My second dog was really a "present" for my first dog. My only considerations were that they got on together & had roughly the same energy levels as I didn't have the time or inclination for two lots of walking.

Wilma (2nd dog) was about 6 months older than Barney & they were both about 3ish years old when Wilma came to live with us.

It has worked out brilliantly as they were best friends from day one, but then Barney is a very sociable dog so I think he'd have probably happily shared his home with almost any dog.

But I definitely think it very much depends on the individual dog ~ there's no "ideal" age gap really.

I have four dogs and my dream/hope is to have 6!!
Jamie was 16mths when 8 week old Deacon arrived, it was 'challenging' to say the least, an adolescent headstrong boy and willful pup... oh the joys!! I never thought I would laugh about it at the time!!
Then Jamie was 22 months and Deacon 8 months when we took in Remy who was 9 years old, a stabilising influence and a joy...
Then Jamie was almost 3yrs, Deacon 22 months and Remy almost 11 years old when puppy Codee arrived, sadly baby Codee took a backseat (she took it all in her stride, such a great puppy!) when Remy's cancer became advanced and we lost her in days rather than the months we had hoped for...
We were a three dog family until almost 6 weeks ago, until we were joined by our 7 year old Irish Setter Honey. Jamie is now 4 years, Deacon almost 3 years and Codee 14mths. It can be havoc and mayhem, but they are great together!!
They should be joined next year by an English Setter youngster... even more fun!!

Motley is very sociable and this is one of the reasons we are thinking about another dog, of course he gets a lot of fuss from us but not as much attention as he would like, he gets frustrated that i have to stop cuddling him to do things like go to the toilet and make dinner (and come on dogsey!)

He just doesnt get teh level of friendship he wants from the cats and rats, so another dog seems like the best idea!

Parker is our "bonus" dog as we were on the Kerry Blue terrier rescue waiting list for a female Kerry and Cherry and Parker came up for rehoming together. They rang me up and offered me Cherry and my husband kept shouting up the stairs whilst I was speaking to them from our mobile phone (bad reception where we lived then) "tell them we will have them both, tell them we will have them both"!

He is a non-doggy person too!

We were supposed to have had a reserve show champion that was going to a pet home but the owner changed his mind at the last minute about rehoming her (he had been badgered into it by the other show people as it was kennelled outside and unhappy). I was devastated about this but then we got the phone call about Cherry approx 3 weeks later. My husband thought that we would have more chance of getting them if we said we would have them both and he didn't want me let down again (he is a sweetie!). Parker provisionally had a home but they kept them together and we collected tham about a week later.

There is a one year age gap between them and they get along brilliantly. The only thing is they are now getting older and I dread the thought of losing both in close proximity of time. Also Parker was miserable when Cherry was in the specialist animal hospital for 10 days and started refusing food (unheard of!) so it will be awful if she goes first and she is the older.

Hi, What type of personality has you current dog got.

I have two bitches, who have had to be seperated as they were both dominant and used to fight.

One now lives with me and my other half and our staffie dog, they get on great because he submits to her.

Hope you find the right match