[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Peabody

Thank you for your replies. They helped me decide.

After a lot of research, I adopted a 1-2 year-old poodle mix (maybe with shih tzu, maybe terrier) that is affectionate, playful, and calm and weighs 10-15 pounds (I haven't weighed her yet). I hope she will be a good companion for him (I'm already getting attached to her).

She is a shelter dog from the Humane Society, and even though she was vet checked, vaccinated, wormed, etc., I'm being very careful not to let them interact yet. I'll take her to the vet next week for a checkup and a flu shot (she was given the other routine shots when she was spayed). The Humane Society has a good website on how to introduce a new dog--very slowly. So for now she'll be in another room or outside while my Yorkie boy is inside. He'll be able to smell her and get used to the idea.

The deciding factors were that he loved my big female dog before she passed and wanted to play with her. And, I think his life will be better with a friend to play with instead of just sleeping most of the time.

I've never re-homed a dog, but if I made a horrible mistake they said they will take her back.

As long as he has all his shots there really is no reason to keep them separated. Plus it you were worried about the new dog having an illness or something then you could easily carry to your yorkie. I have never done slow interactions with my dogs or the ones I grew up with and never had issues. Just to keep in mind it normal for a dog to sleep 16 hours a day.