Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
Just make sure you follow Bob Barker's advice when they hit six months old. :thumbsup:
Totally Random Advice - 1 or 2 dogs?
- Thread starter Luis Caffesse
- Start date
Luis Caffesse
Admin
Terry - they're coming form the Humane Society....so it's taken care of.
They won't adopt out a dog until it's been spayed or neutered.
What's funny is on their website it says "this dog has been altered"
When I first read that I thought, "wow, what did they do to him?"
Thought I was going to get a bionic dog of some sort.
EDITED TO ADD:
I'm glad to see so many of you here are animal lovers.
Maybe now I don't have to fear ridicule once this latest show I'm working on goes online.
:thumbsup:
They won't adopt out a dog until it's been spayed or neutered.
What's funny is on their website it says "this dog has been altered"
When I first read that I thought, "wow, what did they do to him?"
Thought I was going to get a bionic dog of some sort.
EDITED TO ADD:
I'm glad to see so many of you here are animal lovers.
Maybe now I don't have to fear ridicule once this latest show I'm working on goes online.
:thumbsup:
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Very cute dogs by the way
Luis Caffesse
Admin
Pick what's behind door number two...?
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
Heh heh... no, that would be Monty Hall.
gco
Veteran
You wont regret getting two.
They will be much happier together and provide you with a whole lot more entertainment. They'll bond with eachother, sleep, run, play with eachother. It really is no more work or responsibility than having just one.
I had one for a nearly a year. My girlfriend dumped me and then dumped off her dog. I was surprised at how much more alive my first one became. She was a happy energetic dog to begin with but when the second one joined us, oh man. She really blossomed. I definitely got the better end of the deal from that relationship.
They will be much happier together and provide you with a whole lot more entertainment. They'll bond with eachother, sleep, run, play with eachother. It really is no more work or responsibility than having just one.
I had one for a nearly a year. My girlfriend dumped me and then dumped off her dog. I was surprised at how much more alive my first one became. She was a happy energetic dog to begin with but when the second one joined us, oh man. She really blossomed. I definitely got the better end of the deal from that relationship.
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
I will try to make this as short as possible.
As those of you who know me, my little 5lb. (real masculine) poodle died this past November. We had already been living with my girlfriend and her 70lb yellow lab and the dogs really did get along great. Meal time was a bit of an issue because the poodle grazed (ate a little throughout the day) whereas the lab would just tear through food in a sitting.
About a month after my poodle died I got another dog for the worst possible reason, to replace one that had passed away. We went to a rescue and got what we were told was a golden / lab mix (she is 90% jack russell terrier in actuality) and completely ignored the fact that people told us that two female dogs can have potential problems.
Regardless we brought home this 7 week puppy into a home with a 2.5 year old lab.
Right away we had a problem.
Ultimately what we did was invest in a professional dog behaviorist (www.barkbusters.com) and even though it was expensive the behaviorist did amazing things with our dog and taught us a lot.
We thought that because she sat, listened, and would play fetch that we had a perfect dog... we learned a lot about really being ideal leaders in our pack from our trainer.
Now we have two really great dogs, they are balanced, calm, submissive, playful, and healthy.
So we made a couple of mistakes along the way, thought we knew more than experts, but ultimately, things worked out because we were lucky.
A couple of things I firmly believe:
1. Most dog food, even what they consider premium dog food like Eukanuba, has barely any nutritional value for your dogs. Meet with any professional and they will let you know this. We feed our dogs Wellness which is expensive ($50 for a 30lb bag) and we cook at least one meal for them a week. With my poodle I thought that because I fed him Eukanuba that I was doing him a favor but he was starved nutrionally.
2. Insure your animals. We use VPI for our dogs and it's like $20 a month but when we have had to have emergency surgery on our lab (because she ate a toy) and we were looking at a $5000 bill we were never in the situation of saying do we save a member of our family or do we make a decision based on finances. Insurance takes away the possible tough decisions.
