On a New Dog and the Old One

On a New Dog and the Old One

What do you do when you get an unresponsive rescue dog? Get another rescue dog, of course! Yep, we got another dog. And I have to say, I am liking it so far! 

But I didn’t always think that it was a good idea. For one thing, the dog would have to fit into a pretty long list of requirements. The dog would have to be small (compared to Milo), outgoing, energetic, treat-motivated… I could go on all day. All you need to know is that we wanted a dog that would be energetic and trainable enough to bring Milo out of his shell. In my post about Milo, it probably sounded like he was making progress. Even though he still is, his progress had slowed down to a snail’s pace by the time we were thinking about getting another dog. 

Milo was getting along just fine, but some things that should be easy with a dog were becoming a bit of a struggle. For example, it was hard to get him to eat and drink at mealtimes. We also never saw his tail wag, or basically, any signs of joy, except for sometimes on our walks when he met other dogs.

I think we all took turns not wanting to get another dog. First, it was me, because I felt like it would be too much responsibility to rush into. There had recently been a few incidents involving Milo that had really taken any excitement about a second dog out of me. Even though he was house trained, Milo had submissively peed (which is where he gets so anxious that he pees to let us know we are in charge) in front of every member of the family. Not to mention the disaster involving him and his leash. Milo’s leash has a large hard plastic handle since it is retractable, which wouldn’t have been an issue for any other dog. But, when I accidentally dropped it on the ground and the noise scared him, chaos ensued. Milo ran around like crazy, running from a sound that was literally attached to him. What’s best is that, in his scared frenzy, there was a trail of pee following him or coming out of him as well. So, this was a big turnoff for me. I couldn’t imagine getting another dog who might be as fearful and hard to train as this one.

Then, I saw other families with two doggy siblings, and I was back on the second dog train. The next to be cautious was my mother, who was only wary because I had made some good points in my anti-second dog phase. After some convincing, she came around. As for the rest of the family, my brother was unwaveringly pro-second dog and my father was probably the least excited, being the most careful out of all of us. Seeing Milo every day, going from excited around other dogs to stagnant at home made us all really think about getting another dog.

We thought about it, and after the entire family came around (by the entire family, I mean an emphatic YES! from everyone except for my father, who gave more of a sigh and muttering combination), the search began! We looked mostly at the rescue where we got Milo. Their dogs were way too big for us, so we just kept on checking the website. Still, with no leads, we (by we, I mean my mother and I) decided to reach out to a few other rescues and text the woman at the rescue who helped us get Milo. This may not have been with the entire family’s permission, but whatever! All I could think about was having a dog who acted more like a dog and, even better, having a dog who would help Milo become happier in our home.

Sure enough, we heard back from the rescue where we got Milo and found a dog who fit our needs perfectly. We took Milo to visit the other dog at his foster home (we met up outside on a walk because of Covid-19), loved his temperament… long story short, we ended up adopting Sammy!

When Sammy’s foster mother first brought him to our front yard, it seemed like the dogs just couldn’t get off on the right foot. Milo, even though he has been interested in other dogs, just didn’t really want to play with or even look at Sammy. Maybe it was because Milo associated Sammy with the unfamiliar place where they first met, or maybe it was something else. Even though Milo wasn’t so excited about  Sammy, we were in love, and we figured that, with more time, Milo would be in love, too. Plus, we had already made the decision to take Sammy in.

We decided to bring the meet inside, and by that point, Milo was overwhelmed by the amount of energy we were letting into the house (higher energy was one of the requirements, remember?). We had never seen the way Milo would react to meeting a dog in our home, so this may have had something to do with his discomfort. The rescue recommended putting Sammy into a playpen so that Milo still felt like it was still “his” home. 

That worked pretty well, but Milo still wasn’t transforming into a happy puppy right away. I had expected that it might be a slower change, but I thought that Milo would, at the very least, tolerate Sammy, not be scared of him. 

This really frustrated me. Why wasn’t Milo at least open to the idea of getting a buddy? Why didn’t he want to play with Sammy as he did with his previous foster dog siblings? It was annoying to think that after all we did for Milo, all he wanted to do was sit on the floor and go on walks. 

That was the first day, and with a day’s more experience (seems like a short time, but it was jam-packed!), I started to understand the change. Instead of becoming more energetic, Milo was staying the same energy.  However, he was learning to be more dog-like, especially in terms of eating. Milo has learned to eat right when the food is given to him instead of having to be coaxed into even looking at the bowl. Milo was so fearful when we got him that he barely ate his meals, so even getting him to eat in the room with us seemed to be an accomplishment. After we got Sammy, we have started to feed them together. Milo has really benefited, as seeing that Sammy is eating made him realize it was okay to eat. Milo has also learned to value his treats more, now that he’s seen the way Sammy dances around his dental bones and will come running at the crinkle of the treat bag. There’s been an increase in Milo’s confidence, too. He approaches us at home and doesn’t run away from us if we go near him. He will also meet people on walks with Sammy, instead of hiding behind us. 

There’s also been a change in me, too. I can tell the progress we were able to make in training Milo, seeing as Sammy only partially knows a few easy commands. Milo can stay when we ask him to, while Sammy tries to cram himself through the door if you just crack it open before a walk. Milo can come back to us, and after dropping his leash a couple of times, I can say that this is a great skill to have. I am also glad that I began my dog parenthood with Milo, as having a dog that’s a ball of energy is much harder than having a dog that sits around like a lump.

So, I know what to expect now. Instead of an instant change, I know that my dogs will take their time. Instead of wanting Milo to turn into the exact dog that I want, I hope that Milo can grow into the best dog he can be from living with Sammy.

As good as the love I have gotten from Sammy is, I think that I value the lessons I have learned from him more. I know not to expect the exact changes that I want to see, and rather I embrace any improvements, even if they’re not what I was thinking of. So, with this in mind, I can look forward to more slow change from Milo and more love from my new dog. Maybe it wasn’t just about getting another dog to teach Milo, but another dog to teach us, the humans, too.

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Dora