Opinions and advice on adding to our pack

Hello!

I have been a long time (allbeit sporadic!) member of this great collection of dog lovers, and hoped I might tap into the great wealth of knowledge, and experience when it comes to our little pack (currently consisting of 1x cavalier cross westie aged 8 and a cavalier aged 7).

Basically, to cut a long story short, my crossbreed Murphy, sweet natured, loving but play-centric (!) was my first dog. Ever. We have had him since he was 9 weeks old. When he was 9 months, we brought home Mia, so that makes her 7 now. She's pretty vocal and cat like, uses her claws a lot, but is the most loving (and loveable) creature. They're certainly not old dogs, and while they have calmed down a bit, they are still full of beans and play loads (although like me they need to sleep a decent amount too!)- happy little dogs.

My husband and I are in a position financially to add to the pack; something I have longed to do for a long time. We are looking into dachshund crosses, as I adore those dogs, but a cross would eliminate the back problems, and maybe make their personality less, well, potentially skittish. I know not all dachies are like that, but I do love a good crossbreed...

The plan is to take the youngster to work with me, my boss and good friend has OK'd this so long as the dog doesn't interfere with my work. I had hoped that this way, my older two wouldn't be left with the youngster before they had a chance to bond or without supervision until my husband and I feel it is appropriate.

Now, my questions really are as follows:

1. How well will an established pair take to a new one?

2. Will the younger dog be a source of irritation to the older two, or will the youngster keep the current pair young?

3. Realistically, how much harder is 3 than 2? (In all the gory details please so we are going into this with our eyes wide open!)

I think that's it for now, lol.

Thank you so much for reading this. I look forward to reading any comments. xx

PS. Almost forgot! What combination of sexes would go together best? Crucial Q I have no clue on!! Thanks! xx

Q1 - You have a pack at the moment, who do you think is the 'pack leader' when there is something that in a dogs eyes is a potential danger which of your two will confront that threat first If your new dog also has the 'pack leader ' gene then there could be serious problems BUT not all dogs have this gene and truly domesticated dogs might well look on you as the 'pack leader' either way before you finaly decide on dog No.3 it would be adviseable for them to meet on some neutral ground i.e. not your home.

Q2 - I am afraid that 'keeping the other two young' is thinking in human terms, it's easily done but I stongly believe that dogs don't work that way. If the younger one wants to go running around on walks he will and your two older ones will just do what they can do at their age.

Q3 - How much harder for 3 than 2 well walks will be a tad more difficult unless you have somewhere they can be off lead. I've never had three dogs so can't really say but with our two when approaching a tree you can be sure one will go to left of tree and one to right With three one might just go in a different direction all together Could be a lot of fun but I think I'd suggest you take your husband with you on walks. Otherwise not greatly more difficult, feeding, grooming, just takes a little longer I would think, veterinary costs a tad more but if you are a true dog lover those things get sorted one way or another.

Hi Losos- thank you for your reply, especially lovely to talk to another dog loving night owl, lol.

I would say (and so would husband) that I am pack leader. Murphy is fairly dominant, but I have ways of asserting my dominance over him when we play. I know dachies tend to be a bit dominant themselves, another reason for a cross. I'd love a cav cross dachie but we will have to see what little ones are around when we are ready. Good point about neutral ground- I had always planned to take the two we have along to meet the new one before we even think about taking another on. We took Murph to Mia's breeders house and they played and all was fine, so this is something I am keen to do again.

Yes I might require an extra pair of hands (esp around trees!) but being 3 of them, I hoped that I could take them out separately if needed, then there is always company for those indoors. Hubby will step up and help out in that respect though

Perhaps that is me attaching human attributes to them, thinking it will keep them young... was something I heard once and I guess it stuck, nonsense or otherwise, lol.

We are definitely dog lovers, I don't mind the extra time/ expense/ hair etc so long as we are all happy

Thank you again for your comments

Now, my questions really are as follows:

1. How well will an established pair take to a new one?

2. Will the younger dog be a source of irritation to the older two, or will the youngster keep the current pair young?

3. Realistically, how much harder is 3 than 2? (In all the gory details please so we are going into this with our eyes wide open!)

1. Depends on the dogs and their personalities, Mine have always been really accepting of new dogs.

2. Again it depends on the dogs, some pups are a pain and the older dogs just see them as pups. Some pups are fairly angelic yet still manage to annoy the older dogs. It's up to you to sort it out.

3. I've currently got 5, did have 7 at one time, never had a problem with numbers or sizes tbh.

Also there is no guarantee a cross will have no back problems, there is still Dachie in the mix and you have no way of knowing.

