I have three, all about 2 years apart in age. I am noticing that the hierarchy is now being challenged a lot as the alpha dog ages. Not a huge problem with these guys but could be with different personalities. Something to think about…id always have at least two–corgis, of course!
I’ve had two (or for a while three) for most of the last 20 years. I like having two and don’t find it to be much more trouble than one. I’ve been lucky to mostly have dogs who got along with each other and weren’t too jealous of each other. I’ve ne er gotten two young ones or two new ones at the same time; I prefer having one dog who is settled in to the routine before adding another. I also find it helpful when training the new dog to have one who is already trained.
As far as your older dog dealing with a young one, make sure you think she’ll be ok with it. Is she still well enough to not be overly bothered by a new dog? I’ve seen older dogs get a little more life in them (in a good way) when a younger dog joins the family. I could imagine though that some dogs would not be happy to have a new family member. A friend has a Golden doodle who is a very well behaved fairly calm dog but he does sometimes worry. She adopted a rescue who turned out to have a lot of anxiety and her doodle was stressed out the entire time the rescue was with them. She tried for several months and did a really good job, working with the rescue and several trainers, but they just could not get the new dog to settle in enough that her doodle felt good about the situation.
Several years ago I considered adopting a mixed breed rescue. I knew he might come with unseen issues. My husband and I spent some time with the dog and he was great with us. We then took our four-year-old dog to see the potential new dog and the new dog would not leave my dog alone. He chased him round the room the whole time we were there and made some gestures that were a bit threatening. My dog was non confrontational and spent most of the time standing behind me. It was a situation that we might have been able to work through at home, but I didn’t want to risk it. So if you do get a new dog, make sure it seems to be a good match for the existing one.
And yes, when your old dog dies, it’ll be nice to already have another dog who you are bonded to,
