Are two better than one?

lacy

My husband and I purchased a male Bull Terrier, Jinx, through Steve from Rainbow Kennels in June. He has been such a joy to us, and he is like our child. Since then I have been trying to educate myself more on the breed (this forum has been a lot of help) to become a better BT parent.  We have been looking and are trying to decide if we should purchase another BT. Jinx is full of life and LOVES playing with our cousin's BT. And I know that if we wait too long bringing another BT into our house would not be possible. (Jinx is very bossy and  very head strong.) Please opinions on bringing another BT in our home...such as will they make me crazy (in a good way of course) or will Jinx be more content with a friend? Thank you all so much!

I have attached a picture of Jinx with my husband...please note Jinx taking up the couch so my husband sits on the floor.

BulliesofNC

Lacy,

Many people have contacted me with that very same question and it’s always a difficult question to answer especially when I have no idea what their lifestyle is like and how much time they devote to their pets. I always try and stay on neutral ground with my answer and provide both Pro’s and Con’s to answer the question and then just let them make the decision.

The Pro’s:

• Often the two bullies become best buddies. However, it would be wise to select a female as two males can cause problems with dominance issues.

• Raising two dogs together provides them with self-entertainment, play, and exercise. It always keeps them in better shape which enhances their health and longevity.

• Can reduce boredom, stress, and other emotional symptoms that can develop in a dog left alone for prolonged periods where they can become destructive.

• Two Bullies = twice the love and enjoyment.

The Con’s:

• Bull Terriers get very attached to their owners and can be jealous when a new dog or puppy is introduced into the family. Usually this occurs with an older Bull Terrier who has been the only dog for a long while.

• As expected it will require more food and medical attention to raise more than one dog.

• A little more difficult to acquire pet boarding or sitting for two dogs vice one if you go on vacation and choose to leave our dogs.

• More difficult to transport two dogs around when traveling.

 

 

Zerlett

Make sure the dog knows YOU are the boss and that you have him well trained and under great control before bringing in a newbie. Like Steve said, some of the worst behaved bull terriers I have met personally were bullies that lived as single dogs, they seemed to be extremely possessive of their owners and jealousy leading to fights. Either people only stick with one cause thats all they can handle or they can handle more than one. I meet people all the time where I am terrified at the thought of them getting another bull terrier. I don't know how you are with Jinx and I cant make that choice for you, but just be prepared for harder training, jealousy, possessiveness, food aggression and fights.

lacy

Thank you all so much for your input!

Daisy

Daisy and Snoopy have to be watched closely with toys and food.  I feed all the dogs in their own cages.  If I give them a dog biscuit that will crumble, I stand there and watch so no fights occur over the crumbs.  The BT's will play for awhile together with a toy, then someone will decide that he/she is the OWNER.  I have to step in and take it away.  When I sit on the couch to watch TV, Snoopy is on my right, Daisy is on my lap, and Sookie the JRT is on my left.  As long as everyone stays in the right place, everyone is happy.

Zerlett

My dogs all eat in crates, receive bones in crates, treats are usually given in crates but not normally in groups, high value toys such as nylabones and kongs each dogs has their own in their CRATE. toys r OK but only supervised, I actually dont allow my dogs to rough house and wrestle inside, they get told to take it outside. inside is chill area. the other day there was a deer antler out, claxxton was chewing on it, ellie took it, he took it back, really there was no aggression at all and kinda funny but i was like YA NO and took it away, i try my HARDEST to keep any bad blood between them, because from my experience usually when those things start happening its much harder to stop it and will reoccur. I had my male and female get into it pretty bad once, even opposite sex will fight despite the myth that "a breeding pair" wont fight thats totally BS. They drew blood and I had to break them up on my own, thats why I ALWAYS leave collars on my dogs. It makes breaking up a dog fight a million times harder with no dog collar on! I grabbed them both, straddled one and held them tight while i waited for the other one to loosen their grip and let go and separated them, they were still snarling and i pretty much growled in my angry voice "KNOCK IT OFF! NO!" and they stopped, I let them go and they went about the business like nothing happened.

xchairity_casex

Like Zerlett said, make absolutly certian your dog is well behaved and has NO issues, otherwise when you bring in a new dog or puppy itll be total chaos!

and i think picking the right personality helps alot too. since you said your male is "pushy" i would suggest trying to find a female who is very mellow and laid back, ask the breeder for the most submissive female.
since there will be less likly of a fight to break out since both dogs wont be pushing eachother for control all the time, and trust me if you have 2 very domineering pushy dogs they will be constantly TRYING to butt heads!

