Question for owners of 2 or more dogs
 

As many of you may have seen, I posted that we are getting another dog tomorrow. I keep Jack in an exercise pen with his bed, toys food and water and a puppy pad when I'm not home. I really want the two dogs to be able to play while I'm not home, but I'm not sure exactly how that's going to work. Do any of you guys keep two dogs together in an exercise pen? And if so, do they use the same puppy pad and food and water or should each dog have their own things? I'm not going to put them together immediately of course but in the future when the puppy is a little older. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Also, here are a few pics of Jack I took today.

I don't use an excerise pen but I put them in a gated room when I'm not home. I have one water bowl and two food bowls. Sometimes even with two they will bark at each other over who is eating out of what bowl. :rolleyes: They also share the same pee pad with no problems.

Your new puppy is so cute.. good luck with Jack!

Hi! My kids have their own bedroom and share one food dish and one water dish. They also share a large pee pad. Sometimes they argue over the food but nothing serious, but I've been thinking about adding another dish. The one I have is a free feeder which is full and comes down on its own when the food gets low.

They share all the beds (there are SEVERAL) and chairs and toys.

It works for us :)

Congrats on your new addition!!!

I have a male and a female, which I have raised together since they were babies. They share their bed with me and my hubby. They share their feed and water also. But they like to steal out of my 12 year old sheltie's bowls. My yorkies never fight with each, just other dogs once in awhile. (territorial)

I have two, and kept both of them in the same xpen for a few months. You might want to see how they get along for 48-72 hours before you leave them alone together, just to make sure they don't hurt each other. We stayed home for 5 days (over a weekend, plus we were moving...) when we added the second yorkie to our family.

Ours DID use the same pad, but honestly it got a little messy in there with two of them-try putting down two pads next to each other so they have an "area", at least while the puppy is young, and has to potty more frequently. They will drink from the same bowl, but I'm not sure about food, we never left any down, as Emma would have eaten it all up right away, because we feed on a schedule rather than free feed.

Make sure you have at least two places for them to lay down, and make sure both beds/blankets are big enough for the two of them to cuddle if they want to. Having two separate areas gives them the option to be apart if they are tired of being so close together.

Milli still stays in the pen while we're gone, and Emma stays out and has the run of our large master bedroom. (The pen is in the bedroom too.) This weekend we've been dogsitting, so we have 4 yorkies! My two are staying out in our room, while the two new friends are in the pen while we're gone. It's working well!

All four of my yorkies and my lab stay gated in the kitchen during the day. Sometimes I put them in crates too. It's just however their personalities seem that morning or the weather in my labs and two of my yorkies cases (rain and storms make them uneasy). But they all do fine together. I keep two pee pads down and one bowl of water and food. my lab even knows not to touch the yorkie's food. So sweet and good!

I don't keep my furbabies in an x-pen, but they share the same bowl of water and share the pee pads :)

Both of my run the whole house, But Im home 24/7 they are now 3 years old. I got them both at 8 weeks old about a month or so apart. they share toys, food and water dish and peepads.

I keep all of mine in a gated off area when I'm not home. I don't leave food there cause I don't free feed, but I have two water bottles for them and lots of beds and toys. It has worked great for us!

We have 2 Yorkies in an exercise pen quite a bit and it seems to work out fine. I'm not sure how much they exercise together in there, but it helps them bond.

I put my maltese and my yorkie in the same crate. I bought the biggest one at Tractor Supply and there is plenty of room for the two of them. I used to keep them in the xpen until Benji started climbing out of it. Then they had free roam of the house until Bella started chewing everything and Benji started peeing on the floor. They seem to like it though. There is only one bed in there but it is pretty big and they share it. They also share the food and water.

Congratulations on your newest addition. I'd keep them together, but I'd put an extra pee pad in there for them. Until they get use to each other, because the first one may think the babies invading his turf.

We leave Gracie out when we are not home and Hallee is crated. She has a huge crate because it was given to us. She has room for her bed, toys ,water and food. She does not go potty in there. I come home for lunch and let her our. They get into things they shouldn't when they are together so we don't trust them out together. Also sometimes Gracie chases Hallee down so it is just best we keep them apart when we are not home to keep an eye on them.

Thank you so much everyone for your good advice! We are going to get her in about 2 hours so I will try to post pics of the two of them together when I get home

i leave Nico and Bruin in the master bedroom free to roam with one bowl for food and one for water. they share fine, but this was not always the case. when i introduced Nico to the house, Bruin was very territorial. we kept them separate for weeks until they could play with eachother without fighting. now they dont fight to fight, they just fight because Nico likes to pick on his big brother. its all friendly. give it time and have patience. two dogs will be tons of fun to look forward to.