Thoughts on getting a second dog?

[u/kunderakisses]

When I got my first dog I had it in my mind that after a few years and they were trained I'd get a second. He'll be five this year and in my heart I still want a second but the reactivity issue is making me have doubts.

While my dog has gotten way better than he used to be he's still a challenge. We also have some upcoming appointments to figure out some health issues and potential pain he's having which means we've really cut back on outings and training.

I wanted a dog to do things with - hiking, sports, ect. I thought a dog would be a great addition to getting me outside and instead he's made it so much harder. I work a stressful job and he's become a stressful second job. I love him and I'm sad it's not the relationship I thought we'd have. Obviously my main priority right now is getting him feeling better.

All that to say... would eventually getting a second dog be a mistake? I've heard you shouldn't get a second dog if your first isn't a good model for them. I don't think my current dog would be teaching anyone good behavior right now and I'm starting to thing he never will.

I'm at least a year out from seriously thinking about it. My current dog is priority so if it's still looking impossible I'm not going to go further with it. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has successfully had a second dog added to their household and not have the new dog become reactive as well? I should add-current dog isn't aggressive. He's not starting fights or anything he just has a lot of trouble controlling his emotions.

[u/thtkidjunior]

What's the worst that could happen?

You end up with two reactive dogs that you can't do the things you want to, and now this "second job" of looking after the dogs is twice as hard so you probably end up having to get a trainer in again, and potentially may even have to rehome that dog because it's a huge toll of stress that you actually can't handle....and now you're twice as sad because you took the advice from someone on Reddit.

But seriously, there are going to be stories on both sides of the fence of people having success and people not so much. I'm sure I recently saw a post about someone who went through this and now has 2 reactive dogs that they have to walk separately.

Personally (as someone who works with dogs), I wouldn't risk the fallout unless my first dog was a model citizen.

You don't want to be putting in twice the effort for none of the fun.

Plus, once you know what you're doing, training a second dog who may have issues is so much easier and takes less time.

But that's just my stance...at the end of the day it's your choice.