Totally Random Advice - 1 or 2 dogs?

A boy and a girl should get along. We made the mistake of getting two female Jack Russell's and they nearly killed each other on a daily basis. We gave the less intelligent one away.

P.S. The one we kept was the star "Hero of Mana", my herofest entry. :)

I think it also depends on the breed's size. If they're small dogs you'll probably be ok. You're in good shape that they're male and female.

I have two dogs, but one is an inside dog (the jack russell) and the other is exclusively an outside dog (a giant fat as hell Chocolate Lab). I guess it also depends on how much open land you own and how much they'll tear up.

Good luck! Dogs are great.
 
Aaron Marshall said:
A boy and a girl should get along. We made the mistake of getting two female Jack Russell's and they nearly killed each other on a daily basis. We gave the less intelligent one away.

P.S. The one we kept was the star "Hero of Mana", my herofest entry. :)

I think it also depends on the breed's size. If they're small dogs you'll probably be ok. You're in good shape that they're male and female.

I have two dogs, but one is an inside dog (the jack russell) and the other is exclusively an outside dog (a giant fat as hell Chocolate Lab). I guess it also depends on how much open land you own and how much they'll tear up.

Good luck! Dogs are great.
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On a slightly unrelated note, I once had 2 sibling gerbils. They always got along well and then one night one of them killed the other (it was bloody and the other was eating it). I've always wanted to know the motive.
 
This has been a fun read.

My daughter who still live with me got a dog from the animal shelter a year and a half ago...Charles. He's a mixed breed, probably part Chihuahua and part terrier. They neuter and spay them automatically before you can pick them up. He was eleven months old when she got him (estimated) but now he is a irreplaceable member of the family.
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bballplaya283 said:
On a slightly unrelated note, I once had 2 sibling gerbils. They always got along well and then one night one of them killed the other (it was bloody and the other was eating it). I've always wanted to know the motive.
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I think they heard that Richard Gere was coming and it was a coping mechanism.
 
one other thing -

when you have two dogs, and one of them misbehaves, has an accident, etc., you don't know which one to discipline.
 
Dick Campbell said:
one other thing -

when you have two dogs, and one of them misbehaves, has an accident, etc., you don't know which one to discipline.
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With dogs, unless you catching them doing it RIGHT then, then disciplining them for something they did a few minutes ago won't matter. They'll have no idea what you are yelling at them for.
 
mcgeedigital said:
With dogs, unless you catching them doing it RIGHT then, then disciplining them for something they did a few minutes ago won't matter. They'll have no idea what you are yelling at them for.
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Exactly. If you don't catch them in the act, they won't associate your action as punishment. They'll just view you as a loose cannon to be weary of.
 
mcgeedigital said:
With dogs, unless you catching them doing it RIGHT then, then disciplining them for something they did a few minutes ago won't matter. They'll have no idea what you are yelling at them for.
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Ya know... I've heard that a thousand times, but totally disagree. They say that dogs don't have a sense of time, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

If I leave for ten minutes and come back home, my dog gets a little excited to see me, but nothing like if I go out of town for a week. He knows I've been gone for a long time and goes crazy when he see's me.

Also, say my dog gets sick and throws up after I leave in the morning. I come home at night, and he thinks he's in trouble and hides underneath the kitchen table. He knows exactly what he did, and thinks he's in trouble (although he's not from getting sick - he can't help it). Now say he wasn't trained and shat all over the house in the moring... well, I'd come home at night, and he'd be in trouble, and he'd know it.

How do you explain these behaviors if "you don't catch them in the act, they won't associate your action as punishment. They'll just view you as a loose cannon to be weary of."??

If he does something wrong, he'll hide from me untill I tell him it's OK (without me even giving a clue that anythings wrong). Even if that's an entire day later.

off topic... sorry...
 
The fact your dog hides after getting sick is probably associated with the way you've disciplined him in the past. Dogs have very keen senses and they know when your blood pressure is rising. Your anger/frustration with them is transmitted and they tune into it. If you yell at/beat your dog for something you just discovered they did hours ago, they won't know what you're yelling at them about.. They only know you're upset and that they should tread lightly.

I don't claim to be an authority on dogs, but I have had several dogs over the years. I've shown them and, yes... even helped breed them.

[insert ugafan comment here] :)
 
Terry - what breed did you show? I just started (got talked into) showing a dalmatian last fall. Sure is an interesting way of life...

Anyways while dogs have a great sense of time they dont understand english and just associate your yelling with what is happening right now - now if you can catch them in the act thats when the discipline needs to happen.

and to whoever originally posted the dogster link - thanks my wife is ecstatic about making our dogs pages (not sure what to think about that really) anyways I'll post the links when they're up. maybe our dogs can be internet friends or something weird...
 
jdajda said:
Terry - what breed did you show? I just started (got talked into) showing a dalmatian last fall. Sure is an interesting way of life...

Anyways while dogs have a great sense of time they dont understand english and just associate your yelling with what is happening right now - now if you can catch them in the act thats when the discipline needs to happen.

and to whoever originally posted the dogster link - thanks my wife is ecstatic about making our dogs pages (not sure what to think about that really) anyways I'll post the links when they're up. maybe our dogs can be internet friends or something weird...
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I owned and showed bulldogs.

Here's a pic of Commander when he was about three years old. He was a Champion. I also had two female bulldogs.

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Cool - good looking bulldog! Mr. Max is supposedly going to become a champion someday... So far we've gotten quite a few reserve wins and a grand total of $48 from futurity and sweeps - yay! And he just farted on me... thanks buddy...
 
Terry_Lasater said:
The fact your dog hides after getting sick is probably associated with the way you've disciplined him in the past. Dogs have very keen senses and they know when your blood pressure is rising. Your anger/frustration with them is transmitted and they tune into it.
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Not to debate too much, and I see what you're saying, but that's just not always the case.

I can come home, and not have a clue he's thrown up anywhere in the house, and he'll just be hiding under the table. That's when I know something is up. Then I wonder around the house to find what he's done...
 
I understand what you're saying. You can just walk into your home relaxed and he'll be nervous and hiding which indicates to you he knows he did something wrong.

Let me ask... when you've discovered his little surprises in the past, did you yell, grumble, take large, bounding strides throughout the house while cleaning it up? If so, he now associates that with him getting sick which (if he's a particularly nervous dog) could cause a weird cyclical thang - and could be part of his problem with vomiting to begin with.

Basically, I'm just saying that dogs are very, very sensitive to our emotions and will react to voice level, inflection, facial expressions, etc - some more than others.

However, every expert I've listened to (or read) has stated that you shouldn't discipline your dog (for example) when you come home in the evening and discover a pillow he chewed up (perhaps 8 hours ago). If the dog acts like there's no problem and you start disciplining him, then he won't make the connection. Instead, he will become confused and nervous - and nervous dogs do weird things. To err on the side of caution, most experts say you should only discipline when catching them in the act to ensure they make the connection.

Again, I'm no dog expert. I'm just throwing out things I've heard from people more knowledgeable than myself about dogs... along with some of my own experience.
 
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