we would like to buy a bitch as a companion for our 6 year old dog, any advice on age of mate most suitable or would be better buying a puppy our dog has a happy temperament with humans but not so good with other animals

Hi There,
We have a dog who is four years old and have just added a bitch puppy at 12 weeks old and he is warming to her,she is just a bit giddy at the moment and wants to play all the time but as long as we give her a lot of attention (and him even more)she leaves him alone, we have been told they will bond better when we start walking them together so we will see .....my only advice would be read this link Bloat in Dogs as our dog did get bloat and it was after she had lived with us for two days and was a really scary experience,he was drooling and blew up like a balloon,i'm not sure if it was stress or the fact that he ate his dinner and drank really fast thinking she would take it,as a precaution we now feed her in the other room to remove the threat to him.
We where told to give him a teaspoon (no more) of activia yoghurt and he stopped drooling in under an hour and his belly went down the next day.
Good luck

If he's "not so good with other animals" you may find bringing another dog into his home - his safe haven away fro other dogs - very stressful.
I personally would rescue as you could take him to meet another bitch and check the temperments were right for each other, and if he really didn't like her you would have the back up and safety of being able to return her to be rehomed.
Also lots of dogs will tolerate puppies but once they mature won't be so patient especially if they decide to fight for top dog.
Good luck and let us know ow you get on.

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A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

I think you should go for an older rescue dog whos temperament is already set, as said in the previous post, you might be able take your dog along to see who he likes.
If you get a pup and your dog decides he doesn't like it you will then have the problem of rehoming a possibly traumatised or aggresive adolescent dog