Is 200 pounds of dog just nuts?
I wouldn’t worry about the size of the second dog. I wouldn’t go that far. They wouldn’t want to get an Italian greyhound, which break easily. But I’d chuck the weight criterion and think more directly about sturdiness. In any case, if it’s a mutt, it might be hard to predict adult weight. Things to think about: look for different sex, and a noticeable age difference. Both of these things can reduce tensions between the pups. If Jack is 4, that might mean favoring a young bitch*. *Now all I can hear is George Takei on the Daily Show saying “young wet bitches” over and over…
You guys kick ass for adopting from shelters. Go animal rescues! If you’re dog isn’t an anxious anti-social mess, the new dog isn’t an anxious anti-social mess, and your dog isn’t the territorial type, they should be cool. In general, dogs are awesome about getting new playmates. I’ve seen really big dogs play with really little dogs fine before–in a fight the little one might have trouble, but playing dogs seem to be careful about size. Though it’s kinda sad to watch because the bigger dog always looks a little unsatisfied about the yippy little thing biting at its ankles. Crating one but not the other sounds like a bad idea. It would drive both of them crazy, unless you kept the crated one in a room separate from the uncrated one (even then they could hear and smell each other, but whaddya gonna do?). If the dogs have indoor/outdoor access and there are serious housetraining problems, you could keep both of them outdoors while you’re gone and put plenty of water and a couple of dog
We adopted a second dog (male 45 lb. Australian Cattle Dog, 9 months old at the time) to keep our first dog (female Lab/Border Collie Mix, 75 lbs. and 2 years old at the time) company. Different genders and ages helped, I think. They are both high strung herders. He’s very bossy but she’s definitely the dominant one, even though she’s more laid back. We just brought him home to introduce them, and they worked out their relationship within about 5 seconds. I use normal collars for walking them and can hold them if they suddenly take off after another dog; when I take them running outside our neighborhood, I use “no-pull” harnesses that give me a little more control with less muscle power. Two dogs is slightly more work than one, but not much. Mostly in terms of vacuuming dog hair….
8 months after adopting an 8 month-old puppy, we adopted another puppy, 6 months old this time. They get along like a house on fire and we’ve never looked back. In terms of maintenance, we’ve found having 2 dogs to be the same as 1 – except for one main difference: bringing 2 dogs to your friends’ houses is a much bigger deal than bringing 1. Two dogs tend to overpower the space a bit, especially when they’re as big as yours, and friends aren’t necessarily as excited about having them over. Apart from that, the difference really is neglible. We crated the younger dog during housetrainging and left the older dog out. It was never a problem – our older one usually would sleep right outside her crate to make her feel more secure. It was very sweet. Leash walking is a real hassle for us, but that’s because we haven’t been enforcing the training like we should. Separately they’re each OK, but not great, and together they just haul us all over the place. We are going to get a trainer in the
