Dogs are very important in our lives. They are loving, adorable and loyal to the owners. What can be a better companion than a dog? Although most people prefer having one dog, two dogs bring a lot of benefits to you. Let’s look at the pros and cons of having two dogs.
Pros:
1. They will exercise with each other: Depending with the breed of the dog you’re having, you should spend about 30 minutes exercising with it but adding a second dog to the mix, the dogs with play and exercise with each other.
2. Companion: The dogs will keep each other company when you go out to work or run errands. They will not be bored.
3. Reduce separation anxiety: Dogs may experience separation anxiety when left alone and sometimes require extra attention and medication to recover, to avoid this you can bring a second dog into the family. The dogs will keep each other company.
4. Security: Having two dogs enforce security at your home and the dogs feel more secure having each other as a playmate.
5. Makes puppy training easier: If you have an old dog and you want to bring a puppy, it will be easier to train the new puppy. The old dog will be able to teach the new dog some tricks as it will look upon it for some guidance.
6. Help teach responsibility: If you have children, you can go for a second dog to help teach them some responsibility. You will give each child a dog to care and this helps teach your children responsibility and respect for life.
7. Socialize with other dogs: Have a second dog will give your dog not only a companionship but also ability to socialize with others which is essential for emotional development. It boosts the dog’s confidence and makes it easy to socialize with other dogs.
8. Double love: Although the first dog brought a companion and unconditional love, adding another dog will bring twice the love and joy into the family.
9. Hangout together: Having two dogs gives them the opportunity to hang out together and entertain each other.
10. Personalized companion: Having two dogs can help a couple have personalized training based on one’s preferences. You may want to cuddle your dog while watching a movie and your husband may only need a companion dog to sit next to him.
Cons:
1. Renting issue: It is impossible to convince the landlords to take in two dogs especially when renting. This becomes very difficult to have landlords who will happily take two or more dogs.
2. Space: Having more than one dog requires more space especially the big breeds. If leaving in a small house, it can get messy and smell bad if you have two dogs.
3. Divided attention: It is difficult to give equal attention to both dogs. One gets more attention than the other.
4. Twice the cost: You will have to spend twice the cost of maintaining the dog. The cost of food, dog pets, twice the cost of dog care products like shampoo, and vet bills doubles.
5. Difficult training two dogs: Each dog has to be trained based on its temperaments and listen to you separately in order to follow your instructions when together and this can be difficult to train separately.
6. Rivalry: Just like humans, dogs also experience some emotions and can act out. The old dogs may be jealous and see the new dog is a rivalry and may not get along well.
7. Twice the responsibility: You have to clean up after two dogs. If the dogs are chewers, you will have twice the damage control, pick-up potty twice and collect fur for two.
8. Teach other bad habits: If one dog has some bad habits, it can teach the other some bad habits.
