Adding another dog

We have decided to start looking for our second cavalier. We would prefer a pup or a young dog. We have reading the links in the 'Library' but there are a few things we're not 100% on though.

We thought a bitch would be best as we already have a neutured male, Murphy, who is 2.5 years. I've been told there can be flash points between two males as the young one matures. Is this true?

Murphy is quite quiet around other dogs until he knows them, I would hate for him to be bullied by a new pup, any suggestions on how to go about preventing this. I know Murphy will need time-out from the new pup anyway, and they will be constantly supervised together until we are 100% sure they will be ok together.

The other thing is what to do with the pup at night? Sounds silly I know but when Murphy was being house-trained he slept downstairs in the utilityroom, with a puppy pad down. Now Murphy sleeps upstairs on the bed. Is it unfair to expect to pup to sleep downstairs when we are all upstairs? Murphy has never been crated trained but would this be the best solution for our pup? To have it upstairs in the bedroom crated?

Finally(for now), during the day Murphy has the run of the house when we're in or out. Obviously puppy cannot have this, we thought seperating them through a baby gate would be best. Or would it be ok to put Murphy in the kitchen with the pup when we know they are ok together? Or would this be unfair on Murphy to have his freedom restricted again?

Thanks for reading. Oh and if anyone in the UK can recommend a breeder from personal experience (we're not nessesarily looking for a puppy) feel free to PM me.

These were exactly the questions I askd when we added Alfie. Firstly harvey is aslo very quiet around other dogs and it took a good 2 weeks for him to stop being so scared of Alfie but he was allowed up on the settee and alfie could not get up there. Harvey had never been crated but we crated alfie from day one to enable me to have him upstairs but restricted plus I could hear when he wanted to go toilet and he housetrained much quicker than Harvey. In the day when I worked they were both put into the kitchen even though Harvey had up til then had the run of the house. he was fine as he had company. Within two weeks they were firm buddies and are now inseperable. Harvey had already been neutered when alfie came and we had alfie nuetered at 8 months. We have never had any problem having two boys. Any questions please ask.

ooh congratulations on looking for your second!! I absolutely adore having two When I am busy, they keep each other company and they tire each other out . .. sometimes tha'ts wonderful :lol:

I've never had 2 boys so I can't comment on that, but I will say that Faith was an absolute terror when she was a puppy!! I had a blast, and I loved it, but seriously, she was nuts! :lol: Kosmo is very submissive and Faith is very strong-headed so she has always tried pushing him out of the way from day one.

Sometimes she would really annoy him and I would just leave them really to sort it out on their own, but I do admit that sometimes I interfered. Faith would sometimes bite Kosmo's ears and pull and hurt them, in which case Kosmo would either run up the stiars for his life, or I would put her in the x pen for a time out for a few minutes. I put her there when she wouldn't stop puppy biting us and that kind of thing too.

As for sleeping, I put her in the crate by the bed for about 2 nights.. and then my other half broke down and brought her to the bed We felt comfortable with that although some people do disagree. I just woke up the appropriate amount of times in the middle of the night (yes, a pain!) to take her out to go potty.

When we left, Faith went into the crate for the first year of her life. Kosmo got free roam of the house and she ran into the crate. Then we gradually worked up to leaving her out during the day

Good luck!! I'm sure it will be a breeze! :xfngr:

Find a good, reputable breeder and ask for a puppy that is low key and gentle, not the pushy one in the litter. A good breeder will help you find the pup you are seeking. You might PM Nicki as she might have some breeder recommendations and advice and she is based in Scotland too.

With cavaliers, having two males or two females or one of each doesn't matter two much as they don't have some of the explicit gender friction you see in some breeds, but generally, having a male and a female is a better guarantee of overall happiness -- especially when adding a new dog to an existing household. The problems generally will start to surface when you have three or more of a gender on their own. I have two and two with few problems -- only the boys sometimes get in a scrap but that is in specific trigger situations that I try to avoid.

