The second dog
People who have two dogs usually think that they have done the first dog a big favor. Because now he has a playmate and is no longer so alone! Unfortunately, this often goes wrong and the pack does not always get along well. Anyone who wants a second dog should therefore think carefully beforehand about what they are letting themselves in for and what they can expect, says dog training consultant Holger Schüler.
There are situations that are simply unfavorable from the start. It is better to be able to give a young rascal in the middle of his best phase of naughtiness your undivided attention, as you usually have enough to do with that. An old dog can quickly become annoyed by a young dog's constant requests to play - then you have to make sure that the older dog can retreat undisturbed. Siblings or mother/child combinations can also be difficult. And many a spoiled single dog experiences culture shock when he suddenly has to deal with a street dog from southern Europe who has seen it all.
Regardless of whether you have one or more dogs, my goal is always to train pleasant companions in everyday life. So if you want more than to let an unbridled pack of dogs run around a large property, you have to become a reference person for each individual dog. If your first dog has not (yet) built a stable bond with you and has not mastered basic obedience, it will be even more difficult with the second dog. You should therefore be the leader of your human-dog social association, before You increase it. This also means, and above all, that you are the one who resolves conflicts, and not the dogs among themselves. You can tell whether your dog listens to you in such cases by how he behaves when you meet other dogs on a walk. Does he resolve encounters himself or does he leave the job to you? First of all, establish your claim to leadership in such situations before you bring the problem home with you.
If your first dog is anxious or doesn't like being left home alone, it's more likely that the second will adopt the behavior than that the first will improve. And dogs also like to copy hunting behavior from each other. If you have a first dog that hunts, you'll very likely soon have a second dog that hunts too.
But even if your first dog is very well trained, that doesn't mean that the second will just learn by running along. Unfortunately, the opposite is often the case. If you have to divide your attention between two, consistency quickly wanes and the first dog "forgets" that it was well trained. I therefore always advise owners of multiple dogs to work with the dogs individually and to take them for walks separately. This is the only way to build a really stable relationship with both dogs.
Two dogs mean three times the work. You have to train everything with each dog individually and then with both of them together. I often see dog owners hanging helplessly in the middle while one dog pulls to the right and the other to the left - walking on a leash with two dogs is something that needs to be learned.
But if you consider all of this and have enough time and energy, you can have a lot of fun with your dogs. Doing justice to the personality and individuality of each dog is a special challenge and a great experience. I experience this every day with my two dogs Siska and Falk, who couldn't be more different - and have both taught me a lot.
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