Two Dogs In One House. Good Idea? Or Not

[cm-happy]

My best doggy friend is about 5.5 years old, I'v had her since she was a tiny puppy. Here name is Singha cause I brought her home in an empty Singha beer carton. She is sweet and gentle seems to get along well with the other neighborhood dogs. My constant companion, follows me everywhere i go in the house and usually sleeps on the floor next to my bed. Not in any fights that I know of. She is a mixed breed but appears to be mostly Thai ridgeback. I also quite some time ago had a Ben Gow (Panda) female and they were basically bought up together, but did not get along at all. Panda is no longer with us, some kind neighbor poisoned her. Panda was a hand full high maintenence pooch. maybe there was some jealousy on the part of singha that I had to spend so much time with Panda. They were both spayed when 2 thinking that might help them not getting along issue. Singha is brought in the house every evening and not allowed to run around all night she is about 70 or 80 cm long from neck to base of tail and is rather fat. Have not weighted her, too heavy for me to pick up. weighs I think 40 + kilos.

Anyway with all that said am thinking about another pooch. Maybe this time a male and see if they get along better than 2 females.

Is this a good idea or will there be problems introducing another dog into the house and does it matter if the new dog is male or female. Maybe some breed recommendations that are not high maintenance and that are easy going in temprament. Don't care about pedigree a mutt would do fine. Would the age of the new dog be of importance?

Your opinions please.

[Nienke]

Were Panda and Singha of the same age? Because, that can be a casue of sibling rivalry.

Anyway, Panda is unfortunately no more and you ask about another second dog.

I don't think that should be too much of a problem. But best is to find one of the other sexe, that is a male. Male and female are much less likely to have hierarchy problems. It is also advisable to find a younger male (say up to 1 1/1 years of age), so there wil be a clear age difference.

As for what kind of dog, that question you can only answer as it needs to be a dog to your liking.

What you can do is visit the shelter in Chiang Mai a few times and spend some time observing and petting the animals there. Very possible that you will find one that will 'click' with you.

There is a Lanna Dog Shelter in Sansai (www.lannadog.net) and Care for Dogs Shelter in Samoeng (www.carefordogs.org).

I wish you good luck in finding a wonderful new best friend for both you and Singha,

Nienke

[ignoramus]

Agree with Nienke about age difference cm; listen to a vet weekly on radio, and this is what he suggested about a new cat into a cat household. Can't imagine why it should be different with dogs. Hierarchy establishment is less of a problem apparently, unsurprisingly. If younger animal eventually becomes the more dominant (either via force of 'personality', or physical strength), I'd imagine that the transition would be smoother. Probably not much help, but I do empathise.

[little_muppet]

i got 3 dogs sleep in the same bed room with me. 2 great danes and a husky. they r fine and love eachother.