Bringing a second dog home – part 1

Many people think having a second dog is not as hard as having one dog although I think even one dog is more than enough. Now that we have Harvey it doesn’t seem so.

There are difficulties and differences when it comes to having a second dog.
Difficulties are those that can be labeled in both dog’s ages and energy levels. Jonah obviously is older and has less energy than Harvey and is entertained by different activities. Jonah also has had a different routine before Harvey came into his life. He walked in a different time of the days, in different speed or we played games that were created throughout times that we have spent for the past 9 years. These games are not either fit or suitable for Harvey or not developed in our relationship yet.

In a way we have to be fair to both dogs when it comes to entertainment and exercising them both. Harvey being a younger dog needs more activities exercise and play routines. Do I need to spend hours and hours trying to entertain Harvey so he will get tired? Obviously not and that is for few reasons.

Realistically, I don’t have the time to put on.  Second, if I exercise Harvey for many hours, then he gets more fit that I won’t be able to keep up with his energy level soon. Then he is going to ask for more and more in order to get tired. Also, he won’t learn to slow down and relax when I need to.

That is the mistake many people make when it comes down to their young or even older dog. They believe that because their dog is young and is high energy, it needs to be exercised for a long time. Although many dog owners could be low energy people, they practice high energy relationship with their dogs and always allow their dog to be hyper. This way the dog learns to be hyper all the time until nature takes its toll on the dog physically.

I practice 60% of the time to relax Harvey and I have a good role model to teach that to Harvey, which is Jonah. I provide the five common dog’s need to Harvey which are; exercise, training, socialization, care and affection.

 I am lucky to have the playcare that can provide all these in regular basis. For those who don’t have the opportunity like mine, then that’s the part that is the difficulty of having a dog or a second dog.