# Just learned we CANT get a puppy...



## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Well some of you will know, from my constant mention, I desperately want a second dog, mostly as a companion for Duke, because he does get very lonely during the day when we're at work. At the moment, it's a battle between me and my husband to see who gives in (which, lets face it, I never will, so he might as well let me get the second dog now and save time! :lol

Anyway, while walking Duke today, we passed a building site (house construction), just around the bend from my house, and this little pup come charging out barking at Duke. The pup was probably a few months old, and about a quarter to a third of the size of Duke. None of the workers at the construction site seemed to care at all that this little dog was running after us, I could see they'd seen it, but no one responded, so I figured it wasn't theirs. The pup had a collar on and was a real playful lil chap, jumping all over Duke. Being only 2 minutes from home, I kept forcing Duke on in the hope that the owner would appear and call the dog back. Get home, and the lil dog is STILL jumping around us and trying to climb on Duke, so I let them both into my yard. When it wasnt playing with Duke, it was running around on the road, and I didn't want to see him get hit. 

Anyway, had him in the yard about 10 minutes before I could hear someone whistling, and a white ute drove past and I was pretty sure the whistling was coming from there, so I grabbed the lil guy, popped him in the car and found his owner driving around a few streets away. Needless to say, I told the owner to make sure he keeps an eye on his dog, and also put a tag on him so if it happens again then he'll get a phone call.

Anyway, the point of this thread - Duke has absolutely no sense of his size and strength... he was like a bulldozer to this lil guy. Granted the little pup was having a ball and would jump up and take Duke down at every opportunity, but I swear if they were left alone long enough, Duke would just accidentally crush him to death!

So now I know - second dog MUST be a bigger dog with a fair bit of body strength, because Duke can't seem to tell the difference between a great dane and a chihuahua haha


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

You can still get a puppy. Duke just has to learn that he can't be so rough. It's not so hard to teach if you are patient enough. From what I understand, Duke is still fairly young himself. 

When we first started taking Buck to the dog park he would roll the little dogs (little dogs who are too robust for the small dog area like jack russels, corgis, beagles, puggles, etc) and was too rough with them. I have kept on him about it and he is already becoming much gentler with them.

You would also only have to separate them while you are gone until you are comfortable with Duke and the pup being together. Buck, at almost 6 months old, is still not left alone with Dude when we leave the house. Dude is in a pen in the living room and Buck is in his crate in our bedroom. Don't give up hope on a pup. They can take a lot more bullying than you think they can and they grow quickly enough to be able to hold their own during play after a short time


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Yeah I figure I could probably teach him eventually be a bit gentler, but I actually would prefer a bigger dog anyway (to avoid the real little puppy stage), and I'd like to get a dog that Duke can play with as rough as he wants (it REALLY takes it out of him, I'd love to have him super worn out from a day of playing haha)


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## schtuffy (May 17, 2010)

You can still get a pup! You might just have to do a bit more supervised play in the beginning :wink:


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

You could get a pup...or you could rescue an adult, which is always my vote!!!

I want my next dog to be at least 3 maybe 4. Avery was 8 months, I think that may be as puppy as I go but who knows I am a sucker for dogs in general.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

GET A BIG DOG!!!:lol:

Anyways, you know my vote!:wink:


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Yeah I want to rescue a dog, won't be buying a pup from a pet shop or breeder or anything. I want one similar in age to duke, so I'm happy to go between 10 months and 2 years (they need to still be able to keep up with duke for the next few years!)

I've got my eye on a boarder collie x lab that a family has advertised as needing to be rehomed, just waiting for the hubby to give in so we can go meet her. She sounds like a perfect fit so hopefully it'll all fall into place :thumb:


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> Yeah I want to rescue a dog, won't be buying a pup from a pet shop or breeder or anything. I want one similar in age to duke, so I'm happy to go between 10 months and 2 years (they need to still be able to keep up with duke for the next few years!)
> 
> I've got my eye on a boarder collie x lab that a family has advertised as needing to be rehomed, just waiting for the hubby to give in so we can go meet her. She sounds like a perfect fit so hopefully it'll all fall into place :thumb:


You will already have 4 collars...and none of them are too boy-ish!:wink:

And you have a wonderful contact who can and will send you fetching tags!:thumb:

I know, I know...Im NOT helping right!?!? LOL


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Scarlett_O' said:


> GET A BIG DOG!!!:lol:
> 
> Anyways, you know my vote!:wink:


Gypsy? Lol


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> Gypsy? Lol


:nod: Yep!:biggrin:

(Or any such adult-ish doggie who needs rescuing!)


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## jenv101 (Oct 13, 2010)

Even a few weeks or months makes a big difference in how they play together. I could not believe my eyes when I saw how gentle Riley was when we brought Aura home. He normally plays ROUGH. She was tiny and only 9 weeks old and he seemed to just know. Of course we never left them unsupervised, and he did occassionally step on her by accident, but it all worked out. He gradually got rougher with her as she got older. So, I wouldn't be too worried about it!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Well, if you plan on getting an adult then issue avoided anyway!
But, I think you'd be surprised at how manageable a puppy could be. Annie plays like a tank, and is really excitable... but she's been so good with every puppy we've brought home. You'd NEVER guess so though watching her out and about.


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