Cesar is 2 years old and Chimera is nearing 6 months, she was the alpha pup in the litter and she tries to pulls shit...all the time with Cesar, when she was 9 weeks old she would try to attack him for food, this little bitty thing would hurl herself at him and make the most vicious sounds you ever heard!
it wasnt long before i knocked some sense into her, she will still growl at him if he gets to near her while shes eating but she never tries anything mroe then that. i feed my dogs openly, same room no crate most times by hand if anyone starts anything with a look, a sound, a lip curl they are sent to a palce to go and lie down to wait while watching the other dog/s eat.

towards people shes a sweety a doll and extremly submissive if my 9 year old nephew walks up to her to grab food away she lets him and simply wags her tail at him and patiently waits for him to give it back if he doesnt give it back she wanders off.

but she can be a cocky, sassy little shit at times so im always on my toes keeping an eye out for any slight change in her behavior towards other dogs, so far its only been with food but we shall see shes going to be going thru puberty soon and she may suprise me and make it easy on me (though i doubt it!) or more likly be an ass hole and go thru a terrible puberty. im not too worried about, i taught her from day one where her place was with me.

if you really want a second dog, do as much research on dog behavior as you can, so you can look for signs of what should never be allowed and whats alright as you would be surpise at how play can quickly go from play to a fight, but thats pretty easy to spot the warnings signs before it happens once you start learning about dog behavior.
and above all dont be afraid of a snarl, a snap a vicious sounding growl because if your frightend theres little youll be able to do to stop it.

WhiteBull

We were originally going to get one, we chose a girl as the boy we were interested in was taken, but when we found out that the boy is available as well we felt bad for the girl we were going to take. So one thing leads to another and instead of one we got two. A year later now I think we made a good choice, they are inseparable, they have the occasional fight but are never more than 10 feet apart. Plus they play and chase each other all day long keeping them busy and not chewing on the furniture.

DianeWright

Oh, sure.  Two are better than one.  Twice the entertainment!

[URL=http://s1366.photobucket.com/user/diane_wright1/media/Play Bullie/ClaxxtonampWillie8-6-13_zps9b82200d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r765/diane_wright1/Play Bullie/ClaxxtonampWillie8-6-13_zps9b82200d.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

BulliesofNC

@DianeWright - I don't think you have your photobucket set up share publicly.

Stvy

I think she just messed up sharing the link. Good to see Claxxton doing well http://s1366.photobucket.com/user/diane_wright1/media/Play%20Bullie/ClaxxtonampWillie8-6-13_zps9b82200d.jpg.html

BulliesofNC

If you go to that link and look to the right of the photo you'll see the options to saving the photo link. If you click on the one that says "Direct" link it will automatically copy the link. Once copied all you have to do is click on the picture icon on the toolbar of this message and paste the link. It only takes seconds and is just as easy as copying and pasting the link like what was done above. Except doing it by the method I explained it will look like this:

BulliesofNC

DianeWright

I get the 'Direct' link, I see it copied it.  Can't find the "tool bar of this message to paste the  link".  I really am trying.  Thanks for the help! 

DianeWright

 

:-SS

BulliesofNC

It's right here:

DianeWright

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DianeWright

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BulliesofNC

You did it!

DianeWright

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DianeWright

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DianeWright

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DianeWright

Ok.  I think I have the albums on my photo bucket in 'share' with face book.  Please check for me.

Stvy

Great photos! How much does Claxxton weigh? The previous owners photos sometimes gave him the illusion of being a little bigger. 

BulliesofNC

Diane - Once the photo is on the screen you can click on the corner and drag it in smaller to the size you feel is best suited.

DianeWright

Claxxton is 60 lbs.

DianeWright

Sorry, WhiteBull.  Back to 'Are two better than one'?  MINE ARE!

warren

two are definately better than one especially if you get them round the same age.

Boyda

I say three is better then two!

Leslie

Lol @ Boyda!!! But my answer is I would have a hole field of em if I could afford to feed em and they would all get along!!!!

philsergeant

Brother and Sister nearly love each other as much as we do:

warren

Boyda i also think 3 are better than 2.when our Shiloh has a litter we definately keeping one.

Xtracho

@philsergeant....beautiful photo Phil!

Boyda

I think three is my limit, at least for now! After all, three is a magic number!