A second dog, or more

Someone asked me to comment on what it was like going from one dog to two.  The truth is, I don't remember.  I'm not even sure which dog was the "second" one.  This was all before Clay, I already had multiple dogs when we met, but just two.

 

As near as I can remember and reconstruct it, Sasha came first.  She was a solid black shepherd, absolutely beautiful.  She belonged to Bert's aunt Linda, who was going through a divorce, personal upheaval, etc.  I told Linda that we would take the dog but once we did, I'd never be able to give her back.  She transitioned to us with no problem.  I would go outside and throw a stick for her and she loved to run after it.  We bonded.  I think she decided the stick was important to me because she took it up as her job and she never went outside without picking up the first one she could find, which was usually the one that she dropped outside the door on her way in.  The sticks graduated to pieces of firewood and she developed incredible neck muscles.  She was a very smart dog and already had all the training she would ever need, except one kick from one of our horses taught her to keep a safe distance from them. 

Bert and I were living on 5 acres in Prince William County in a community called Catharpin.  It was the two of us, a cat named Shooz, and then Sasha.  I loved her, she was the first shepherd I had ever known and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the breed.  Then Vito came into our lives.  Vito was found as a stray wondering the street of Philadelphia.  He was picked up by the brother of a friend of a friend and ended up with the friend looking for a home, which he found with us.  I actually tried placing him with someone else (my first adoption attempt), but that didn't work out and Vito was back with us for the duration. 

Whereas Sasha was completely trained, human-oriented, and bonded to us and the property, Vito was a wild man.  He had no respect for property lines (Sasha had learned them almost immediately, even without a fence and she never left).  Vito would take off and run, coming back only when he felt like it, so we put in a big fenced yard, but still had to reclaim Vito from the pound one time when he escaped. 



An old Vito and a young Gypsy, picture from 1999

A second dog certainly livened things up, because Vito livened up everything around him, every place he went.  He was just a lively dog, even when he became an old man.  He and Sasha got along well and enjoyed each other's company, but they were different dogs and did different things.  They didn't really "play" together as such.  Sasha had her job outside with me and the horses.  Vito guarded the food supply and had his spot staked out on the couch or a comfy chair right from the start.  Since I've been doing dog rescue, I've known of people to return a dog if they didn't bond with the dog right from the start or if the new dog and the existing dog didn't instantly hit it off and act like best friends from the first meeting.  Sometimes it happens like that, sometimes it takes longer, sometimes the dogs just develop parallel paths, co-existing but not interacting all that much. 

Clay and I both came from single dog families, but we now have six of our own.  Basically we have dog everywhere we go.  Yes, sometimes you have to step over them, around them, or yell at them to move out of the way.  They are all different, with distinct personalities, likes and dislikes, and we do different things with different dogs.  They are the same species, but they are individuals, not clones.