Decision time on adding a second sheltie

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coopersmom

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I posted last week about adding another sheltie to the house. In a nutshell, I have an 8 y.o. male, Randy. The breeder is retiring his full litter sister from breeding and putting her up for adaption. We're interested in her and have spoken with the kennel she is at several times. She seems like a wonderful, loving dog. Most of me wants to go for it. The other part of me remembers what happened when I brought Randy home. I had two nine-year-olds at the time, one sheltie, Cooper, and a mixed breed Suds. Suds & Randy got along fine, but it literally broke Cooper's heart when i walked in the door with Randy. I kid you not, as soon as Coop took one look at Randy he turned away and walked out of the room. Coop stopped eating, mopped around for a week, we even had prayer for him on our carport with a friend in seminary. It was very heartwrenching to watch. Coop & Randy lived together for nearly four years and Cooper never liked Randy. He put up with him but they never played together like Suds & Randy. Randy has been an only dog for two years. Our life revolves around him, he is spoiled beyond belief, he is the center of our lives and he knows it. I cannot hurt him the way I hurt Cooper, so I am really torn as to what to do. Any advice or experience in similar situations?
 
I would ask the breeder if you can bring his sister home on a trial basis. Some dogs like to be the only dog. Other ones like to have a dog to play with. If the breeder agrees to it, you could be making both dogs happy, as well as yourselves.
 
I agree! I don't know how you could make a permanent commitment without first seeing how everyone gets along. Hopefully all will be well and you can keep his sister, but introducing adult dogs can sometimes be difficult.

I will say this, however. My daughter had a 4 year old female, Piper, when she adopted Piper's full sister, (not littermate) Lilly last year. The biggest problem was actually with Lilly being jealous as she immediately bonded to my daughter and didn't like her paying attention to Piper. It actually took a good 6 months for her to settle in and now you'd never know there had been problems. And they were pretty serious problems, jealousy over my daughter and territorial over her crate. It took considerably longer than a couple of weeks, but Nikki is so thankful she was patient.
 
I've had similar experience to MissSuzie. I've never brought home a Sheltie that's been instantly accepted. In some cases it's taken up to six months. Eventually though, they always give in and just can't resist a playmate. I've never had the kind of circumstance you've described with Cooper though, where they actually get depressed and stop eating. Although I know Pixie the Princess will never forgive me for bringing Barkley home and he's been here for more than two years! (But she does condescend to play with him... :lol:)
 
Sheltiholic-& others. Thanks for your advice. I will most certainly be patient the new sheltie. It's funny when you mention you two grudgenly playing together. Sometimes Cooper would "almost" play with randy and Randy would be so excited. I would tell Coop, "Better be careful, you might accidently act like you like Randy"!
 
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