From: schalene@sequent.com (Schalene Dagutis)
Subject: Re: 2 dogs vs 1 dog
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems Inc.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 19:27:16 GMT

In article <1993Jan21.193821.14709@nas.nasa.gov> blake@wk60.nas.nasa.gov (Matthew W. Blake) writes:
>
>My question:  What are the advantages/disadvantages to 2 dogs?  How about
>comments on these:
>
>Advantages
>----------
>-Dog companionship during weekdays(or evenings) when humans gone

This is definitely true.  I have two dogs (same breed, same sex) -- one
is 1 year old and one is six months old.  Before we got the second 
puppy, the older one was wired when I got home from work.  Now they're
excited for about 20 minutes when I come home and then they need to
sleep!  Some of it may be the maturity.  But they play together long
and hard.  Luckily, they're small dogs and the house suffers no damage.
I've also puppy-proofed the area I keep them in when I'm gone.

>-Could leave the 2 dogs a bit longer (overnight?) than one dog 

I don't know about this.  I've never left my dogs overnight alone.  
They're definitely too young now.  But we never left our other dog
alone over night either without having a "critter sitter" come in and 
feed and walk him.

>-More dog exercise with less human required time
>
I'm not sure about this either.  We walk both of them together twice
a day.  They're also at different levels of obedience so it's 2 hours
of class time every week (instead of one) and more time in the evenings
practicing.  It's also important to spend time alone with each dog.  But
if you're talking about the "get on the floor" kind of casual play, then
it's the same amount of time for two dogs as it is for one.


>Disadvantages
>-------------
>-Double all costs (food, medical, kennel, etc)

I wouldn't say double.  Our vet gives us a discount.  Now the puppy is
still on puppy food, but when he's older, I'll be able to buy their
food in bulk.  That's a savings.  We board our dogs at their vet so
we get a discount on this, too.  It all varies -- but it will be more
expensive to have 2 dogs versus one.

>-Double work (more poop, 2 baths, double flea battle)

It's twice as much work, but probably not twice as much time -- if you
know what I mean.  A lot of time spent bathing and grooming is the time spent
on is getting supplies out, putting them away, and cleaning up when you've
finished.  My husband now dries the older one while I'm bathing the puppy.  
He never did that before.  Having two seems to make it more of a "team" 
effort than just a "wife" thing at our house.  This is good as far as I'm 
concerned!

>-harder to take 2 dogs for a walk,run, rollerblade

Can't speak to the rollerblading, but in the beginning it takes more time.
I didn't walk them together until the puppy had good leash manners.  This
took training.  So for a couple of months I walked them separately.  Now
they walk together well.  It's kind of funny because the oldest one always
has to be on the left and the pup on the right.  If they wander off
course (sniffing some good odor) they're quick to get back into position.

Usually, I only run with my older dog; they puppy is too young yet.  I
think they'll do o.k., though.

>-Harder to take 2 dogs on trips in car, visit art/wine festivals, etc.
>

Ours travel great.  We don't have kids so they get the entire back seat.
They like to stand up on they're hind legs when we're going slow or stopped 
to see what's going on, but when we're on the Interstate, they just sleep.
Visiting places is what you make it, I think.  Make sure they're properly
socialized and start off gradually.  And remember dogs love a schedule.
But they're very accommodating if you feed them at nearly always the
same time ;-)

>Questionable
>------------
>-Dogs more in tune with each other than humans, ignore humans?

I think this is a danger if you get two litter mates and/or don't spend
much time with your dogs.  Ours love each other, but they'd rather get
attention from us.  This won't happen if you spend time with them together,
time with them alone, and make sure they're socialized (so they don't 
feel more comfortable with each other than people).

>-More destruction by playing together and banging into things in house?

This depends on how big they are and how rowdy they get.  Mine are 15
pounds there abouts and great climbers.  Instead of destroying things 
close to the ground, they'd rather climb on the tables and chew on
magazines -- the solution for us is don't leave anything lying around.

When we got the puppy, we kept him confined to the kitchen with child
gates and left the older one in the living/dining area.  Now that the
puppy is completely housetrained, I leave them together in the living/
dining room kitchen part of the house.  Many people crate they're dogs 
all day.  I don't.  The books you read differ on the subject.  Some 
say never crate them for more than 4 hours no matter how old they are, 
others say after they get to be 7-8 months old you can crate them all
day.  I only crated them at night when they weren't house trained and
when I couldn't watch them (taking a shower, etc.)  When they were
confined to the kitchen during the day, I put out newspapers.  I still 
put some newspaper out for them in the kitchen, but they rarely use them.
Only once in the last two months, when one of them had a case of the
"runs."  A lot of people say you can't teach a dog to ask to go outside
and train them with newspapers at the same time, but that wasn't the
case with us.  Ours always preferred to go out (even in bad weather), but
would use the papers in an emergency.

I've found that by not crating mine during they day, they aren't as
hyper when I get home.  I have a very active breed however.  So it
may differ, depending on what your dog's energy level is.

I also found that my dogs understood much more quickly what was off
limits and what was acceptable doggie stuff by not being crated all
day (except for their love of chewing magazines).  This insight was 
very informally acquired -- mostly by talking with people in my 
obedience classes that did crate all day.  If you do leave the dogs
free in your home, it's critical to dog proof dangerous things like 
electrical cords, etc.  And I would confine a puppy in some fashion.

>-Less destruction since they play instead of dig/chew?

This is hard for me to say.  Mine aren't diggers, but if one's chewing
something, the other is usually quick to join in.  This refers to their
toys and those beloved magazines!

>-Happier regularly, less worried about being left behind?
>
My oldest dog definitely didn't like being left alone.  So the second
dog was good.  The youngest wouldn't know what it was like to be alone.
He had one experience when Max spent the night at the vet's after 
being neutered.  Even though we were home, Mardi missed Max and looked
for him everywhere.

>What do people that have had 1 and 2 dogs think?  Which is more convenient
>for the humans and how much happier are the dogs with a dog companion?
>
I love having two dogs.  I'd like to have more, but my husband has
put his foot down ;-( It is more work and more money, but worth it 
because its so rewarding.  I love to sit and watch them interact with
each other.  

schalene

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