The Second Dog Checklist: Are You and Your Dog Really Ready?

Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Just a quick one before we get into this episode. You may or may not be aware that when I'm not talking dog stuff with Max, I in fact interview people who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States on a show called One Minute Remaining: Stories from the Inmates. And that show has been nominated for an award in America. And I would love your support if you've got 60 seconds to click the link in the show notes of this episode and just vote for my show. That would be amazing if you could. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, and don't forget to verify your email address. Otherwise, the vote does not count. Thank you.

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It's the Dog People Podcast with your host, Jack Lawrence. Secretly, I decided to start this podcast For some free dog training advice, you know Malinois seem to be like the dog at the moment. Like I think people see them on Instagram doing these incredible things. Yeah. Go oh my god that's awesome. And then they get one like oh my god what the fuck I done.

And Max O'Neill, you would not believe how many people I meet and I go what made you want to get say an Aussie Shepherd? They go I don't know. I go had you met one before? They go no. If you want to ask me how often I walk my own dog a week, it's only twice a week.

It's a dog being Welcome to the Shovel Podcast, the podcast bringing you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay, he's friendly. And we are talking a very important subject today, Max. It is about second dogs. When you've already got a dog and you're thinking, you know what, I reckon we should get another one.

Absolutely. And we're doing this off the back of, we just welcomed a second dog into the home this week. Welcome to Turtle the Greyhound, who's joined our household. So we're doing the episode off the back of that, but it's also something I see day in, day out doing my private consults with clients where Sometimes people will get a second dog and it's a really great and welcome addition. And other times people do it and I go, oh, you really did not need that second dog. So hopefully today this discussion can kind of help you if you're kind of on the fence about getting a second dog. We can hopefully answer some questions, provide some knowledge, and help you reach an informed decision on that second dog.

It's a decision that I've contemplated here and there. And actually, one of the reasons why I don't— well, actually, it'll work well in the episode because I'll talk about What puts me off getting a second dog and what other people can do that I've done to test whether or not you're ready for a second dog.

Because it is, yeah, it's a lot.

Yeah. And I think that's the first question people need to ask themselves. So if we're getting into it, we go, do you need a second dog? Do you really, really, really need it? Or is this just on a whim? Did you see an Instagram reel on your dog and their bestie? Or, oh my God, look at those 2 dogs in their beds. Do you really need it? Or is this just like a short-term thing? I think just with anything, like, I know in my life, if I— before I make any major purchase, I'll sit on it for like 2 weeks. Me, I play guitar. I am fully addicted to buying guitars. I know that, uh, very well. And anytime I get a whim and go, oh my God, I'm obsessed with this thing, I'll sit on it for a couple of weeks. Genuinely, generally, most of the time within 2 weeks I've forgotten about it all.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I find a lot of people, if you started doing that, go, oh, we really want to get this second dog. I'm like, cool, have that conversation again as a family in a month's time and see if you still feel that way. Because if that has flip-flopped and in the time, you know, that month has gone by, you did buy a second dog and then you change your mind after you got the second dog. That's not really a good predicament for anyone. So ask yourself, do you genuinely need a second dog? And ask yourself why.

Well, that's it. Yeah. That's the question I think is it's like, why do you need a second, another dog? And what, what is the reason for you wanting to get that second dog?

If you're saying it's for my other dog to have a friend.

Yep.

Kira loves other dogs. You've seen her with other dogs. She froths over the other dogs. So If I got her another dog, yes, she would probably love it.

Yep.

But does she need another dog in this house? No, because I give her all the fun and enjoyment that she can get. Like we go out every single day for an hour, hour and a half. We train. She's with us all day. She loves people as much as she loves dogs. So getting that second dog, yes, she would probably enjoy it. But on the flip side, which we'll talk about very soon, that second dog would take up a lot of my time.

Yeah.

So she would lose as well as gain.

Exactly right. All of a sudden, one of her most favourite resources, you, if you, especially if you've built good engagement with your dog, is now halved. And that can be pretty tough for some dogs.

And sometimes more than halved, especially if you're going to bring a puppy in, because that puppy needs a lot more attention than your current dog.

Well, that's a, that's actually a really great point. Exactly right. And, and so if you're getting that second dog, you're going, do I need this? Why? Actually sit down there and write a list, pros and cons. Okay. Pros, our dogs might get More exercise. Cons, this could be twice as much work. Is actually sit down and decide, do we need this? And if so, why? And if you actually can't put pen to paper and actually think of 5 good reasons why you genuinely need that second dog, you probably don't need it. This might just be—

Just be number one, because we want one. Yeah, exactly. Which is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you are prepared for what is coming.

