How to adopt compatible dogs?

[stacwase]

My husband is going to Iraq in September, and the chis (probably both of them) are going back to my mom in November. Then it will be just me, my son (will be 14) and my 17-yo daughter and Max out at the farm.

I think that after the chis go home, it will be time to adopt another dog. I was wondering if any of you (Kay especially since you have done such an awesome job of finding dogs who seem to be soul mates) could give me any tips for how to find a dog who will bond very closely with Max.

So - if you don't mind kind of a long post - I will describe Max and our living situation and what we're looking for in a dog. Then maybe you could give me some tips?

OK. Max is not extremely dominant, but he doesn't roll over and take crap from any other dogs, either. He's kind of middle-of-the road on the dominance thing. He did NOT get along well with Jake. They had absolutely no interest whatsoever in eachother. Jake was also kind of middle-of-the-road as far as dominance. Jake was an older neutered male sheltie who got along great with dogs who were his size or smaller than him.

Max absolutely adores my stepdaughter's dog, Kamble. Kamble is a young (maybe 1 year?) neutered male mix, about 30 lbs. Kamble is very submissive and energetic, and follows Max around. When my stepdaughter brings Kamble over, though, we have to keep both dogs confined because they tend to feed into eachother and get into trouble by running off.

Max is beginning to show a lot of interest in Chloe, my mom's 2.5 lb spayed female chihuahua. He really tries to play with her now, but she just lays down on the ground and rolls over on her back and won't play with him. She's really a very dominant little thing, but I think she's scared of Max now because of his size. He stepped on her once, accidentally.

He's not very interested at all in the neighbor's older, neutered, submissive husky/collie cross or her very dominant mid-sized neutered mix, but two golden retrievers showed up one day who he absolutely adored.

He does his best to escape our house in town on a regular basis and go down the street to play with some younger labs and goldens who live down there.

I THINK, but I'm not sure, that a very playful, younger, somewhat submissive, large spayed female would be best for Max. What do you think?

Do you think breed matters?

I'll ask a few more questions in another post, in case my computer locks up.

[stacwase]

OK. I really appreciate your patience!

So - now I'll tell you a little bit about us and our living situation.

We're going to want a dog with good ears and who will bark whenever anybody comes near the yard. Max could defend our house very well if he ever needed to, but I don't think his ears are the greatest. Somebody would actually have to be inside the house before he would notice them. With me and two kids living out in the country with no man around, I'd like a little security - you know?

I, personally, really like pitties and shepherds and rotties. But, I don't have my heart set on a certain breed. I would just like a dog who would bond closely with us and with Max, and perform as a great watchdog (not necessarily as a guard dog).

It would be GREAT if he/she would also leave the chickens alone, but we can work around that.

Now. How do I go about finding this dog?

Oh yeah. We have a cat. And lots of squirrels and chipmunks and skunks and porcupines. So a low prey drive would be VERY nice.

[chocolatepuppy]

Wow Max didn't care for Jake? I guess I'm lucky with my two. Didn't really think too hard when I adopted Mandy.I just picked out what I wanted.Of course Lacey was one year old when we got Mandy. When something happens to Mandy,as I know it soon will, I'll have to put alot more thought into finding a friend for Lacey as she is four now. Mandy ended up being top dog, something they worked out themselves.
I'm no expert but yes a submissive type female for Max sounds good!

[binka_nugget]

It seems like male/female pairs tend to do better than male/male or female/female pairs. I guess the reason for that is because packs have female and male alphas, not just one sole alpha. Since he's more dominant, I think maybe that would be the best choice.

I had a really hard time getting Kaedyn to tolerate being near Kai. He warmed up eventually. I think fostering might be good. Sometimes it takes a bit for the dog to get comfortable and really show their true self. Kaedyn acted like an angel at the pound. Then we got home and he was a nightmare.

I guess breed can matter but.. you never really know how a dog of that breed will get along with Max. I think in this case, breed should be taken into consideration (if at all) after you've found a dog that's compatible with Max.

I think your best bet is just going to the shelters regularly and maybe actively fostering until you find the right dog.

[stacwase]

Fostering is a thought.

How does that work? Do I go to the shelter and find a dog who might work out, and tell them I'd like to foster? In that case, would I still pay the adoption fee?

Here is a link to a girl I think might work out with Max. I'm sure she'll be adopted by the time we're ready, but I was just wondering if I'm barking up the right tree here.

http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?act...=0&tmpl=&stat=

[binka_nugget]

Basically, you tell the shelter you'd like to foster a dog. Then they'll give it to you to have temporarily until a forever home comes along. There's no adoption fee but sometimes you're required to pay for food (depends on the shelter I guess). I don't know if it's how it works there but over here, they foster out the ones that are really young, stressed or need lots of medical attention.