3. Plan ahead. Read 'The Art of Raising a Puppy' by the Monks of New Skeet. I also like 'Casear's Way' by Caesar Milan, 'Dog Psychology' by Paul Rains, and 'Pack Members Alike' by Tonya Thomas.
Having two dogs is great. Our puppy ended up learning a ton of positive behavior from our lab and it was an easy training experience for us. I have friends who got two labs who chewed on each other rather than the furniture.
Two dogs is great if you can afford the financial burden (spay at 4mos, puppy shots every 4 weeks, vet checks, grooming ALL x2)
We have an agreement that for every 1,000sq feet of house we get another dog... I want three and a great dane is on its way... too bad I need another 1300sq feet for that to happen.
Best of luck to you though, it really is a great experience.
As those of you who know me, my little 5lb. (real masculine) poodle died this past November. We had already been living with my girlfriend and her 70lb yellow lab and the dogs really did get along great. Meal time was a bit of an issue because the poodle grazed (ate a little throughout the day) whereas the lab would just tear through food in a sitting.
About a month after my poodle died I got another dog for the worst possible reason, to replace one that had passed away. We went to a rescue and got what we were told was a golden / lab mix (she is 90% jack russell terrier in actuality) and completely ignored the fact that people told us that two female dogs can have potential problems.
Regardless we brought home this 7 week puppy into a home with a 2.5 year old lab.
Right away we had a problem.
Ultimately what we did was invest in a professional dog behaviorist (www.barkbusters.com) and even though it was expensive the behaviorist did amazing things with our dog and taught us a lot.
We thought that because she sat, listened, and would play fetch that we had a perfect dog... we learned a lot about really being ideal leaders in our pack from our trainer.
Now we have two really great dogs, they are balanced, calm, submissive, playful, and healthy.
So we made a couple of mistakes along the way, thought we knew more than experts, but ultimately, things worked out because we were lucky.
A couple of things I firmly believe:
1. Most dog food, even what they consider premium dog food like Eukanuba, has barely any nutritional value for your dogs. Meet with any professional and they will let you know this. We feed our dogs Wellness which is expensive ($50 for a 30lb bag) and we cook at least one meal for them a week. With my poodle I thought that because I fed him Eukanuba that I was doing him a favor but he was starved nutrionally.
2. Insure your animals. We use VPI for our dogs and it's like $20 a month but when we have had to have emergency surgery on our lab (because she ate a toy) and we were looking at a $5000 bill we were never in the situation of saying do we save a member of our family or do we make a decision based on finances. Insurance takes away the possible tough decisions.
3. Plan ahead. Read 'The Art of Raising a Puppy' by the Monks of New Skeet. I also like 'Casear's Way' by Caesar Milan, 'Dog Psychology' by Paul Rains, and 'Pack Members Alike' by Tonya Thomas.
Having two dogs is great. Our puppy ended up learning a ton of positive behavior from our lab and it was an easy training experience for us. I have friends who got two labs who chewed on each other rather than the furniture.
Two dogs is great if you can afford the financial burden (spay at 4mos, puppy shots every 4 weeks, vet checks, grooming ALL x2)
We have an agreement that for every 1,000sq feet of house we get another dog... I want three and a great dane is on its way... too bad I need another 1300sq feet for that to happen.
Best of luck to you though, it really is a great experience.
In my experience, dogs are happier in pairs.
e
e
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Yeah, female dogs ARE the best tempered generally speaking... I've been told, by "experts"
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
How old are the pups? Most vets recommend they reach the age of six months before "altering".
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
Actually there was a whole thing about this and they are now starting to spay/neuter at 16 weeks!
The thought behind it is that it is less traumatic or whatever... Seemed early in my opinion
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
I neutered my dog when she was 4.... since she had three litters of pups (they breed the champion show dogs, to get other's that are champ quality)
Luis Caffesse
Admin
Well, early or not...it's done.
They are 3months old and both had little threads hanging off their now empty "areas"
One less thing I need to worry about at least.
They are 3months old and both had little threads hanging off their now empty "areas"
One less thing I need to worry about at least.
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
If your dog is female and "altered", then she was spayed. Males get neutered.
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
My Bad!!!