Owning one dog vs. Owning two dogs

What’s the difference when owning two dogs instead of one?  Which one is better? 

If you are considering bringing in a second dog into your family, let me give you my comparison, insight and thoughts. 

When my fiancé and I first bought our Yorkie named Sachi, we were both working from home with very flexible schedules.   It was a perfect time to bring in and train a little puppy who needed to use the bathroom every two to three hours.  While the training process was difficult, he still kept us entertained throughout the day.  The most amazing part about owning Sachi was his warmth and comfort towards us.  It’s truly a feeling of unconditional love without judgment, contingencies, rules or expectations.   

Sachi’s favorite daily activity was to bring us his toys and rub them against our legs until we gave him and played with him.  He usually got what he wanted.  It was so hard to say "no", especially to his cute puppy face.  After several months of Sachi begging for our attention, my fiancé and I started to feel more guilty as we dedicated less and less time to playing with Sachi.  If I rejected Sachi’s play request, he would either try to find someone else he could play with or just get sad and lay down in his bed. 

Dog’s happiness is not based on the same principles as of human's.   If I was to really narrow it down, Sachi’s happiness was based on two things:  1) love and attention for him; and 2) his play time.  If these two conditions were met, his was happy.   

As the months went on, we spend less time playing with Sachi.  Our playtime decreased from the whole day to just a few hours.  We like to go out several days out of the week to dinner, drinks, or clubs, and leaving Sachi at home all alone was even more painful for my fiancé and I.  As more feelings of guilt came upon us, I brought up the question of adding another dog to the family.  He was completely, 100% against the idea.  It wasn’t even an option.  As more months went by, an opportunity came by to adopt another Yorkie name Lucky.  Without hesitation, my fiancé had a change of heart and we took Lucky in a heartbeat.

Adding Lucky to our family was the best decision we could make.  And here is why.

We saw a sudden decrease in our need to play with Sachi, because Sachi and Lucky were entertaining themselves.   Even after a year and a half, he seems to be preoccupied with Lucky.  There are still times when he asks for our attention, but nowhere near the amount as before.  Sachi and Lucky have playtime virtually the whole day, everyday playing with each other.  If they want to run after each other, they can do that at a moment's notice.  Now, when Sachi or Lucky ask us to play and give them attention, we are more than happy to devote our time to them since it doesn’t consume the majority of our day. 

Pros

• No feeling of guilt when left alone
• Keep each other company
• Have playtime 24/7 as they feel needed
• Twice the love and comfort for you
• Twice the entertainment for you
• Same amount of time spent for walking one dog or two

Cons

• Twice the vet bills
• Twice the food and treats
• Twice the grooming
• Traveling with two dogs is more difficult

I did some research on how other dog owners felt about having two dogs over one.  The majority of the dog owners said they would never go back to owning one dog after experience having two.  The difference the owners stated was the amount of time the dogs dedicated to each other rather than the owner.  

If you are going to go through the trouble of having one dog, the increased trouble of having two isn’t much different.  The activities such as taking the dog to a park, the vet, grooming and feeding are the exactly the same, except for the bills.  If you can afford to pay double of everything and have enough space for a second dog, then the pros of having two dogs who keep each other company outweigh the cons of having to pay double.

Comments

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The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture across the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs.

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That's a good comparison and helpful to make a decision on owning another dog. We should also consider that owning two dogs will take more of your comfort and time.

- Prithvi