2 years ago, my partner bought me a beautiful shih tzu, who i called Pheobe. She was the first dog i'd had and was the apple of my eye.

We then rescued a Border Terrier bitch called betsy.

We also rescued various other dogs over a 18 month period. They would come to us, until we could find a new loving home for them.

Pheobe was always ok with them.

After my mom meeting Pheboe she fell in love with her, so we bought her a male shih tzu, and she too, loved her little 'alfie'

Pheobe and Alfie got on really well, and when ever my mom came to visit, so did alfie.

Alfie, Besty and Pheobe Played really nice together, and they all got lots of attention and fuss.

Last October, my mom moved in with me and my partner and kids, and so did Alfie, so we had him neautered.

We started to notice, that Besty had become a bit withdrawn, but put it down to her age, she was about 9. She was still very loving, but was sometimes hesitant to come to us.

We then got a puppy for my daughter.

Besty, wasn't keen on the pup, but wasn't nasty to her, just gave her a wide birth, but Pheobe and Alfie, were great. It was so nice to see the 3 dogs playing together.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, Pheobe and Besty started to fight! I couldn't believe it! We ended up re-homing Besty, and she is know an only dog in a very loving home, but it was very hard to let her go. Then abouth 2 weeks after letting Betsy go, Pheobe started to pick on Dizzy, the puppy. It was so heart breaking, but we had to make the decision to re-home Pheobe, as it was getting out of hand.

I wish i'd realised that Pheobe was the trouble maker as i wouldn't have re-homed Besty.

any way, to get to the point, Alfie and Dizzy are great together, where ones goes the other follows, they play and eat together, never a cross word between them, but i have found it so hard not having my Pheboe about, and would love another dog, but i'm worried, past events will happen again. Should i get another dog? Am i being selfish? I can see know that Pheobe was jelous of the other dogs, but had no need to be. There are 6 of us in our house so always plenty of love to give.

Any advice or opinions would great.

(Oh and before people start making assumsions about the number of dogs we have had, we have a large 5 bed detached house, and i don't work, so any and all dogs had lots of space etc.)

Thanks nicky

Hi!

Sorry to hear about your dog fighting troubles and I can see why you would be wary of introducing another dog into the household, you wouldnt want to give up another of your dogs!

Its never easy and never 100% certain that 2 dogs or more will get along..
according to me however there are a couple of things you can do to help make sure they get along fine or at the very least that they dont fight;
- make sure you are clearly seen as the leader by your dogs, if you (and the rest of your family, kids included) are not the leader they will fight for leadership so make sure they know their place in the pack which is basically YOU (and family) and then THEM roughly at the same level.
- never leave your dogs on their own; if you all leave the house at the same time id suggest you crate them separately or leave them in different rooms, you never know what can happen
- when you are there if they try to fight or assert dominance over each other (humping for example) make sure you discipline them.. you seem to have quite small so manageable dogs (dunno what breed the pup is though? shitzu as well?) so hopefully it is something you can do.
- when you decide on another dog, if you rescue one (it may be easier) make sure their energy will fit well with your two dogs already present (if your boys are dominant you may want the addition to be a bit submissive, if they are high-level energy you may want another similar, or calm if they are) and do a "test run" ; introduce all the dogs at the rescue center, do that several times and then take the rescue home for a few days to check it is all going well..

There is no reason why you wouldnt be able to have another dog but with any pack of dogs it requires a bit more work to ensure it all goes smoothly..

xx

Im sorry to hear about your problems. Although they are both very active, at 9 and 10, im pretty sure both my boys would hate it if i bought a puppy into the house. They are established and have thier routine, any break to that could be very stressful.

I think the thing i found the most upsetting is that you chose to rehome the dog that you had owned the longest. Its a common story, people get a puppy, the older, established dog doesnt like it, and instead of being loyal to the dog they have owned for years, people decide to keep the pup and get rid of the oldie.

Exactly what i thought

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Boxer cat..

Sadly this is what i thought too

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what i didn't explain, was that Pheobe had snapped at my kids a few times, so it wasn't about getting rid of the 'loyal dog' but what was right for my family.

please understand, that getting rid of pheobe was one of the hardest things i've had to do. It took me a good 3 months to let her go, so please don't think i'm heartless.

Thanks for the advice guys

hiya
sorry to read about your troubles.getting another pup/oldie should be fine providing you match energy within your pack,and of corse make sure all know who the alpha is(you)! if you dwell on past troubles you may well cause new ones within your pack move on and live in the now like your dogs do
good luck xxx

My advise for what its worth is stick to the dogs you have and enjoy them. I have a pack of dogs and have never had any issues regarding fighting or jealously because my pack is balanced and secure. I have foster dogs coming and going and in 20 years have never had any problems, because I balance the pack carefully. I suspect the upset is due to a number of factors within your home and not down to just one dog so adding another puppy into the mix is asking for trouble. Sounds to me like your enviournment isn't ideal for a pack of dogs (and there isn't many homes that are) so why rock the boat if everything is happy and harmonious now? Shame you didn't take the time to work out the issues intially rather than rehoming a loyal companion.

I agree with JSR stick with the dogs you have got and put all your time and efforts into them look into training them (clicker taining is great) to make better balanced loving pets
so these problems dont crop up again in the end is it you have 3 dogs in the house 2x shih tzu and 1 pup?
I think 3 dogs in house that has had problems with their dogs fighting before is enough and there are children and 3 adults in the house.
You really need to work on the dogs you have got if you first shih tzu snapped at your children sorry to say this but you either didnt train the dog very well or you didnt teach the children how to act towards the dogs so they didnt snap at them.
So maybe this is something to work on before getting anothert dog look into agailty, flyball anything like this the whole family can get involved in aswel as the children its great fun.
I have 7 dogs with no problems they all know their place in our pack and are as good as gold.
Hope i havent said something i shouldnt just telling the truth and what needed to be said.
goodluck

very sensible advice.. i must admit ill tend to agree!

Ill also agree that it is never down to one dog, to a "troublemaker", its mostly always down to the leader of the pack.
if your bitch nipped at your kids there must clearly have been some leadership "unbalance" in your pack and until you can sort it out you should probably stick to the dogs you have as they seem balanced around each other..

xx