We have two papillons and a Welsh Springer. The springer is the only one we had from a pup, and if we hadn't had a crate and a baby gate there would have been trouble. If the Papillons really had enough of Willow and she wasn't taking the hint we could separate them with the baby gate. Likewise, when Willow started trying to chew furniture, play 'I can stay just ahead of the human', or any other puppy tricks she could have a quiet half hour in her crate, where nobody is allowed to bug her. A puppy is going to irritate older dogs at some point, that's partially how they learn, so being able to set up two safe spaces is essential.

Will your pair accept another dog? I'd look at how they behave on walks and meeting other dogs. If they're friendly and sociable and happy to play with others, they'll probably (eventually) accept a puppy. If they stick together in a pair, and really only play together even when other dogs are around you might have a problem.

The extra problems with 3:
I can't manage three at the vet at the same time, so what do you do when all 3 have eaten a suspicious wild mushroom? I summon the OH from work, and get yelled at.

Is your kitchen big enough for three distinct eating areas? Ours get fed in the dining room with Willow the other side of the baby gate since she is a food thief and managed to start a couple of nasty scraps early on.

Is anyone toy or food or person possessive? 2 dogs you can pull apart, with 3 sometimes someone sneaks around the back and restarts a disagreement. We have a continuously changing arrangement of which dogs are on which lap over the evening, but Willow gets grumpy if somedoggy takes up too much of her Dad's laptime.

I can't help you with the gender mix, I think the character of each dog is more important. Ours are 3 unspayed bitches, and we have been told this is the worst mix. It works fine for us, but I wouldn't want to add an unsnipped boy to the mix. If your two are non-dominant snipped boys I'd probably go for another boy.

Oops sorry just reread, you have one boy and one girl. Are they both neutered? Would Murphy see a boy pup as a potential rival for Mia's affection, or is he oblivious to Mia's gender?

Official Disclaimer: All of this is my opinions, feel free to completely disagree. I hope there's something of use in the above ramblings.

Sarah

Thank you for all the comments, I really appreciate the input.

My two are very friendly with other dogs, they are both neutered (as will the next one be) and they are not particularly possessive over anything... so that shouldn't be a problem. There is definitely space to separate them if needed. Our vets are great, when I have taken our two to the vet alone, the nurses will look after one while the other is in there so worst case scenario hubby can't come home, I should be OK still. Murphy has never been interested in Mia as a girl, it has never been an issue... perhaps because he was neutered when she came to us.

We have decided to go for it, and have a viewing of a little dachie cross chihuahua girl this weekend. I think I am up to the challenge (!) but it is all dependant on the reaction of our existing dogs... they are my priority right now. But so excited. She is beautiful with great big pointy ears! I will be speed reading the puppy book again- to refresh my memory- and speed tidying! Make the place puppy friendly

Thank you so much everyone. I will post pics if we end up bringing her home xx

Do you know I have 2 neutered males, an entire male and 2 entire females, never had any issues with that either. I know some people will say it can't be done, when a bitch is in season the male will break down doors to get at her. Not in this house lol, if Teddy shows an interest in either in season bitch I tell him no and he goes off and amuses himself with something else. There really are no hard and fast rules.
Hope it all goes swimmingly for you and they really take to each other x

Looking forward to seeing the photos! I have chi x and I would love to have a Daxie.


I had three dogs for a while but Dibs chi x was very old and Libby chi x young and a pocket rocket! Pip JRT x was a buffer between them . It was quite hard catering to the different needs , I had a buggy for Dibbs as he could keep up on walks but it was worth it.

I just have Libby and Pip now , and definitely have no plans for another !

Thank you for the kind comments and advice

We do have some pictures- she doesn't look excessively long, has mid-length legs and weighs only 1.6 kg at the moment. She is sort of blonde, and looks a little scruffy. Almost Murphy's mini me! Ha ha. Except for the ears. They look the size of a dachies but pointing up like a chi's. Gorgeous! I will definitely share pics of her if all goes well

We do anticipate things going well, but of course we can not count our chickens. If past behaviour is anything to go by, Murph should be fine, Mia may need lots of cuddles but I think she will be OK too.

So excited! 4 days and counting! We have a name chosen, some puppy supplies and vet booked for Sunday, so pretty much all bases covered I think! Just spending the next few days sorting the house out so it is puppy ready, lol.

Thank you again for all your comments. xxx

Would love to see them. Hope it all goes well for you. My personal belief is that dogs (all dogs both big and small) can be an inspiration to us humans and our human lives are enriched by having them in the pack. It's good you see yourself as the pack leader, my wife also see herself as such. I must say that when it comes to leadership it's often the female of the species who is best One thing I can assure you is that our Baruska (Who died in June 2013) was a leader in every sense, she was not soft, not cuddly, not really playful at all, and would not hesitate to 'discipline' any other dog (and even me sometimes )