Photo By: Muriel Varhelyi / Our Gentlemen’s Companions
Christina Peden feels like adding to her family…with another dog! Like a responsible pet mom, she weighs the pros and cons before reaching a decision.
To get a second dog or not to get a second dog?
this is the question.
Lately, I can’t help but think about whether we should get another dog. When you already have it, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to bring another in the fold. After all, you’re already doing all the things that come with dog ownership.
Now, that’s kind of a mini-debate in our little house. If it were up to him, I would gladly adopt another dog. More than love, right? I mean, if I could, I would adopt all the dogs. everyone. from. With them.
My girlfriend Ryan is a bit more realistic about things like this, though he’s a huge animal lover too (and I wish I could eventually pull it off – muhahahahaha).
After realizing there are pros and cons to getting another dog, especially since we work full time and live in a big city.
So here it is: my list of pros and cons (or yay and nays, as the case may be) to getting a second dog — or not. If you’re about to become a multi-dog family, I’m sure you can relate.
Related: How to calculate a workable budget for your dog
Yay!
Matilda Corporation
This is a big one for me. I feel really bad that she is alone for most of the day. Our walker dog Muriel takes Matilda on a jaunt to the dog park for an hour or two in the afternoon, but I can only hope she has some company for those other hours in the day. I mean sure, she’s holding our cat Oscar, but I don’t think he’s going to great lengths to get the baby with her in the kitchen.
If we had another dog, I could just imagine them curling up and sleeping together after we left in the morning, and I would feel a little less awful than going to work if I knew they were socializing.
someone to play with
Sometimes when we go to the dog park there aren’t any other dogs there or ones that don’t get into the (non-aggressive) wrestling type of play Matilda. She loves to play and I want her to have all her crazy comedic Cubans but that won’t happen if she doesn’t have another dog to do it with.
If we adopt another high-energy dog, they may tire each other out. Ryan and I could run all day with Matilda and not get her to the level of fatigue she needs to be. Only another pup is really capable. Seems pretty obvious…right?
dog rescue, hello?
There are so many dogs waiting for their forever homes…and I want to adopt all of them. In an ideal world, that would be possible. Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world, but I can at least save one other person, right?
The thing is, though, Ryan Business Like he doesn’t want another dog, he’s the one who keeps showing me glimpses of rescues. I’m not one to break my heart here by blaspheming PetFinder.com and other rescue sites. that it. everyone. for him. And he knows what a sucker he is for animals of any kind, so if he really, really, somewhere inside doesn’t want another dog…why would he look at them and show them to me? Secretly, I think he’s full of crap when he says he doesn’t want someone else (wink wink).
Related: 5 Reasons My Dog Is A Dick!
both!
We are motionless
Yes, this is still a moot point. We don’t have a patio, and I really wish we did. We don’t plan on going out of town anytime soon and even if you do have one, backyards aren’t very big so I don’t know our dogs run around in the yard anyway.
However, it would be nice to at least have a yard in which they could go about their business without having to put on our clothes and tie them to their quarters.
No money, no problems
Money is also a factor you need to take into consideration when you are thinking of adopting a pet. With a dog and a cat, we’ve already been given a lot of plates financially. While we’re not necessarily struggling to pay for our pets right now, it’s still something we need to think about. Double the cost on dog food, toys, treats, dog walking…the list could go on (on and off).
This is probably the biggest factor why we don’t get a second dog. Matilda has shown us that the unexpected can go a long way — like a little Beth cough here, some pink eye there, not to mention the unexpected emergencies that can pop up. These are the things that can hit your bank account like a ton of bricks, which we may not be prepared for.
Masters of destruction
As much as I’m used to wearing dog hair on my clothes, spitting up saliva, picking up trash, and having my dog destroy things I love, I try to picture that multiplied by two.
There are some days when you come home to your dog having ruined another lint roller or pair of shoes and you are just that. Not possible. Deal. Or at least, you feel like you can’t. Again, I’m trying to imagine that feeling multiplied by two and to be honest? It can seem a little daunting.
Also, Matilda is freaking smart. What if the other dog we adopt is just as smart? They can totally work together to destroy the apartment. Last night Ryan and I watched a YouTube video of the dog learning to open the fridge and freezer while his owners were out…and his moldy, stolen pie all over the house. Can you imagine? I can, and it’s not a pretty picture.
Well, this is my list so far. Are there any pros or cons I missed in the “getting a second dog” debate? What would you do if you were with us?
Christina Peden is a lifelong animal lover and avid lyricist. She lives in Toronto with her boyfriend Ryan where they are proud parents to two pets, Matilda and cat, Oscar. In her spare time, she can be found enjoying Toronto, which is a very short yard season in Canada, taking advantage of the city’s many parks or curling up with a good book.
