Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Adopting Your Dog From A Shelter? Be Prepared To Answer These Questions

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1. What other animals live with you? It’s quite ok to tell them all about your other four-legged buddies! They’ll probably want to know the species, age, gender, size, breed and temperament of any other dog or cat living in your household. This will help the shelter determine what kind of dog will best get along with your furry family members.

2. Are your other animals spayed or neutered? Many shelters won’t adopt a dog to someone with an unaltered dog at home – mostly for practical reasons, and partly on principle. If you have a grown dog who is not yet spayed or neutered, tell the staff that you intend to correct that situation before you introduce another canine into the household. Then make sure you keep your word and do it.

3. Have you had dogs in the past, and where are they now? It may seem like an odd question, but shelter employees can tell a lot from an answer like “I had two dogs who died of natural causes at thirteen and fifteen years old,” as opposed to, say, “I had a dog that ran away and two cats that I gave to a family on a farm when I moved.” A good “track record” with dogs can indicate that you’re an experienced and committed dog lover who’s likely to give a new dog a terrific home.

However, keep in mind that the shelter staff understands that accidents happen and people make mistakes. Even well loved and well-supervised dogs get lost, stolen or hit by cars. If you’ve lost pets under unfortunate circumstances in the past, be honest about it; if you’ve made mistakes but learned from them, tell the shelter employees so. They’re not interested in judging you; they just want to make sure you’ll take good care of the dog you adopt.

What if you’ve never had a dog of your own before? Well, everyone has to start somewhere, and your inexperience doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. If you’ve ever helped care for someone else’s dog or worked with animals (at a vet’s office or an animal shelter, for instance), those are strong points in your favor. And at the very least, you can tell the staff that you’ve been reading up on the subject of dog adoption and dog care!

Puppies ? The Problem With Raising Two Or More Puppies Of The Same Age

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When looking for a new puppy and attempting to decide which pick of the litter is best for you, there may be a time when you can’t choose just one. However, you may want to consider the pros and cons of raising two puppies that are the same age.

Choosing two puppies may be more trouble than it’s worth

When you raise two puppies that are the same age and from the same litter, there will be a natural hierarchy which develops and one of the dogs will grow up to be more dominant and bossy than the other. This means that the more submissive puppy may grow up without the proper social skills needed to be self-confident.

The dominant dog may grow increasingly aggressive towards the other dog when it comes to being the leader in all situations. This leadership role, while a natural part of nature, can unfortunately diminish your other dog’s ability to cope with certain situations and possibly develop stress related mental conditions. And in addition, both dogs will suffer from separation anxiety when they are apart from one another.

Be prepared for some dog fighting

As they grow older, the two dogs will eventually establish their roles with one another and you will rarely have to worry about your adult dogs fighting. On the other hand, in the beginning, when these puppies are young, both of them will have a natural tendency to physically fight with one another when it comes to competition. Such competitive situations would include getting more attention than the other, feeding times, and of course dominance over toys.

This situation will call for firm behavioral training and conditioning. If left unchecked, your puppies can hurt one another and the one dog who becomes the non-leader (submissive) may develop deep anxiety issues when he becomes an adult. All of these concerns become amplified if your dogs are of the same sex.

Having two puppies may hinder their training and behavior progress

This is an important aspect of bringing two or more puppies into the house that many dog owners do not take into consideration. Your two puppies will be so preoccupied with one another that they may not be drawn to needing your attention as much as you would like, or need for training purposes.

While this may not seem like such a bad thing, consider what happens when you are trying to train your puppies with the basic commands and rules of the house. The job will be much harder and stressful on you because their attention is understandably occupied by each other’s company, and not your commands.

When Dogs Meet Other Dogs: What Are They Saying To Each Other?

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How can you tell if your puppy’s encounter with an unfamiliar dog will be a delight or a disaster? That depends on how the other dog acts and how your puppy responds.

