STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Kelly · Hermes

Old dog + new puppy?

Kitty · Hermes

I don't know if you'd be up for this, but one thing you might consider is getting two puppies. That way, the puppies will play with each other and you don't have one puppy that's constantly harassing your older dog to play (because that's most likely what will happen).

As for attention, dogs do usually get jealous, but that should go away in time..especially if your older dog grows to love the puppy (ies).

brazilian · Dooney & Bourke

I dont think you have to worry too much. Even if TRaci was used to another dog, she would always miss you when you leave. But think of it this way, with the puppy she wont be so lonely when youre not there. What you should do since Traci is going to be around for hopefully a few more years (or more :)) is to consider the tempermant of the breeds youre considering now.

I'll share my experience. We just got a new puppy in late september, early october. Our dog Bo (he's 9), is used to living with another dog but, he has never been around a puppy let alone any other dog (another story). So my mom was worried how he would handle being around a new dog. He was very, very excited and curious to meet Leo. We just made sure that their play time was supervised while Leo was still small. Bo is a Kuvas (about 120 pounds) and Leo is a Bernese Mountain Dog (90+ pounds now @ 9 months). They get along great now. I think at times Bo gets annoyed of Leo and so he goes and lies by himself. I think as long as you make sure to still pay attention to Traci around the new puppy, she will not get very jealous.

I think Traci is about the same size as a Huskie, maybe a bit smaller (I think I've seen a pic of her on here) so its good that youre looking at dogs that will be around her size fully grown. If you dont go with a dog that is more on Traci's side activity wise, I would make sure to give them plenty of exercise/play time so they dont try to rough house a lot with Traci which she may not like.

boobaby · Kate Spade

I can say from first-hand experience that there are a lot of benefits to bringing in a younger dog into a home with an older dog. When I was a child, we had a dog who was 10 yrs old. Long story short, she had a health crisis and the vet told my parents she wouldn't live much longer. So my parents decided to adopt a puppy to ease the blow to the children of losing the family dog. Well, our older dog was not pleased with the puppy and seemed revitalized by her outrage. Miraculously , she lived for 9 more years!

Also, I lived briefly with my brother and his elderly beagle with my much younger dog. The beagle seemed to have more pep and even played with my dog on occassion, plus I would often catch them spooning each other in the dog bed.