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Originally Posted by Cirlonde  We're going to get to be a "two dog family" soon!  My husband has always said that he wants to have two dogs but that we had wait until after we'd bought a house so he could have a big dog (i.e. boxer, great dane, german shepherd, etc). I've never really wanted a big dog (especially in the house) and after falling in love with our first Yorkie, Chloe, I just can't imagine ever wanting any other breed of dog. But I'd kind of quit harping on it because I didn't want to drive him nuts. Well, a few nights ago he suddenly decided that waiting two or three years to have a second dog was just too long! So we are now planning on getting another little girl sometime after winter ends. (I don't want to be trying to potty train a puppy in the snow!) But now I need to pick a name!!! And it's hard, so I figure starting months in advance is a good idea.  Ideally, I'd like to have something that matches well with Chloe but we decided that Zoe might sound too similar and be confusing for the two dogs. We prefer short names or long names that shorten well. (Even Chloe gets called 'Chlo' more often than not!) I've thought about Penny (Chloe is short for Clover and pennies & clover are good luck), Sophie, Sadie, Lucy & Molly but so far nothing has just grabbed me. I'm hoping to narrow it down to two or three options and then when we meet the new addition, one of the names will just mesh. Any ideas, YT???  Also, any suggestions for introducing them would be appreciated. This will be the first time I've ever had two inside dogs at the same time, though my husband grew up that way. Chloe will be two years old in March, she's been spayed, and she plays pretty well with her schnauzer 'cousin' after an hour or so of getting used to her. Any other advice you guys can think of is more than welcome also!! I know we've got a while, but I like to be super prepared! -C |
If Chloe is dog friendly then you should not have any real issues introducing the new dog to her. When we brought Teddy home, he had unacceptable puppy behavior like snapping his jaws at Barney and Daisy who were 8 years old. Daisy just tried to hide from the little piranha but Barney was not going to be so easy. He immediately and repeatedly gave poor Teddy firm corrections. It was scary to watch, and within 10 hours of bringing Teddy home, I was frantically calling dog trainers. One trainer came over the next day and spent two hours with us to assess the situation and make sure that things would be ok. She was very reassuring and gave us some tips -
--Keep the "new guy" separated in his own room. The others will know he is there and will soon realize he's not going away.
--Make all interactions between you, the resident dogs and the intruder dog positive. Chloe cannot conclude that bad things happen when new dog is around.
--Do not freak out if Chloe corrects the new puppy - Barney gave very firm corrections and it looked and sounded worse than it is. Dogs know how to work it out amongst themselves.
--When in doubt - hire a trainer! We did, and then we signed all three up for puppy class. That's right, my 8 year olds went back to basic obedience class. They were not too happy with a room full of puppies with bad manners but all the puppies in the class were better for the corrections given them by a male adult dog.
Before we knew it, Teddy just was "accepted" -- first by Daisy which took about 3 months and then by Barney which took longer at about 6 months. Now, Teddy mostly hangs out and plays with Daisy. Teddy and Barney get along but Barney is just not that interested in Teddy. He does clean his ears in the morning and they chew bones together but there is no other play between them. Sad, but it's Barney's choice I guess.