Three year old Cocker Spaniel Moe lives with his human companions in a nice house with a fenced yard. He has everything a dog could want: good food, lots of love, toys, regular walks, even a once-a-week stint at doggie day care.
Recently though, his humans began to notice a change in Moe’s behavior.
After his one-day-a-week playing with the dogs at day care, he would come home tired and happy. The next day, however, Moe was quiet and subdued. He kept to himself and played just a half-hearted game of fetch with his owners. He seemed sad to them. His withdrawn and pensive behavior had them worried.
After much discussion, they concluded that Moe was lonely. Unless he was in doggie day care, he was home alone for 6-7 hours a day. Although they knew that he slept most of the time, they felt he would benefit from having another companion animal to keep him company.
So they got Moe a kitten.
Initially, Moe was curious about the little creature, but soon, the kitten’s antics and relentless pouncing on him became annoying. Anytime the kitten was in the room, Moe sought sanctuary upstairs. The kitten hadn’t mastered the staircase as yet.
His owners were disappointed that their plan to give Moe a companion had failed.
They agreed that what Moe really needed was a dog friend, a member of his own species to spend the long days with. So they took Moe to an adoption clinic at a local pet supply store, figuring that Moe could choose his friend himself.
Moe selected Charlotte, a 4 year old Pug. So Moe’s owners dutifully applied to adopt Charlotte, were approved, and she became a member of Moe’s growing family.
It was a successful pairing. Charlotte and Moe got along as if they had known each other forever. Soon they were inseparable. They played together inside and out, slept in each others’ beds, traded bowls and licked both clean at mealtime.
Moe’s humans congratulated themselves on making an excellent decision. They enjoyed watching the two dogs play and cuddle. They also bonded with Charlotte quickly.
All was not perfect in their household, however. They soon discovered that Charlotte had a few “issues.”
Charlotte barked. A lot. At the TV, at the kitten, at toys that rolled under the sofa, at Moe when she wanted to play and he didn’t. She barked at mealtime and she barked on walks.
And Moe, hearing Charlotte sound the alarm so often, decided she must know something he didn’t, and he chimed in with his own shrill bark.
Worse yet, even though Charlotte went outside to do her business, she seemed to forget to complete that task. So she would use the dining room rug to finish what she had started outdoors. Moe would follow her and lift his leg wherever she left a deposit.
Needless to say, Charlotte and Moe’s owners were appalled. Their good intentions once again had backfired.
Rather than struggle with Charlotte’s problems – and Moe’s – they called an in-home dog trainer to help sort out the tag team of doggie dilemmas.
The trainer was sympathetic, and reassured them that this was a common occurrence. Dogs in the same household rarely assume each others’ agreeable behaviors. Instead, they pick up the unwanted ones.
The Moral of This Story: Getting an extra dog, especially a rescued one, is commendable. To discourage the new dog friends from taking on each others’ bad habits, have a trainer at the ready and prevent that from happening.
