen carefully. It's also a good idea to ask for a small adoption fee (enough to cover shots or whatever) so as to discourage the people who try to get animals for free for unwholesome purposes. Contacting a rescue (breed specific, even) is also a viable choice if your neighbors don't have the time or resources to do all that. I would consider this a last resort, though.
And let me commend you for trying to help this pup. Whether you end up taking her or not, you are doing a very wonderful thing. :-)
posted by arishaun at 11:14 PM on August 30, 2008
Before you do take this pup in, I would check with your local animal control to make sure you're not exceeding a certain "pet quota" per household before you need to get a kennel license.
If you decide that you can't take her, you can try putting an ad on petfinder.com and screen carefully. It's also a good idea to ask for a small adoption fee (enough to cover shots or whatever) so as to discourage the people who try to get animals for free for unwholesome purposes. Contacting a rescue (breed specific, even) is also a viable choice if your neighbors don't have the time or resources to do all that. I would consider this a last resort, though.
And let me commend you for trying to help this pup. Whether you end up taking her or not, you are doing a very wonderful thing. :-)
posted by arishaun at 11:14 PM on August 30, 2008
This is a large dog who will eat a lot. You don't mention the expense, but the dog will require food and vet care. Large dogs need space; where will the dog sleep? And there will be that much more poop to scoop.
I suspect your dogs would be delighted; 2 dogs plus some humans is not quite a pack, but 3 would be. If you do this; make it on a trial basis in case you or the dogs just can't adjust. Personally, I'd be delighted if someone offered me a healthy, trained, nice-tempered dog.
posted by theora55 at 7:40 AM on August 31, 2008
I suspect your dogs would be delighted; 2 dogs plus some humans is not quite a pack, but 3 would be. If you do this; make it on a trial basis in case you or the dogs just can't adjust. Personally, I'd be delighted if someone offered me a healthy, trained, nice-tempered dog.
posted by theora55 at 7:40 AM on August 31, 2008
The only thing I would be concerned about (besides throwing out my back picking up gigantic St. Bernard landmines) is if the dog decided to return "home" one day, and got hit by a car, or lost, or picked up by animal control on her way there. Not sure how you can avoid that, but it would be something to think about. Maybe all outdoor time is closely supervised until you are confident she considers your house home?
posted by SuperSquirrel at 4:40 PM on August 31, 2008
posted by SuperSquirrel at 4:40 PM on August 31, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for all the responses.
To answer some concerns others expressed:
1. Our backyard is 1/4 acre, fully fenced. The dogs are not allowed out front without supervision or off leash beyond the mail box. My current two frequently come to check the mail with me off leash.
2. The size of the dog, her poops, or the amount she eats is not a big deal to us. We have a full breed Bernese Mountain Dog and a Boxer mix already. I know she's only a year and hasn't reached her full growth yet. However, she's just a bit bigger than the Boxer which is 1/3 the size of the Berner.
3. Where would she sleep? We have a very open floor plan and the dogs sleep on the first floor. We've had dogs visit us before for multiple weeks and they tend to settle in the living room.
We've decided to offer the family a "respite" for 2 or 3 weeks. If at the end of that time, they decide they want her back, we'll return her. If, however, they decide that giving her up is the best thing for the family, we'll know how well everyone will settle in here. If she's not a good match for us, we'll help the family rehome her. They are good neighbors and had no way of anticipating the care of the grandparent at this time.
posted by onhazier at 5:27 PM on August 31, 2008
To answer some concerns others expressed:
1. Our backyard is 1/4 acre, fully fenced. The dogs are not allowed out front without supervision or off leash beyond the mail box. My current two frequently come to check the mail with me off leash.
2. The size of the dog, her poops, or the amount she eats is not a big deal to us. We have a full breed Bernese Mountain Dog and a Boxer mix already. I know she's only a year and hasn't reached her full growth yet. However, she's just a bit bigger than the Boxer which is 1/3 the size of the Berner.
3. Where would she sleep? We have a very open floor plan and the dogs sleep on the first floor. We've had dogs visit us before for multiple weeks and they tend to settle in the living room.
We've decided to offer the family a "respite" for 2 or 3 weeks. If at the end of that time, they decide they want her back, we'll return her. If, however, they decide that giving her up is the best thing for the family, we'll know how well everyone will settle in here. If she's not a good match for us, we'll help the family rehome her. They are good neighbors and had no way of anticipating the care of the grandparent at this time.
posted by onhazier at 5:27 PM on August 31, 2008
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They're all thick as thieves now, if anything he's the neediest of the three attention wise.
posted by TomMelee at 8:49 PM on August 30, 2008