Yeah, exactly. So when— and then when forming that decision, some other questions you should start to ask is like, Are you ready for it? So let's just say you, you come up with some good reasons like, yes, this would be good because it would be, you know, great for our dog to have a friend. It would be— we've got enough space for the family, we've got all these things, whatever else. Let's just say you reach that decision and go, yeah, I actually think this house could do with a second dog. Cool, power to you. Then you've got to start asking yourself, are we ready for it? Is now the right time, or is next year the right time? Again, we've waited till Nelson is 2 before we decided to get a second dog. And again, we'll talk more about the circumstances with Turtle and whatnot, but we knew when we first got Nelson, we're like, all right, we are going to be a single dog household for at least the first couple of years because we want to do his raising right. So that's another thing you should ask yourself if you are ready. Are you ready for it now? Is now really the right time?

Yeah. I mean, and the biggest thing, as you said, you know, you wait till Nelson's 2 and you're training with him at a really good standard and, you know, he's a great dog and he listens and he does as he's told. I mean, I think that's what we're always told. If you're in a situation at home where you're already struggling with the obedience around your first dog, don't even think for a second about a second. Like, because you've got to get your first dog where it needs to be in the realms of obedience before you bring a second dog in. Otherwise you're just going to have double the chaos.

1 million percent. And that's in terms of timing, you've got to look at where you're at in your life, but also where your current dog is at in their life. Like, again, we see this whole thing every day with littermate syndrome. Sometimes, you know, people can— you can obviously get littermate syndrome if you get 2 littermates, and that's going to be its whole episode at some point as well. But I can also see some form of littermate syndrome when some people get dogs that are like a month apart. We got this one, and I'm like, isn't your second dog only like a month younger? Yeah, yeah, when our first dog was at 12 weeks, we just decided we wanted a second one. And you just look at that and you go, was that a good decision? Was the timing really right? And as you said, it's like you want that first dog to be nice and solid because As anyone can attest to, whether you're a professional, a hobbyist, or a first-time dog owner, raising and training a dog to a level that you're actually truly happy with is a tough task. And it's tough enough doing it with this one dog. And if you're only halfway through that process and you're not quite where you want to be, and all of a sudden, as Jack said before, you'd start dividing your attention between these 2 dogs, all of a sudden you've got half the time, half the energy to do— to finish off that job on the first. And if you did a good job on your first one, oh, this is easy, let's do it again. You've got to remember when you got that first dog, you're a single dog home. So now when you get this second dog, which you think, I did this before, it'll be easy. Yeah, but now you're doing it with 2 dogs in the mix. Like, this is twice as hard. So you really do have to look at that and decide, am I in the right time in my life for this? But also, is my current dog in the right time of my life— or their life, sorry— for this? Are they trained? Are they at a level I'm happy with? Because progress will really slow down. when you get your second dog, because naturally you will prioritise that second dog with a lot of things.

See, I knew, I knew a couple once that had a dog with separation anxiety and they got a second dog to try and fix the separation anxiety, which did not work whatsoever.

They got 2 dogs with separation anxiety.

Well, they just had, they had one that was digging and destroying the backyard and the other one that spent the whole day howling and barking.

Damn.

So yeah, I mean, if your dog has separation anxiety, don't think Getting a second dog is going to mitigate that and fix it overnight.

Yeah, there's a chance it could, or there's a chance you could end up with 2 dogs and now you've got twice the amount of noise complaints because it's twice as loud, twice the destruction, twice the training, twice the medication, whatever route you go down.

And of course, there is ways of testing whether or not it will work before you make the full solid commitment.

And that's a great point is again, before you sign up to any sort of big long-term commitment is you should trial anything. If you plan on buying a new car, you take it for a test drive. If you're wanting to date or marry someone, you take them out for a few dates and see how it goes. And same with a second dog. And we're not saying go grab one from the breeder and take it back a week later, but maybe offer to, you know, dog sit one of your mate's dogs. Hey, if you're going away for the weekend, can we look after, you know, Fred the Frenchie? And let's see how he fits into this home for a few days and see how having a second dog actually feels. So you can offer to Pet sit, you can offer your services on the side like Mad Paws or something. Or if you know someone specifically with the breed or the size of dog or the age of dog you're thinking of getting, put your hand up and go, hey, can we look after him for a few days, give you guys some time off and see how it actually feels? And I've encouraged quite a few clients to do that. A lot of people will include me in that decision-making and let me know they're thinking of getting a second dog. And I always, always, always, always recommend this, you know, try before you buy sort of stuff.

So, cause I actually recently dog sat for actually a couple of listeners of ours. They've got a wonderful golden retriever. I went to go and retrieve a puppy, 4 months old, because I am also like, I get to these moments like, oh, should I get a second dog? You know, I'm really enjoying this. You know, I'm desperate to get a sort of working line Labrador.

