Feng Shui for Fido. Josanne Wayman
day care but it’s not for everyone. Besides being prohibitively expensive, there just aren’t that many centers.
One thing I’ve always speculated on is how thousands of us leave our pets alone each day while we go to work or wherever; and our neighbors are doing the very same thing. Why don’t more of us find a way to leave our pets alone together? This should be relatively easy in apartment buildings, but suburban areas are jam-packed with single dog families so it could be an easy fix there, too. I hope other pet lovers have thought of this too, and are finding ways to work it out.
When you do decide on the wisdom of two or more animals, I’m sure you’ll be careful about introducing them. It’s necessary to do so in a way where both animals can be kept apart at first; you’ll find out pretty quickly whether you can take the next step or not. If you do end up with an addition to the family, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly the new guy learns the ropes. You just may be the next dog whisperer, but the more likely explanation is that the newbie is taking his cues from someone with all four feet on the ground.
Probably the only area in which you’ll have to continue being careful is with feeding. Even among the most polite dogs, feeding in separate areas makes a lot of sense. You want to be sure what portion is going to whom. Plus there will probably come a time when you have to put medication in somebody’s kibble, you certainly don’t want to guess there. Finally, even the best friendships can go south when it comes to food.
To Tug or Not to Tug
Now that Fido has a friend you want them to play nice. I always respected the dog book advice not to play tug-of-war with any of my boys. Some experts claim it creates dominance issues and I paid particular attention since all of my dogs are at least part pit bull; I didn’t want to foster aggression. So my heart stopped each and every time my youngest dog, Jackson, got into tugging games with Buddy. Like all of us, when it comes to the things we love, it’s hard to stop, and these two sure love to tug. I finally gave up on trying to make them stop. They seriously enjoy just standing there with both their big mouths on the same toy. They pull each other around a bit too, but because they’re evenly matched and they both have wonderful temperaments, there have never been any problems.
Still, I feel sure that some trainers and dog behaviorists are against tugging for good reason. It’s just one area where I decided to go with my own experience. I was making myself and the dogs crazy telling them to stop all the time, and I didn’t have much to offer in the way of an alternative - and that’s really the crux of it. I give my dogs a lot of attention, they go for car rides and they get at least an hour long hike every day. They have access to a backyard with the smells of wildlife and who knows what else just beyond the fence. But all in all, they don’t have an action-packed agenda, so why would I take away something they like to do when it isn’t harming anything?
Old Guys Rule
If you’re still contemplating getting a second dog or if you don’t even have one yet, I can’t urge you enough to get an adult. Even if you want a purebred rather than the proven hybrid vigor of the mix, there are plenty of rescue organizations to go to. These associations deal almost exclusively with adult dogs. You will be a lot closer to getting a known commodity this way than you are with a puppy. Well, actually, a puppy is a known commodity too. He is guaranteed to be a lean, mean, chewin’ machine for at least a year, but it’s up to you.
A huge reason for promoting an adult dog here however, is because puppies wreck havoc on your house and its feng shui. Most potty training for a puppy is pretty straightforward and unlikely to take all that long. If you already have an adult dog and a doggie-door, it will go even faster. But that still leaves you to face the chewing stage and that is nothing short of a nightmare.
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