Retriever Rescue

having very recently lost one of my goldens, I am sure that in the very near future I will be looking to offer another a home.
I have owned singles, two from puppies[ a dog and a bitch] and adopted the young male with me now when my bitch wa elderly[ vets advice it was a good idea was right....he gave our lovely old girl a new lease of life for the time she had remaining].
I have never brought an adult dog to live with a young adult....lovely natured though he is I will be asking Jan if gender is an issue even if both dogs would be neutered... I am sure if Jan anticipated a problem she would think twice and probably decline a request from me for a particular gender. The last thing she would want for a dog is for the new owner to be calling within a few weeks or months saying they could not manage and the dog would be uprooted once again.
While nothing is certain, I am wondering would anyone on this site with experience of introducing a new adult into a home where a young dog is established, advise as to how to minimise the problems that might occur regarding dominance , territorial behaviour etc. Was the sex of the dog an issue and is it, as some tell me, wiser to have a dog with a bitch rather than two dogs?
thanks in anticipation of some helpful replies !

Danielle

From my personal experience I have male and a female, they get on fine and "Double trouble." as for 2 males 2 females I would say it depends on the dog,if you have one now then he will decide and usually they like a female on their territory, and they dont see them as a threat, but again if nuetered and the right male may take to him and it could work that way....but really depends on your boy and what he is willing to accept...

HTH...

We do match dogs to people and families so it is no good trying to anticipate problems you have to have the right dog for you and your pets. All the advice in the world isn't going to help until you have a dog to decide on and I will have made a few decisions before offering a dog.

Jan is right... no use in anticipating problems, the dogs can also sense your moods and if you are uptight, they are going to know about it.

We have always had two dogs of various ages, we did have three for several years but that was due to family circumstances, and we found that the older less active was excluded when it came to playtime, they were all female.... and they can be little madams, and very dominant over something silly like a stick.

I've always heard that a male and female are best combination, as the female is always the 'boss' (my husband says that true in the human world !!!)
Our oldest dog was 8yrs when a youngster was introduced, I can also remember Mum's golden who was 3yrs when she had 10 pups not wanting anything to do with her own puppy they had decided to keep, it took several weeks for Gemma to accept Jade, we didn't have any problems introducing Cobi (from Jan in 2005) to Ginnie (from Jan in 2000) they 'hit it off' right from day one.

thanks so much folks for your words of wisdom,
I seem to have a head like sludge after losing our Bonnie, appears I have not communicated what I meant clearly. I have an open mind on this issue, but thought that maybe Jan with all her knowledge and experience would be the one to anticipate an issue and advise clearly against one thing or another. I am reassured that she hasnt. I hoped that she and others with more experience than me of the "double trouble " might have very firm views on what would and would not work....
when first thinking of getting a rescue I had well-meaning folk advising against a rescue retriever, due to me not knowing the health and temperament of the dog I would be bringing home and now the same folks are advising variously.... oh never have 2 bitches together.... they will fight " same for 2 males and same for 2 of different genders...if I were to listen to this there would be no workable combination!
I am aware that there are various combinations living happily throughout the UK, just hoped as I have heard from Jan and others on here that it [as I had thought and hoped,] appears to not to be a simpistic black and white issue of the sex of the animals, but a combination of what is right temperamentally, maybe age-wise and also for particular family circumstances.
So thanks again for your help, much appreciated.
Danielle

No you haven't got head of sludge, it's probably me....misinterpreting.... I remember when we lost Abigail 11 weeks afer Jasmine, I went completely deaf in one ear through being so upset, we would think it unnatural if you weren't so upset about Bonnie. Some people might think that we didn't wait long enough after losing Abby before we had Cobi from Jan (6 days)but Ginnie needed a pal and I needed a distraction ... and Cobi was one heck of a distraction !!! and we all love her to bits... even Ginnie when she is pulling at Gin's ruff or ears.

Hi Danielle

Sorry to be a bit late replying, have been incapacitated with the dreaded swine flu.....

We have Gordon, a great big lump of a daft dog, who came to us when he was 8, from Jan of course. That was five years ago, and over those five years I kept saying I wonder if we could have another dog, would they both get on, would they fight.........

Gordon could be quite bossy with other dogs, particularly those bigger than him, although that's not many. Anyway in August this year, whilst having one of my conversations with Jan, she "just happened to mention" this little girl that was in the kennels. She was Codie and eight years old. Well we uummed and aahhed, not for that long, and visited Codie at the kennels. What a surprise, with Jan talking us all the way through, we introduced them both, wandered around for a while, and then they both jumped (well Gordon was hoisted) into the boot of the car and we set off for home. I think I must have driven Jan potty that day with phone calls about every hour, saying they're doing this, they're doing that etc. To cut a long story short I confiscated the toys for about 10 days, fed them seperately for about 10 days, "let them get on with it" - valuable words of advice from Jan, and the rest is history. They get on famously now, share their toys, drink from the same bowl - at the same time!!, and we wouldn't be without them.

Hope this helps you in some way to decide what to do.

Love Carole xx