Adopting A Younger Dachshund With Older Dachshund Already In The House!

[Kelly]

  I know of some people that already have an older Dachshund in the house and are thinking about adopting another one a little younger and are wondering if the older one would accept it.

[PattyInAK]

Oh yes, most definitely.  I got Willy and Alex when Harry was 16 years old.  Harry would give me looks like.....why?......but it kept him going for a while longer, he enjoyed the company.  The young ones tend to give the older one a new lease on life, it makes them playful again......at least that has been my experience. 

[Doxherding Karen]

Are you offering a dachshund for adoption  :scratch: or are you just asking for some input?  :thinik:

A)  I have four already - I'm at my limit right now.

B)  I just adopted Ima Dora-Belle, age three, with Guinness, age 13 as her "Stud Muffin" and Merlin, age 6, and Beau, age 3, as her faithful boys-in-waiting.  Merlin is doggie alpha,but has had not trouble with her. 

Roscoe-Angel was definiely a one-dog-family-dog.  He got totally wound up at Merlin and Beau, who just blew him off, which got him EVEN MORE wound up!  But he tolerated Guinness, probably because of his age and size (1/3rd Roscoe's).

I think it varies from dog to dog.  If your older doxie enjoys meeting and greeting other doxies - at the dog park or at a doxie meet-up - then you probably won't have any trouble. :thumb:


Karen

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

I agree. It depends on the doxie, they are as individual as us hoomans are. Most older dogs are set in their ways and at best resign themselves to the new situation, some never get used to it and some really like the company. How old is the older dog and is he in good health? I don't think it's real fair to bring a young energetic dog into a home with an older dog who may be arthritic or sore from other medical issues but if he's in good health that's a different matter. Also depends on how much the hoomans are home and how much attention they are able to give the older dog, if he's lonely if they work and have to be away a companion is a good idea. Is it possible for your friends to bring a new dog in on a trial basis for a week or two to see how it goes?

[Brekkesmom]

ITA, it depends on the dachshund.  Heidi-Angel was 3 when I got Gretl-Angel.  Heidi was 7 and Gretl was 4 when I got Siglen.  I got Brekke after Heidi had passed, and that would have made Gretl 11 and Siglen was 7, and then the next spring, I adopted almost 6-year old Sorcha.  Most people say you can't have multiple females, too, but I had no problems.  I did always, however, crate the puppy (when I had one) if I wasn't home.

P.S.  I forgot to add that I took Heidi with me when we picked out Gretl.  I wanted to see their interaction, first.  JS

[Doxherding Karen]

More musings:

The whole girl-girl or girl/boy thing doesn't seem to make a difference when everybody is spayed or neutered.  It really is the personalities of the parties involved.

Like I said about Roscoe-Angel, he was definitely a one-dog-family-dog.  I think the foster mom (bless her heart!) didn't catch his frustration level around other doxies, because he was "advertised" as good with other dogs.  But he would have been MUCH happier and an only pupper.

Karen

[papbouv]

Sometimes if you have three you get into a pack situation but with Dachshunds being hounds they usually get along better than some breeds. Like Doberman's some people have major problems having two male Doberman's they might be fine until they hit adolescents stage then some major fights can come into play they may try to kill each other.Of course depends on the dogs and the human if they are in charge of the pack or not if the dogs know you are the boss there may be less problems. Females usually get along better then males but that is not written in cement it all boils down to the dogs and the humans they are caring for them.
Papbouv
When breaking up a dog fight it always helps if there are two people and the dogs have long tails two short tailed dogs it is allot more dangerous.

[Roberta]

We have had three together and they were OK, jus thard to walk etc alone. We brought Oliver in when Angus was 10 and Emma 11, he accepted Oliver and they love to play Emma ignored him, but that was her, she was Alpha. When we got Ingrid as a pup Emma again ignored her but OLiver loved her and the same to when we brought Amy in.  On dog fights I read from a vet here the best thing to do is grab the back legs and pull them away from the other dogor object as they have to let go. Never had our lot fight and not sure about their backs but if someones dog was attacking them its get that dog off them.
Roberta

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Ack you guys are freaking me out now i KNOW I'll never have 2 dogs at once again! LOL. (although it worked great with my Great Dane and doxie but I was lucky).

I have a friend who works with pit bulls and I've helped her break up fights a few times. She leaves collars on them for this reason. We each take a collar and pull straight up so each dogs front feet are off the ground, so they are choking. Eventually they have to let go to open their mouth to get a breath, then you quickly pull them apart. If there are no collars you each take the back legs but if they are latched onto each other you don't want to try to pull them apart or you will just help the one latched to the other, tear more tissues of the other dog. (imagine if a dog had it's teeth sunk into your wrist and someone tried to pull the dog away with it's teeth still in you.) She tried to get them to let go a minute before pulling, waiting for them to either do it themselves or smacking a head or nose. Most dogs will let go and reattach themselves more often during a fight though so you have more opportunities to separate them. (nice thing about pits is they rarely will bite a person during a fight, I never felt afraid of getting bit the few times I've helped her and the dogs were a mess!)

I have always heard (with different breeds) that 2 females are usually the worst, spayed or not, then 2 dogs. Exceptions to every rule of course. A local woman here had 2 wirehaired doxie males and a few schiperkee's and the doxies killed 2 of her skips (females) and seriously injured a 3rd. (at different times...question being after the first why were they left alone together again!! She no longer has the doxies). I also have a friend who had 2 spayed golden girls who got along great until something triggered them then would try to kill each other. That went on all their lives. I can't imagine!

[Dianne]

For some silly reason we keep doing this...

Let's see...Cocoa was 5 when we brought in Bambam at 9 and Ladybug also 5...at the same time.

Bambam crossed over first then Ladybug...Cocoa was 13 at the time and we brought in Patches, 8.

Cocoa passed and then we brought in a puppy!  Patches was fine; but, we were not!  That dog could, and would, climb anything.  He went back, not a good match.

Patches is now 12 and at Christmas Dottie, 8 arrived.  Dottie is a retired AKC breeder and she's Momma to all.  This spring we were joined by the a tiny, starving little varmint named Jude.  Judy, as she is now called, is about 3 years old and weighs a whopping 11 lb. now. 

What we learned...depending upon the dog, the family and the personalities, we will not bring in another dog that is under 3 years old and preferably 5 years old. 

It isn't that the dogs can't handle it...it's that we can't handle it