Yeah.

Which is probably mental. But, you know, so I'm like, oh, I really want to do that now. So I dog sat and this 4-month-old dog came in so high energy. Like, just, it was only here for 2 days. And after the 2 days, I'm like, nah, I don't need a second dog. I don't. Like, I enjoy training dogs, but we couldn't take them both out together because obviously they're at different levels and I can't concentrate on Kira and give her what she needs while I'm also trying to focus on a puppy. So then I was having to take them out separately and I take Kira out for about an hour. Obviously the puppy doesn't need as long, but then it means me going out again with that dog. I'm going, it's just too much at the moment. It's just, I'm going to have to wait till Kira's a lot older to the point where she's almost close to quote unquote retirement, you know, and she's not going to be out with me, you know, for an hour doing big retrieves and stuff before I even probably consider, you know, that working line lab.

Yeah, that's it. And you gotta, you gotta seriously look into that. And that's why that try before you buy or trial is so crucial because the amount of people that change their mind once that second dog's in the home is absolutely crazy.

A great way to do it would be there are so many foster places that look for foster carers. That's a great point. Sign yourself up to be a foster carer because then there is no commitment because you basically look after that dog until it finds a new home. And hey, what might happen is you might like what happened with me and Kira is a dog might come into your life. You really enjoy that. Your other dog's really enjoying their company. You're enjoying the training. You're working it into your life. And you might go, you know what? I'm going to call the foster place and say, you know, we're going to keep this dog. And if it doesn't work out and you're going, what on earth have you done? No worry there, because you can literally, all you gotta do is just hold onto that dog until they find a home.

Yeah. And you've done a good thing.

Yeah. You've done a great thing giving a dog a home.

Yeah, exactly right. Taking a dog out of the shelter, not just getting one and putting it straight back in. So I think that's absolutely fantastic. I think the other thing we've got to consider as well, I think right now all the things we've looked at is, you know, how does it affect the humans in the household? But you've got to really actually look at it and how does that work for your current dog? Like, what's your current dog like? What's their age like? Are they sociable, etc.? Because this is something I see every day and I've got to admit it does bother me a bit. I'll see people with like a 14-year-old Maltese who's on their last legs. They're pretty knackered.

They're being harassed by a puppy.

Yeah. Now they've got this, oh, we decided to get this like puppy German Shepherd and not do any training with it. And these dogs are bullying this old man and it's just so sad. I'm like, people get a second dog and without meaning to, all of our, you know, original dogs will partake in the raising of the second dog. And you really gotta ask yourself, does this suit that second dog where they're at in their life? Or maybe it's not an age thing, maybe it's just a sociability thing. There might be plenty of dogs that are completely incompatible with living with a second dog. They're just, nah, like they do not want to do that thing at all. And again, this is where that try before you buy sort of thing comes in, whether that's like fostering, whether that's pet sitting, etc., because you've got to try it out for you, but you've got to try it on for size with your dog and see whether they're actually compatible. And you might have to face the fact that your dog just might only be a single dog dog, not a 2 dogs in the household sort of dog.

And again, something you can try out with another person's dog for an extended period of time. If your dog seems to be liking it and enjoying it, great, you can tick that one off your list.

Yeah, because your dog's got no say on the matter. So if you're going to do it, it's got to— it should be a decision that You know, helps them. And I see all these people saying that their dogs are part of the family, but they're not necessarily treating them as such. So I think you owe it to your dog to see how they feel about it. And yeah, dogs are adaptive, but I think it's worth giving it a shot and seeing how they feel over a few days and kind of gauging that.

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Breaking down one little myth I see a lot. A lot of people I hear say, you know, we heard that 2 dogs is easier than one. And that can be the case in the long run, for sure. If you have one dog super well trained, you get another one super well trained, they don't get up to any mischief. And throughout the day, they kind of tire each other out by playing these games and you go, wow, like This has saved me quite a bit on exercise. That's pretty cool. Sure. But quite often the math doesn't math and 2 dogs can feel like 3. 2 dogs can feel like 5. I see so many people get a second dog and all of a sudden their original dog will see this new puppy or this new dog getting away with all these bad habits and going, hey, like—

Yeah, yeah. I don't get away with that.

