Chimera Kennels

  I was thinkiing of getting a second dog, I have a 2 1/2 yr old male boerboel.  I was thinking about a Boivier because its coat would allow it to stay outdoors during our cold snowy winters on most days.  What gender would work best.  And are there ever dogs that just cannot learn to live peacefully with each other?  My female Fila was hostile to the Boerboel pup but after keeping them seperate for a couple of weeks and a careful initial introduction, the Fila became a mother to the pup even though she had to chastise the pup a couple of times when he would bother her too much.

  I know that havin two, intact females in a house is likely to end in fighting.  But what else havent I thought about and do the pros of two dogs outweigh the cons.  I have had a single dog when my children were very young and they kept each other entertained.  I think that my Boerboel would love to have an active companion dog as there are no children.  What do you think?

Freind at December 11, 2010 at 10:45 PM

  I was thinkiing of getting a second dog, I have a 2 1/2 yr old male boerboel.  I was thinking about a Boivier because its coat would allow it to stay outdoors during our cold snowy winters on most days.  What gender would work best.  And are there ever dogs that just cannot learn to live peacefully with each other?  My female Fila was hostile to the Boerboel pup but after keeping them seperate for a couple of weeks and a careful initial introduction, the Fila became a mother to the pup even though she had to chastise the pup a couple of times when he would bother her too much.

  I know that havin two, intact females in a house is likely to end in fighting.  But what else havent I thought about and do the pros of two dogs outweigh the cons.  I have had a single dog when my children were very young and they kept each other entertained.  I think that my Boerboel would love to have an active companion dog as there are no children.  What do you think?

I would say depends on the dogs temperament, i have two bandogs a male and female and a female apbt, the two females play rough, but do not take it to that next level, i have never let them, but i now keep them separated while im not home, at least for now, , now my male just wants to breed! lol and only wrestles with them to breed, but my 2 females will not allow any other dogs on my property including other males, my male on the other hand will gladly let another female dog onto my property, but will not tolerate other big male dogs, im rambling, if you get a female boivier you should be fine, i could pull it off.  Well i do not wanna put anyone on blast, but there is someone on this board that has 5 swinfords all under one roof, including two males! and there house dogs!  and one of the females i beleive is 50% game apbt, u might wanna ask him a few questions about keeping multiple dogs, i did......... 

Stuff like this is INDEED going to come down to the dogs involved. The owner will have some influence on success, but for the dogs to be good with each other when left alone will primarily be a matter of the dogs themselves. Also, you will have more success if the dogs are of opposite sex regardless of if one is "fixed" or not. All that said, generally I have found 2 dogs easier to keep than 1...but 3 is many times asking for trouble.

As already mentioned, a lot the success of multiple dog households depends on the dogs.  Slow, gradual intros over a few weeks work best in most situations (unless both dogs are overtly social).

I have 3 dogs (1 male pit, 1 female pit and a male lab) and usually have 1 foster in the house as well.  All get along well but it took almost 2 months before I could have both males out at the same time.  In my honest opinion 2 dogs work well, beyond that and it begins to get difficult trying to train and exercise all of the dogs.  My dogs are always kenneled in separate rooms when not under direct supervision.

I've had dogs that I've had to crate and rotate in the past and that is not something I want to go back to but unfortunately is always a possiblity.

Thanks to all for your time.  Lee, would you expand on why two dogs are easier to live with than one? 

With mature dogs it isn't much of an issue, but with young dogs 2 dogs will interact more with each other when you are gone and are less likely to bark or get anxious for no reason.