Advice/ suggestions all welcome!
I have a 5 month old lab- a bitch, very bright,attending training classes and doing well: no problems with her at all (touch wood!!). Have always said I'd love two dogs. Now then, into the local home where I volunteer today comes a 14 week old collie/staff cross- lovely, a real sweetie, ticks all the right boxes.
On the other hand there is also a staff/terrier bitch there, 5 years old and we have taken a shine to each other. She's been in the home for a few months now: shes very high energy ( which I dont mind, as I can cycle and jog with her), dominant and has had two unsuccessful rehomings due to destructive behaviour when left. she and my pup walk along fine together but its obvious that the rescue dog has dominant tendencies. So she has all these issues and shes not going to be a 'ready made' dog by any stretch of the imagination.
Here then is a dilemma- the 14 week old pup would be an ideal companion for my lab and I want a beach buddy for her-another dog to play with- but 2 pups together?? am i letting myself in for trouble?
Then there is the staff x who is constantly overlooked and really doesnt sell herself in kennels and who is also going to need some work.
Or should I just be content with my lab. and forget any ideas of adding a second dog to the mix until shes older?
Any suggestions??

Whey hey in for a penny in for a pound have them both

Awww seriously I'm no help am i, i wouldn't be able to chose one over the other i would be no good working in dogs homes or even visiting one i would want them all

Anyways i'm not sure about the idea of taking a more dominant bitch home with your young puppy as it was her home first & she might not like being placed down in the pecking order .. But that's just my opinion

no thats a good point about the dominance - I can see that its likely to cause issues and my pup is so easy going and coming on so well I dont want her nose out of joint. so would have to really work to address it.
Decisions! Decisions! eh!!? And I am TERRIBLE at making them.!!

Hi there,

just wanted to add a quick line......we have a 15 month old ebt who has been with us since 6 weeks, and we've just adopted a 4 year old dominant bitch, and he has taken it fine. In fact his little tail hasn't stopped, she did tell him off a couple of times when she 1st came, but he's learned now, and is happy just to let her be ahead of him. (being a paranoid owner though I don't leave them alone together, just incase)

ju xxx

I have 5 dogs, all variety of ages and all rescued. 2 of them were 'un-homable' due to agression but with time and love anything is possible so..GO FOR IT!! Personally if it was me (and I do take on the sad cases that no one else wants) I'd go for the staffy x. I am totally biased cos I have 2 of them myself but they are such sweet and loving dogs, and as you said she's been over looked and likely to continue to be so. If you feel you can offer her the time it will take to get over her little issues (and they sound little) then you'd be a perfect home for her. Her distruction might not even be an issue if left with another dog, my 4th Cooper apparently used to howl for hours on end when left alone...since being with me I've not heard a peep out of him (other than barking for his ball) so he obviously just needed canine company to chill him out.

Whatever you decide good luck and let us know.

Thanks for your comments. The puppy -of course- was rehomed straight away so that took that decision out of my hands. Still undecided about the staff/terrier cross.. I wish I could be more impulsive! Apparently she tried to jump through a window and destroyed a sofa during previous rehomings- she didnt last more than 2 days in either home.( And if you ask me anyone who takes on a rescue dog and leaves it alone within a day of adopting it deserves to have their sofa chobbled.) Now of course she has black marks on her notes which doesnt help her case any!
I hope that plenty of exercise and other doggie company would help with the separation issues but obviously wouldnt want to leave the 2 alone together unsupervised. Does anyone have experiences of crate training one dog whilst another is uncrated or is this not a good idea?
Also would the rescue dog teach my pup bad habits? I can leave her for up to 3 hours and she good as gold.
Any ideas? Many thanks for your advice!!

you obviously have a lot of experience with rescue dogs so do appreciate your input.
I have a couple of concerns; one is leaving the dogs in the house alone together - am obviously not going to just leave them in the same room together at first because I think the rescue dog is likely to be scrappy. My lab is brilliant when left- could the rescue dog begin to stress Roxy out and teach her 'bad habits' ie barking. I have thought of crate training the rescue dog so that she has a safe place to stay when they have to be left but could this foster resentment in the rescue dog? Should I crate the rescue dog in a different area to my dog?
Also they have quite different exercise needs at the moment- which will keep me busy but thats not insurmountable. But I wonder whether when they are together eg at beach again would the fact that my dog is allowed off lead cause resentment. I really want a second dog for a buddy for my girl and want to get it right because she is such a fantastic bright clever little dog and unfortunately this little staffy cross has crept into my heart and is equally bright and clever but it might not be a match made in heaven and dont want to do anything detrimental to either dog.I know that they are going to be like chalk and cheese but that will be the fun of it I hope. ARGHH! decisions! I cant do them!!