A few places will let you have a trial run too for a couple days. Fostering would give you a bit more time to see how the dog warms up though..since fostering tends to be longer.

[Tonya]

I think fostering is a great idea too.

When I was looking for Roxy, I visited several shelters. I narrowed my search down to a few dogs I liked at three different shelters. I asked them if I could bring Dusty back to meet them. With eachdog, we brought them and Dusty out into the play area and let them have at it. With some of the dogs, the hair was raised first and there was some growling before play. They seemed to be fighting for dominance during play. I narrowed those dogs out right away. I then had it narrowed down to a beautiful ice blue eyed rottweiler and Roxy. I decided to try Roxy out since the rottie was a male. I asked the foster mom of Roxy if I could bring her back if things didn't work out. She gave me thirty days. And things worked out great.

[Kfamr]

To be honest... my dogs picked me.

Simba gets along best with puppies. He doesn't care for them at first, but then (as you can see by the pics with Ki and Sim) he warms up to them.

I suggest just going to the shelter every once in a while. I'm not sure about there, but there's always tons of Pitties, GSD's and mixes of those breeds in our shelter.
I think you'd know what's best for Max and for your family once you go to the shelter.

To me, it sounds like what would be best for Max, a younger female.. of his size, or around there. Who's submissive yet is able to hold his/her ground (unlike the Chi's) and play with Max.

Fostering is a great idea. That way you can see how he'd react with another dog living in your home AND you'd be able to help the dogs at the shelter. And, you'd see how each dog would react to the chickens, cats, etc..

[stacwase]

I really appreciate the responses.

Fostering sounds like the way to go. That way I can avoid a commitment until I'm 100% certain. And it would be so helpful, too.

One question though - what about vaccinations and medications? Wouldn't it be just horrible for a foster dog to contract lime disease or heartwormm while I was caring for it? Do you think the vets give discounts to people who are fostering? I love dogs, but I don't have the $ to vaccinate many of them.

[Kfamr]

I'm not sure about there but the shelters here vaccinate all of their dogs. I don't think you'd be fostering long enough that'd you'd have to get vaccinations for it.

[Glacier]

Costs for fostering depend on the group you are with. Some ask the foster parents to pay for everything. Our shelter pays for food and all vet care expenses. Toys, treats, little extras are the fosters costs. Personally, we just pay for everything ourselves, unless it's a major vet bill--we feed different food than the shelter so it would be a huge a hassle to feed the fosters differently than our own dogs.

I'd suggest you let Max pick his new friend. We always take Muskwa to meet a new dog--on neutral ground. If he likes them, the rest of this pack will accept them too.

[stacwase]

I don't know how I'd have him pick out his new friend, other than by fostering. When I got Max, I brought Jake to meet him and they behaved 100% differently once they got home than they did in the yard at the shelter.

Here, the annual vet bill including all the vaccines is around $250, including heartworm and lime disease and giardia - not just the required vaccines. I think our area is unusually expensive, though.

You know how the shelters usually have the 30-day "return policy"? How do they feel about people who bring dogs home to try out with their old dog and then bring them back? Do they refuse to let them try another one out, usually?

If I said I'd foster, I would kind of be obligated to take the dog until I found a home for it, right? So if it didn't get along with Max, that could be a bad thing.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Originally posted by stacwase

... When I got Max, I brought Jake to meet him and
they behaved 100% differently once they got home
than they did in the yard at the shelter.

If I said I'd foster,
I would kind of be obligated to take the dog
until I found a home for it, right?

The "behaved differently once they got home" is why you should
ask the shelter to allow you to "foster" the New Dog in your home.

Many shelters will make some sort of arrangement to allow that -
some give you a "30-day return & exchange" deal;
others might allow more of a "foster" deal -
you'll be giving the dog a "vacation" out of the shelter,
and the shelter will either adopt the dog to you OR get some
valuable feedback if it doesn't work out.

You'll need to have a long talk with the Shelter Manager -
not too many Managers will let a "stranger" walk off with one of
their dogs without doing some background checks!

Ideally - what you want is a dog that HAS Been "Fostered" -
so that you can learn from the "Foster Parent" just how that
dogs acts in a home / multi-dog environment.

Good Luck! /s/ Phre

[stacwase]

Thanks, Phred!

I know this is going to spark controversy, but I found a foster which is on a farm and he lets his foster dogs off-leash outdoors. They "help" him on the farm. I think that would be the perfect place to find a dog because the dog will have already lived in the same environment I'm going to have her in - know what I mean? We do let Max off leash while we're outside with him and I'd like to find another dog we can do that with.

So I wrote this guy and described our situation and asked him to let me know if he had the perfect dog for me. He wrote back and asked for more specifics, so I don't know if he has the right dog available yet, but I can wait!

[Tonya]

That sounds great! Good luck!