I have two boys, Miles is about 15 months and Truman is about 7 1/2 months. When we we looking to add a second dog I thought a female would be better since we already had a male, but our breeder (we got both boys from the same breeder) steered me towards the male because he was calmer and more submissive than the females in the litter; apparently they were kind of picking on the boy. We trusted her judgement and she was right. We didn't want Miles to have to deal with another dog that would be too rough with him, so Truman was the perfect match. They're the best of friends and love to play and sleep together, and have never gotten into a fight. They do play rough sometimes, but I think that's because they're both young boys; I've never seen either of them get too rough - in the end they're both little babies that would never hurt anything and get upset if the other one ever cries / whines, like when it's time to trim their nails. Miles has the run of the house, and T is crated if we're going to be gone more than about 2-3 hours. He is pretty much housetrained, but we don't trust him to have the run of the house just yet. Miles doesn't chew anything, and T is a bit more of a chewer right now. They both sleep with us and have for quite some time. I know that's probably not the "right" way of doing things, but that's how it ended up and we love sleeping with them and wouldn't have it any other way. That being said, they are fine if we put them in their crate (together) if we need to - we don't want to spoil them too much Good luck, can't wait to see the new addition when you get him/her!!!

Thanks. It's always good to hear it from people who have done it. I think we will get a crate. Like you say Yvonne, it may help the house-training come along quicker, Murphy did take a while the way we did it.

I guess everyone ends up finding their own way through depending on what the come up against

Well we have just got Archie,its taken 3 weeks now and they are sleeping together in the day i split them at nite to give Alfs a break,and now they are playing with each other,Alfs has told him of twice after he had anough,the pup isnt biting him any more just nose pushing,as for the tiolet training its hard when you have done it but Archie has only had one accident at nite and he isnt crate trained,so he has been a real gem.Hes very naughty though,worse than Alfs ever was.

Hey
Have PM'd u regarding breeders.
I got my 2nd dog(female) 6 days ago.I already had a female Lucie.
When i brought her home Lucie was quite scared after her.After 24 hours they were sleeping next to one another :lotsaluv: and when my pup Sasha is sleeping in the crate Lucie tries to break into it and get her out!

I have never had one accident in her crate over nite.She has been a gem!
My Lucie is very tolerant of her....Sasha can get a bit over powering....especially on the ear pulling (I give each dog a bit of TIMEOUT when they get a bit hyper)so i have ordered a snood to try and help that....and i am giving the wee one a stern word or two about doing it! I am amazed how much they like or mayb love one another:lotsaluv:. When the pup cries(if she is alone in the room) Lucie is first to her and having a good check over her.
I am amazed at just how well it has worked out so far.

My 2 are in seperate crate but positioned right next to one another side by side and its working out ok.I wil probably give them the living room once the puppy is rained a bit more.

lees.
Good luck on the hunt for a puppy :xfngr:

Ive not got time to read through all replies yet Im afraid so apologies if I repeat anything that has been said...

We got Holly, at 12 weeks in November last year. She has always been timid and not up for playing with other dogs. In May this year we read about Murphy (2.5 yrs funnily enough) on the forum. He needed a home and we felt we could help him.
I had my concerns about such a dog like Murphy possibly bullying Holly, and I did swear that if I felt it wasnt good for Holly, then although it would break my heart, he would need to find another home.

When he first came to the house Holly was actually ok. She just kept away from him for a few hours, and he just pottered about.

After two months they are best friends. Dont know why I worried about her being bullied as she is the one pestering Murphy to play all the time. I think both personalities have complimented each other. He has brought her out her shell not only with him but with other dogs too. She has made him much more loving, I feel. She loves cuddles so much and I think this has rubbed off on Holly. I also have holly trained very well and he copies her quite a lot which has helped with his training!

As for nights and when you are out. I think it best to start crate training Murphy already before you get another dog. That way you know they are both safe and not fighting or annoying each other. You can have the crates in your bedroom if you wish. We have the crates outside our bedroom door as the dogs arent allowed in to our room (they know this, and even if the door is open, they just stand outside the door... without crossing the "line"). It wouldnt be unfair on Murphy to have his freedom restricted. You are pack leader... it is your house... you say what goes... not the other way about!

Oh goodness look how much ive rambled on!