I didn't get away with that. I'm going to pick that habit back up. And then the second dog comes into the home. And if your first dog isn't already well trained and well habituated in the house, the second dog goes, hey, I noticed that the first dog is doing this. I'm going to pick that up. And all of a sudden they become the sum of each other's worst behaviours. And you go, oh my God, now we've got 2 dogs that dig, 2 dogs that pull clothes off the line, 2 dogs that bark at the mailman. And all of a sudden the household can go from feeling kind of manageable to absolutely chaotic. And like I say, this whole myth of 2 dogs can be easier than one, I find generally not true. I think at best 2 dogs feels like 2, but worst case, 2 dogs can feel like 3 or more. It can be I admit going to some house dogs where I'm like, whoa, I know there's only 2 dogs in here, but it feels like there's a whole lot more because it's chaotic, hectic and chaotic and intense.

Yeah. I mean, look, I want to point out that I'm, you know, when I'm talking about in this episode about you should do this, you should do that, you should do this. I'm not sitting on my high horses because I have done all the things I'm telling people you shouldn't do. Like, I have been that person who's bought a dog because I just wanted to buy a dog and we already had a sec— we already had a dog. I just wanted a second dog because I wanted a specific breed. Our first dog was kind of my wife's dog, and I wanted a dog that was sort of, you know, my dog, you know, because her dog was always obviously with her and loved her. And that was great. But I was like, I want my own dog. So I didn't think it through properly. I got a breed that I was not in any way capable of understanding. I didn't, I had no knowledge of things like mental stimulation and that sort of stuff. Brought a second dog into the house. My, the original dog was like, what are you doing to me?

Yeah.

Like was not interested in this dog whatsoever. And she could never relax in the home with this other dog. So I made an incredibly bad decision, one that I feel guilty for to this day. So just don't make that same mistake. Learn from other people's mistakes and just make sure that you, your household, your dog, everything is right in the right scenario before you make such a massive commitment.

Yeah, exactly. Because yeah, you just see a lot, a lot, a lot of people getting this one wrong. And even ourselves, like I said at the start of the episode, we just welcomed a second dog into the house. Turtle is an 11-year-old greyhound, and we probably wouldn't welcome any other dog into the household right now except for Turtle. Nelson's still not even 2. He's still right in the midst of puberty. We're still— I'd say his pet training is complete. He's an awesome pet, but we're still going really hard with his protection training and getting him ready for all that sort of stuff. And he's what I consider a really high-needs dog. Like, he needs 2 massive workouts a day, both like just like a pure physical one, like an hour worth of ball, and then also something mental for his training. Um, you know, he needs a lot, a lot, a lot of attention, as good a dog as he is. And we couldn't do another Nelson or even just another regular pet. So the way Turtle worked out, some of our best friends were moving back to Germany and Turtle was a bit too old to go with them and not in the best health. And it was kind of a win-win. We knew Turtle really well. We'd cared for her a bunch of times. Her and Nelson were mates. Nelson is actually convinced Turtle's his mum. We were actually looking after Turtle for about a month or two when we first welcomed Nelson home. So He kind of got off the plane, saw Turtle, and was like, Mum? And she's like, yes. So it worked out well. It was a match made in heaven. And but like I said, we asked ourselves all these things even then. All right, can we take this on? Does this work? And you've really got to, because you can have such a good thing going and welcome the second dog in. And just again, I see this every day. People go, we've got— we've signed up to the second dog now, but we regret it. It's absolutely throwing things out of whack. It hasn't been the left best life decision, but we've accepted it and we're going to just work with it. So rather than be put in that position where you kind of grit your teeth through it, just maybe have a bit of a think. You ask some of these questions that we've asked today and really and truly deeply think about, do we need a second dog? Because quite often you do, you don't, and more often than not, your first dog doesn't. Um, again, probably the biggest thing I see is, oh, you know, our dog's a bit lonely. But, you know, you've got to remember is I know dogs are, you know, it's debated whether they're pack animals or social opportunists or whatever. That's a whole episode. But we've got to remember, if we rewind 10,000 years or so, dogs approached us at the campfire. Dogs were perfectly willing to leave interaction with their own species to come.

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Come and join our groups, our social groups for their own benefit. So your dogs, if they live by themselves and they're surrounded by humans, are perfectly okay in the same way that some people live completely alone with 9 cats. Like, we don't have to have one of theirs or 2 of their species around to make them feel comfortable. They're pretty comfortable with us. So don't necessarily think that's a thing that your dog needs another dog around. Quite often it's not the case at all. And your dog might think, hey, I had a pretty good thing going. And as Jack said, now I'm kind of sharing everything with this second dog. And sometimes that's welcome, sometimes it's not. So just something to think about.

As always, any questions on this particular topic or

anything at all, make sure you jump on the Facebook page, The Dog People Podcast, and we'll We will answer them for you there. The Dog People Podcast is a Mashed Pumpkin production hosted by Jack Lawrence and Max O'Neill, edited, produced, and audio production by Jack Lawrence.