[lynsey1409]

My little Harry is 2 and a half now and frankly, in my humble and biased opinion, the greatest and most gorgeous dog in the World.

I've been recently considering getting a second dog (definitely a rescue, not a pup) mainly as a brother or sister for Harry as we don't socialize with many other dogs and I worry he gets lonely.

My concerns are as follows:

1. Will I love it as much as Harry? I am basically obsessed with him. He is my angel and between his scary surgery as a pup and the fact he is a child of divorce (husband and I split early last year and Harry coped very well with the upheaval) we have an incredibly strong bond... I fret that I wouldn't feel as connected to the new dog

2. Does Harry even want a brother or sister? Would he rather he had me all to himself? Maybe he enjoys being alone? He's such a happy little dog it's hard to tell sometimes what he wants

3. What happens if it doesn't work? And how would I know the difference between a bedding-in period and absolute refusal to accept the new dog.

My partner tells me I'm worrying over nothing and that it would be a great addition to the house, I would absolutely adore the new dog and both would be happy with each others company (although he may invest in earplugs because there will be double the babytalk to the doggies) but still...

 

[Dawnben]

Only get a new dog if you want one. Don't get one for your dog. Your dog sounds perfectly happy the way he is.

 

[lynsey1409]

Only get a new dog if you want one. Don't get one for your dog. Your dog sounds perfectly happy the way he is.

You're absolutely right. We had a 'sit down meeting' about it last night to talk about it and came to the conclusion that he's a very happy waggy-tailed dog and is very content in his own company.

Also he has our undivided attention at all times so how we would adjust that 50/50 is a mystery!

Another factor I didn't think of is that Harry goes to his Dads on the occasional weekend or if we have a holiday... we couldn't expect him to take a second dog and the thought of separating them is not something I'd want to consider