Hi All, I have a 13 month old boisterous lab and would dearly love to add another puppy to our family. However my husband thinks the puppy would be bullied by our dog and he would be too rough with it. What does everyone else think? I think our lab is lonely on his own.
Hi! What makes you think that he is lonely? Unless the 13 month old is very calm and well behaved, i would be reluctant to introduce a tiny 8 week old puppy.
We got a new pup a couple of months ago when Jax was about 16 months old. The pup visited us regularly prior to getting him full time at 8 weeks, and we kept them apart at that stage, but once he joined us, I was really surprised how gentle Jax is with him, and how resilient the pup has been during play. If anything, its the pup that gets told off for causing "trouble" lol.
I feel really bad when i have to leave him on his own and think if he had company it would be better for him. He is very boisterous though and for that reason having a small puppy does worry me slightly. No easy answers.
He's never on his own for longer than 2 to 3 hours max. Trouble is he stands on 2 legs looking through the window when you leave and it upsets me lol.
If he is worried by you leaving him, it may be worth crate training him. They often feel more secure at being in their 'den'.
It's never a good idea to get another dog 'for' the existing dog. Dogs cannot replace human company: We know this from separation anxiety cases, where people purchase additional dogs to try to 'help' their dog with SA feel comfortable at home alone - in 95% of cases, it doesn't work because the HUMAN is the dog's attachment figure, not another dog. And certainly not a younger dog. Instead, you would end up with TWO dogs missing you(!). Focus instead of helping your dog to feel comfortable left home alone and on addressing that directly through training - no shortcuts... Second, whatever the reason is that someone is considering getting a second dog, I would always recommend waiting until the existing dog is AT LEAST 18 months old, before adding a 2nd dog. And that's the minimum and even if everything else is perfect.
Adding a second dog might also inadvertently have the opposite effect you are looking for. Adding a puppy will takes all your time and energy and could leave you accidentally neglecting the one you already have making his situation worse. Not to mention twice the vet bills and visits, two dogs to chase when they run away. It’s basically twice the work and twice the money without guaranteeing you’ll get the desired results.
