UPDATE! -need help with possibly adding an addition to the family

Thank you so much for the information. We did end up bringing home the new pup at the meeting today. He is adorable, 7 months old. But not trained at all. I am nervous with the fact that he is 7 months and not even potty trained. We also found out that the previous owner did not keep him on a specific food. We went out and bought puppy food the same brand as Chloe eats (but the puppy version) but I don't know how he is going to react to it. We can tell Lou didn't get a whole lot of attention with his previous owner because he is a cuddler! If anyone has tips on this stuff, it would be appreciated!

Oh yeah and to make things a little more difficult, we think Chloe had pulled a muscle in her left front leg a couple days ago. We had her take it easy and she seemed just fine today until we brought her home with Lou and the playing would not stop. Chloe is now limping again and we're not sure how to keep her calm when they both want to play.

So far the two dogs have been doing well together. Playing, playing, napping, playing, playing! Chloe is pretty confused as to why Lou has not gone home yet! It's hard to explain to a dog that this IS the new dogs home!

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on November 8, 2009 at 7:02pm

Poor Chloe and Poor Lou!!! I think if you can limit the rough playing she should be ok but will need a few days for it to get better! As for Lou...hope that he can take Chloe's lead and when you let her out he should be able to make the connection as she goes potty! I would potty them every 2 hours for now but Chloe is trained he will hopefully follow many of her habits. For "sit" (I remembered Cindi) have a treat and bring it close to his nose and then up and as his head goes up his but will go down and then treat him! It will take awhile with the words so make sure you are consistent and only do a couple commands at a time so he isn't overwhelmed!!!

Congratulations...I am so glad he found a home with people who care and want what is good for him...I really don't think it will be that hard! Good luck and keep us updated!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on November 8, 2009 at 11:41pm

I'll mention that whereas Al learned many things very quickly just by imitating Gwynnie, the 2nd dog can lose out on some things by not getting as much one-on-one attention as the 1st dog. Same thing as being a 2nd child; birth order makes a difference.
What I would do, if I had the 2nd-dog experience to re-live, is make a list of all the commands and things you want the dog(s) to master -- a vocabulary list, really -- keep a training log, and make sure dog #2 gets enough alone-time with you to master everything.
Laurie Nelson's "Really Reliable Recall" is a good idea.