1st is Dreamy - Should I get a 2nd?

This thread has been helpful and made me do some more thinking. I too am in the same position of wanting a second dog. Charlie is 12 months and we were thinking of adding a little brother in two months (the litter was born last week). Now I am wondering if we should wait another year or two before adding a second dog. The only reason I wanted to add another dog so soon (even though we have a busy year coming up with planning a wedding and everything) was because I thought you should get them as close in age as possible so that they would have the same energy level and would bond better.

Sometimes I wonder if it's better that Charlie is the only dog since he is so spoiled with all our time and attention and if he would want to share our attention/love with another dog. I guess we are going to have to do some more thinking and come to a conclusion soon.

I had wanted a I second cavalier about 3 to 4 years ago, the seed got sowed when I saw a cavalier listed as a rescue, I phoned and it had gone, my O\H said Jasper would never like a friend as he is so spoilt, and deep down I know this. We have Jasper insured and at £30 a month which has gone up over the years as he is now nearly 9, I know we can not afford 2 dogs and with Jasper just started on heart tablets I know it has been the right decision for us not to have another one and now with the SM as well as MVD hanging over this breed I think you have to except that there will be health issues in the future.

jasperpaw said:

We have Jasper insured and at £30 a month which has gone up over the years as he is now nearly 9, I know we can not afford 2 dogs and with Jasper just started on heart tablets I know it has been the right decision for us not to have another one and now with the SM as well as MVD hanging over this breed I think you have to except that there will be health issues in the future.

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More people should be like you Jasperpaw You're really thinking with your head rather than your heart ...cause it would be your heart that would take a serious beating in the future as it is almost certain that you would have two dogs on your hands with medical issues that are very expensive to treat. I can't imagine being in the position of having to put my dog/s down to end their suffering because I simply could not afford the cost of their medical care. Even worse, making the decision to only treat one dog out of the two!

After having two dogs and then having one neither my heart or head can imagine having only one dog for very long. My Zeus and Mindy were only a year apart in age and odd as it might sound, when Zeus died it was the first time it occurred to me that we wouldn't have Mindy forever. Of course there is no guarantee that dogs live to the same age but I do imagine that losing two in a short space of time would be gut-wrenching. I know that after Zeus died I became obsessed with every little sneeze/scratch/odd look that Mindy gave for the first while. I managed to reason myself out of it after a bit but I can see how having a significant age difference can have some real advantages.

Holly was three when I got Amber, if I remember rightly, and I have no intention of adding a third while I still have Holly (hopefully for a long time yet - since my housemate acquired Alanna, Holly has become ridiculously puppylike and active, which is lovely since she's going on six). Hopefully this means I will avoid the heartbreak of having several infirm dogs at once. To be honest, after seeing what's happened in the last six months or so since PDE, I question whether I would want a third Cavalier. I'll always have at least one, I think, but I've sort of been a little seduced by the Shih Tzu via Alanna, and as a breed they seem to be much healthier. But hopefully I have a good six years plus before I need to worry about it, and by then the vast majority CKCS breeders will be starting to get a grip on MVD/SM. Alternatively, I'd look at Cav Rescue.

Or maybe I'm living in lala land...