Pet dogs, though domesticated, interact with each other according to pack protocol. The pack (the basic canine social unit) is structured around a hierarchy of dominance and subordinance (submission).

Every pack member is dominant to some and subordinate to others, with the exception of the alpha male (who is dominant to all) and the lowest-ranking pack member (who is subordinate to all). Social rank is communicated and enforced through body language ? a complex combination of movements, posture and other physical signals.

When two dogs meet for the first time, the outcome depends on several factors:

1) Age: Most adult dogs tolerate puppies, but this isn’t always the case. If your puppy is approaching maturity and tries to out some dominant behaviors, an older dog may feel obligated to put your youngster in its place. However, puppies of similar ages usually get along well with each other, because puppies usually don’t attempt to dominate each other.

2) Sex: Adult dogs often have friendlier interactions with dogs of the opposite sex than those of the same sex. Because this characteristic is related to maturity, it doesn’t affect interactions involving young puppies

3) Location: Dogs naturally try to protect their own territory (their house and yard), so they often get along better when they meet on neutral ground, such as a park. This tactic doesn’t work, however, if either dog decides that a frequently visited public location is part of its territory. Most puppies, especially young ones, aren’t really territorial, but an adult dog may still regard your youngster as an intruder.

4) Owner Presence: And finally, some dogs are more amiable with one another when their owners aren’t around. This may be due to decreased feelings of jealousy or protectiveness. It may also be that socialization proceeds more smoothly without human interference.

A friendly dog will approach your puppy with a slightly crouched posture, low wagging tail, laid-back ears and a soft, indirect gaze. A not-so-friendly dog will approach standing tall, with its tail and ears erect. It’s gaze will be direct and staring; it may snarl or growl as it approaches.

Your puppy will probably respond to either of these dogs with submissive behavior, which is similar to that of the friendly dog, but more pronounced. Your puppy may even roll over on its back or urinate a bit -signs of complete submission. Even the most aggressive dog won’t attack another dog in this position.

Puppies ? The Problem With Raising Two Or More Puppies Of The Same Age

by Leave a Comment

When looking for a new puppy and attempting to decide which pick of the litter is best for you, there may be a time when you can’t choose just one. However, you may want to consider the pros and cons of raising two puppies that are the same age.

Choosing two puppies may be more trouble than it’s worth

When you raise two puppies that are the same age and from the same litter, there will be a natural hierarchy which develops and one of the dogs will grow up to be more dominant and bossy than the other. This means that the more submissive puppy may grow up without the proper social skills needed to be self-confident.

The dominant dog may grow increasingly aggressive towards the other dog when it comes to being the leader in all situations. This leadership role, while a natural part of nature, can unfortunately diminish your other dog’s ability to cope with certain situations and possibly develop stress related mental conditions. And in addition, both dogs will suffer from separation anxiety when they are apart from one another.

Be prepared for some dog fighting

As they grow older, the two dogs will eventually establish their roles with one another and you will rarely have to worry about your adult dogs fighting. On the other hand, in the beginning, when these puppies are young, both of them will have a natural tendency to physically fight with one another when it comes to competition. Such competitive situations would include getting more attention than the other, feeding times, and of course dominance over toys.

This situation will call for firm behavioral training and conditioning. If left unchecked, your puppies can hurt one another and the one dog who becomes the non-leader (submissive) may develop deep anxiety issues when he becomes an adult. All of these concerns become amplified if your dogs are of the same sex.

Having two puppies may hinder their training and behavior progress

This is an important aspect of bringing two or more puppies into the house that many dog owners do not take into consideration. Your two puppies will be so preoccupied with one another that they may not be drawn to needing your attention as much as you would like, or need for training purposes.

While this may not seem like such a bad thing, consider what happens when you are trying to train your puppies with the basic commands and rules of the house. The job will be much harder and stressful on you because their attention is understandably occupied by each other’s company, and not your commands.

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