adopting again but have a question.....

So my fiance' and I have decided to adopt another pup. It's kinda funny because everytime our breeder of choice has a litter and we're faced with buying a pup, we decide to adopt instead. I just feel that I would rather give a loving home to those that are homeless and chance the breeder can find buyers. We adopted Bower last April and now he is about 10 months old. He is crazy active and sometimes even three long walks a day isn't enough for him. We have been thinking about our next baby for a while but think it is a good time now that Bower is trained, almost :) We want him to have a playmate, a friend and a companion he can grow old with, besides just us :) I was searching Pet Finder (the best place to find adoptees) and found a private foster mommy that has a 13month old Boxer boy, and gorgeous! His adoption requirements are that he has another dog in the house to play with, a large fenced yard (which we undoubtedly have) and obedience training. He sounds too perfect to be true! My concern is with his age....I am assuming Bower would take the role of Alpha but by him being a few months younger will it make a difference? Is it better to have two males together or a male and female? Both our pup and the pup to adopt are neutered but I just don't know if there will be any dominance issues. If anyone has any ideas for me I would greatly appreciate it! I am going to try and post his picture but I will wait to find out from his foster mom if it's alright, I don't want to put up pictures of our "future baby" if she doesnt want me to or if we can't get him. Thanks again!

It depends from breed to breed. Some breeds warn against male-male households while others encourage male-male households. My adoption coordinator was the owner of 4 male Greyhounds and he never had one serious scuffle. On the other hand, you are encouraged to avoid male-male households with protective breeds like Akitas and Dobermans. I'm not too sure about Boxers so you may want to e-mail an experienced Boxer owner and get their opinion. Generally, however, females tend to live up to their name ;) Opposite gender households are ideal, but I know plenty of dogs who live with only females or only males.

Is your pup very submissive or dominant? What about the 13 month old Boxer? Try to assess their personalities and ask to foster mom if she can set up a playdate prior to your adoption. Good Luck! This must be very exciting!!

ETA: About the dominance issue, I've found it best to let the dogs sort out their own pack order. Be forewarned: There may be scuffles! Once the pack order has been settled, treat them accordingly. Remember to keep yourself Alpha though ;)

The main combination to avoid with Boxers is female/female. They tend to be very aggressive when dominant and if they start a fight, it won't ever stop. I have know of peopel whose females killed each other. Optimal is male/female both fixed, but generally two males do fine together.

Thank you for your ideas.....I think it is important they get to know each other first and see if they get along. I know my Bower loves other dogs and is very much socialized, but Jacob (our hopeful new baby) may not be. However, the foster mom said he absolutely has to have another dog in the house for a playmate...so thats sounds promising. Bower is about 10 months (we never got an acual birth date because he was dumped off) and neuter but very VERY dominant. It will most likely be in our best interest to get a submissive dog, I don't know how well two dominant dogs (boxers at that) would get along.

All I know is we can't wait to give our baby a brother or sister....and it is very important we adopt, I don't even know why I contacted a breeder. But it also opens my eyes to why I want to adopt to begin with, a lot of breeders in this area seem to be BYB (grrrr!), I wouldn't trust a BYB to save my life. Who know maybe someday we will adopt one of these breeders (if you can call them that) pups....interesting to say the least :)

Well I was just contacted by Jacob's foster mommy. She had a few concerns I had to address but hopefully by this weekend we can bring him home. We installed a doggy door THINKING it would help but we never use it because I don't like Bower outside if I don't know he's going out. I think this is part of my Alpha role, he goes out when I say he can. But Jacobs mommy doesn't want him to have free access either. We put up a regular door today and she is going to call my landlord and make sure it's alright that we have two dogs. The only thing that makes me nervous is the fact that we have a smaller house, its a two bedroom but it is just a single floor house. When we adopted Bower I don't know if they were just trying to get rid of him (because he was scheduled to be PTS) or what but when I told her our house wasn't huge, she said it didn't matter. What mattered was the size of our yard and hearts.....I know we have enough room for two babes because we are making our guest room the dogs' room. I am so worried that we can't get Jacob now but it is at his foster mommy's request so I understand, and actually I am glad they are doing a home visit and doing so much research. It makes me feel good that they are good foster parents looking for the best possible home for Jacob.