Dog Community

Advice Needed, Male Choc Lab

jeff

Posted : 5/22/2006 3:41:54 PM

Hi,
This is my first post here. I currently have a 6 1/2 year old Mix breed N. male who is a complete joy as a dog. He is spoiled rotten and is very well behaved, well mostly, he is a dog after all. Anyway I'll get right to my question(s). I have a friend who is giving away a Chocolate Lab, Male not neutered. He was used for breeding but is now being retired. He is 3 years old and not housebroken yet. He has been in a run or kennel most of his life I guess. He describes him as shy but gets along well with his other dogs both male and female all intact. He has even been in the same run as his Male golden with no probs. I have been considering taking this dog as a second dog in my household but was concerned about the housebreaking situation of an adult dog, particularly one that is not neutered yet. I plan on getting him fixed soon after, if I do get him. I also worry about how my dog and the new one will get along. My dog seems to like other dogs but has not had a lot of contact with others, tho we have had a couple dogs in the house for a very brief time and they seemed to get along OK. As of right now the biggest hangup is not being housetrained and that scares me the most. We got our original dog from the SPCA and he was a stray with unknown history. HE has a few accidents when we first got him but after some consistency he turned out fine. We never really knew if he was housebroken or not. I am also aftraid the an intact male will just simply pee on everything in the house. The one dog I helped find a new home a while back was still intact and spent some time in our house and only lifted once time when he first met my dog otherwise he was fine and seemed trustworty. Any advice or words of wisdom would be very helpful,

Jeff

pamdb

Posted : 5/22/2006 3:55:01 PM

Having just added another dog to our household, a male to the female already there, both fixed,
I would suggest two things; let your dog and this other dog meet at least once.
If you do decide to take the dog, get him fixed ASAP.

We are curretnly housebreaking an 8 month old malelab mix who I think spent a lot of time
either in a crate or the hospital (he's the one who had a broken leg and then we discovered we
had to have it amputated) and he is catching on pretty good. We just have to put him out a lot, I never
realized puppies can poop and pee that much!! Mocha was 5 months old when we got her and I
don't remember her doing it that much. Anyway, the new dog can see what your dog does and
hopefully follow his lead. I've also been told that male/male is better than female/female so that might
help.

Good luck, chocolate labs are so pretty.

dogslyfe

Posted : 5/22/2006 3:59:30 PM

Well, of my four dogs, three of them were kennel dogs at some point before they came to live with me. Ginger and June were all of their lives, and Zippy was for a few years! Upon coming to me only June had an initial "house breaking" period, and during that time she had (I think) two accidents. Ginger had none, and Zippy had none. I'm sure there are those that have more trouble, but I've been fortunate. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that although it may be difficult, it also may not.

As for the two male thing, I agree with getting the other neutered ASAP. Meeting on neutral territory is always a good thing. Sometimes same sex dogs have issues together, sometimes not. It all just depends. Good luck with whatever you decide!

jeff

Posted : 5/23/2006 11:48:51 PM

Thanks for the responses. I am off to see him tomorrow, about 1.5 hour drive. I have to see how his personality seems and such. Having one dog is a huge reponsibility but having two is even more than double that of the first. I want another dog but the actual thought scares me a lot.
Jeff