[Dailydrool] Adding a second hound

[Esther Strom]

Sometime in the next few days, I'll be getting my first foster from Basset
Buddies. This will be the first time I've ever had more than one dog at a
time, and I'm feeling a little nervous! I know there are a lot of you
Droolers who live alone with multiple dogs, so hopefully someone can answer
a few questions.


   1. Basil is very submissive and shy. What if the new guy is an attention
   hog? How do I make sure Basil doesn't feel neglected?
   2. I've decided (for now) to try using a coupler with a single leash
   instead of two separate leashes in order to hopefully prevent getting pulled
   in two directions. What happens when the dogs don't want to walk at the same
   speed? When one wants to stop and sniff and the other wants to keep moving?
   Do I let the sniffer do his thing on the assumption that the other one will
   eventually find something he wants to sniff, or do I keep them moving?
   3. What if the new guy needs a lot more exercise than Basil? He's
   supposedly 6; Basil is 10. Do I take them home when Basil gets tired, then
   take the new guy back out for more walking? (Refer to question 1...) Or do I
   just take them to the dog park, where Basil can sniff at his own speed, and
   the new guy can run and play with the other dogs? Basil isn't particularly
   fond of the park; he tolerates it but because he's completely deaf and now
   starting to lose his sight he doesn't want to get more than a few feet away
   from me, so he doesn't really enjoy it.

Thanks for any advice you can provide! I know it's "just" a foster, and if
it doesn't work out I know it doesn't have to be permanent, but I don't want
the new guy to be bounced to another home before he can be adopted just
because I can't figure out the logistics of living with two dogs.

-Esther, Basil (do we really need another one?), and Waldo ATB
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20110922/7e83d09b/attachment.htm>