How much harder is it to care for two dogs than one?

[aprilchem]

Much easier for us. We had 1 dog for about 7 years and then decided to get a second one - the dogs played together, provided each other companionship, and our first dog was generally just more relaxed with a doggy friend to hang out with. I'll never have one dog again.

As for costs, food is most certainly more expensive, as is boarding. We've never had a lot of vet costs since we adopt adult shelter dogs, so the once-a-year check up, flea medication, and heart worm is about it. No illnesses or surgeries for our dogs so far.

 

[Ephany]

Double the cost, double the love. Agree with everything above. Our oldest is almost 12, when she was about 3, a puppy pretty much fell into our laps. They get along well, but I do think the 9 yr old dog loves the 12 yr old dog more than the other way around. We were pretty much sure that when it was time to say goodbye to our oldest dog, the younger dog would be ok as a singleton.

I wanted to start fostering kittens, DH wanted to start with dogs b/c he thought there'd be less of chance of me wanting to keep one. Ha, guess who went back to the shelter to adopt the female puppy from our first litter? So now we have 3 and the house is definitely full. It's been a balancing act and the vet bills have increased. Our local shelter allows sleepovers with the dogs, to see if they're a good fit for the potential adopters. That may be worth looking into if you're truly interested.