Ok this might be a long post.
I am not planning to get another dog until Gemma goes. the only thing is she is 8 1/2 years old, is a Rottie cross and seems to be getting very old very quickly. I hope that she lives for a very long time yet, but as she is getting older it has made me think.
Beano my Am cocker cannot be left on his own wthout another dog or human for company. Which i knew when I got him 2 years ago.I can leave him all day when at work with Gemma and no problems, but if I leave him outside for 5 mins on his own he starts howling!!!!!! This does not cause me a problem as he is always with Gemma or if not he is with me, and can be left in the car/van on his own no problem.
Has anyone had any experience of this where one dog is very dependant on another dog, the undependant one goes, and you are left with a dog that cannot be left on their own. Now this would be ok in the cooler months as could take Beano with me where ever and leave him in the car/ van no problem, and could leave him at mums, but this is not an option in the summer months or long term!!!
Just wondering what everyone else ahs done. I know it took me 4 months from deciding to get another dog to getting Beano, so i know that it will take that long if not longer.
I hate thinking about it, its just things a few people have said in the past few months, and it has been playing on my mind.
Also me and Gemma have been through more together than most people go through in their life time and I know i will be distraught at the time as I cant imagine life without her. But I dont want to have to make a decision at the time when I will not be able to make a logical one!!!
i hasten to add I do hope I have another 8 years with her, but being a heavy built rottie cross I have been told the life expectancy is about 10 :( :( So that means I have about 1 1/2 years left with her.
Not a nice subject i know but would rather work this out in a logical frame of mind if you see what i mean.
Lea :)

Hi Lea,

I can understand your concerns - I began with my current breed having a seemingly inseparable pair (opposite sexes) who had a mere 7 months difference in age and it was always my constant worry - even when they were both young :rolleyes: (I do have a tendency to being a worrywart!)  As it happened, I had added a further two (1 dog and 1 bitch) to the resident pack before the untimely death of one of my original dogs and his long term "girlfriend" - the one which I felt was the most dependent of the pair didn't seem to notice (which was great for her but made me sadder still :( )  Anyway, as you see my circumstances were slightly different in that at no time was I only with one dog, but it just may help you to realise that sometimes they do not react in the way we would expect.

IMO, I think you should try and adjust Beano's dependency a little from now on - although please God you will have your dear girl for many more years to come ;)  Perhaps if only in tiny ways you can try and get him accustomed to being places and doing things that don't involve Gemma and also work slowly but surely on him learning to cope at home for short periods when you're out too. 

It may be that in time you will think of adding to your number - personally I'm glad I did over the years as the arrival of a new puppy gave a whole new lease of life to my older dog and I'm sure lived a year or two longer for it :)   That may not be practical for you or may not be something which you would want to do - a lot depends on Gemma's health after all because if she were to be an invalid for some time the last thing you'd probably want would be a youngster jumping around her.

Basically, a new addition before you were to lose Gemma is a judgement call and one only you can make but it's certainly worth getting your boy accustomed to some frequent time on his own now, while there isn't a real issue.

I hope this helps a little and doesn't depress you further  

Very best wishes, Teri :)

i would get another dog but when I broached the subject when my ex boyfriend was going to move in with me with his dog, the landlord said deffinatly not 2 was enough :( :( so that is not an option unless Gemma was terminally ill, but then I wouldnt want to devote my time to another dog when looking after Gemma. :( :( i really dont know what to do.
I hope you are right and Beano does surprise me but i dont think he will, as that is one of the reasons he came to me, as he does not like being on his own.
Lea :)

I often worried about this, especially as Missy is fairly dependant on Bonnie, even if she doesn't show it all the time.  Personally, I'd like to add a third dog into the mix sooner rather than later if you see what I mean, but Big Dave won't let me, even though I had three dogs when I met him.....  :(
However, I do think I may have replaced Harriet with Missy a bit too quickly and didn't let the rest of the family enough time to grieve, which led to early bonding problems with Big D :(  Although he wouldn't be without her now, he just couldn't handle the changes he had to make to handle her.

So you are in the same position as me. yours is Big D, mine is my landlord :(
And knowing you, and you havnt come up with anything. Looks like i will have to work it out when it happens.!!!
i just dont want to have to replace Gemma without any thought as know if I get the wrong dog i will regret it as both Gemma and Beano have such a string bond with me and my children, i dont know how any other dog can come into our family.
Lea :)

Here's a slightly different experience. I had 2 male Goldens that were very close. One was seriously ill with a heart problem. I worried like you about what would happen to the other one (never been on his own) when the older one died. So I got a puppy whilst I still had both. The three of them got on great together. HOWEVER, when the old one did die, the other dog STILL became dreadfully upset, stopped eating etc -the fact that he had another friend didn't seem to matter. He still missed his original friend. He only became himself again when I brought in another new puppy  (well the first one was about 2 by then!), despite not having planned to. It did the trick.(I think because it was a NEW friend, something to distract him. It wasn't even the same breed!) So if your dog is anything like mine was, it wouldn't make a difference anyway and you may as well wait until your older dog goes to get another, what with your landlord. The only trouble being of course that it might not be that easy to get hold of a new dog on short notice....... I just happened to get lucky, but that's is another story! :)