Good morning all, at home we have a 3yr old Yorkie female (my mother's) and an 8mth old Lab boy (ours) . I am considering getting another pup, as our boy wants to play with our Yorkie, but because of his size it looks super aggressive (but if you actually watch he doesn't physically put his mouth on her, they take turns being on "top" if I can say.) I was concerned this was aggressive behaviour but I was told that Labs tend to roughhouse as play and if the playing gets too rough I need to separate them. my mother (elderly) tends to make the situation worse by shouting at my lab constantly about mouthing/face biting as my boy tends to make a lot of noise. I often tell her not to and just separate them (when I'm at work) until they calm down which often works while I'm there. take into consideration that he is our first big dog ever, and Labrador at that so we have no prior experience. we do go for obedience classes, and he is well behaved otherwise. I wanted to bring in another pup, maybe to take off some of the attention from our Yorkie and so that he has someone to play with, where he wont be scolded for. I was in the process of adopting a 12wk male lab before my mother yet again threw a fit and said that males will not get along, and one will kill the other, etc. so we lost out on a beautiful pup. I did some research that there shouldn't be a problem, and that its based upon their personalities and who is the "leader" of the pack. Should I even get another dog? am I being selfish? Male or female?
Welcome to the forum First off, if any of the professional trainers or experienced members respond to you, take their suggestions. Mom is "elderly" - does this mean you think she's struggling at home with the 2 dogs? What are your work hours? Who cares for the pup when you're at work? Does the pup get enough exercise? Off leash as well? I don't think you're selfish because you're trying to solve a difficult problem. That said, if you (for example) adopted a 12 week old pup, you would likely have problems from size mismatch in play between the 12 w/o and the 8 m/o. Adding a 12 w/o pup doesn't guarantee the 8 m/o would not want to play with the Yorkie, and the 12 w/o would likely want to play with the Yorkie as well. So you could have (many?) more situations where mom feels the need to intervene. I don't think it's sensible to believe mom will change her mind about the need to intervene BUT you might look online for a video of puppies playing bitey face etc. While puppy play can look and sound awful, it's reassuring to know this is normal. Our 2.5 y/o 80+ pound lab mix enjoys playing with small dogs and puppies but he self-handicaps, i.e. lies on his side or back to play so the small dog owners are immediately reassured. It sounds like both of you are doing a good job supervising playtime and intervene when needed yet it seems mom would prefer not to have to intervene so often. When did you get the 8 m/o? If you've had him since he was tiny, how have you managed playtime up until now? Have you considered doggy daycare while you are at work? Or a dog walker? You could also separate the dogs while you are at work using crates or baby gates. You can also search the forum for threads on how to decide whether to get another dog and when.
I went through a phase of thinking I needed a playmate for my dog and I'm so glad I didn't get one. It would have just given me more problems - even if they had got on well (and there's no guarantee of that) I'd still have doubled (possibly more than doubled) the workload of training.
I don't think you should get a second Lab this soon. It is a lot easier to train one dog at a time. If you want two Labs wait until your boy is 2 or 3 years old, or even longer won't hurt. Normally two male Labs will get along fine, but there is always a possibility that they won't. The odds are pretty good though since Labs were bred to get along with other dog and people. If the Yorkie doesn't mind the play, I would not worry much about it. If she does mind, you might consider some doggie day care for your pup.
Please don't get another puppy to entertain the dog you already have. Dogs are work and they require input from people, from their owners. You cannot pass those duties off to another dog. Second, at 8 months old, your existing lab is too young to add another. The two young dogs will bond excessively to each other, neither will be very trainable and you will have way too much labrador in your house. Third, please don't let your mother hit the dog or punish him for basically being a normal dog. If you cannot deal with owning one labrador and all the NORMAL labrador things that come with that, then please don't add another. Shelters are full of dogs who were bought for foolish reasons like this...
