Since we welcomed Lollie into our home as our first foster dog, we get a lot of questions about whether it’s a lot more work taking care of two dogs than one.
This is a hard question and will depend a lot on the personalities, needs, and chemistry of the two dogs you are caring for. If your two dogs are best friends (like Mr B and Miss M of Two Pitties in the City), it is less work than if your two dogs have more individual needs, as do our own doglove Chick and our foster wonderdog Lollie.
People ask, is it no more work? A little more? Twice as much?
In truth, for us, it’s somewhere in between. It’s double the food and double the poop, but still the same number of outfits (our darling Chick kindly shares his sweaters and jackets with his foster sister, who is thankfully the same size). Double the vet visits and double the monthly preventive meds, but not much more cost (when fostering dogs, the sponsoring shelter or rescue generally pays for all vet care, so we just buy food and treats). Double the enrichment and double the training, but hardly any more walks (we usually walk them together). Double the dog beds and double the leashes, but only a few more toys (we rotate toys among them so nobody ever gets bored). When we go out of town, two dogs means double the boarding, but when we’re in town we get double the cuteness and double the attention (“hey, are those two brothers?”).
Most important of all, it’s double the snuggly little dogs all curled up in their snuggly little dog beds, double the silly moments that make you burst out laughing, and double the earnest, wet little doggie kisses that we wouldn’t trade for all the world’s treasures and all the world’s gold.
For more info on adopting Lollie, contact us at DCpetographer@gmail.com or 301-520-7123.
Love and a Six-Foot Leash 
Good post! We’ve been lucky that our two girls are best friends so they often entertain each other which takes a bit of the constant pittie ‘visit me, pet me, snuggle with me’ pressure off the rest of the family 😉
We like having two dogs, so when we are relaxing, the husband and I can each have our own dog. (And when they are causing trouble, they are both ‘your dog’. Heehee. But once they are through with puppyhood? Not double the work, and they amuse each other, which is kind of handy at times!)
-Dr. Liz (the girls are wrestling at the moment… I mentioned they can amuse themselves together, right? *grin*)
I found two dogs who got along to be less work but double the cost. And actually – less anxiety for me, as I felt relaxed about leaving them alone – because they had each other for company – part of the pack was still intact.
Lollie, can you and Chick really wear the same clothes? You look much more – er – endowed in the chest area than Chick. (It’s okay. I’m endowed, too.)
I’m pretty sure that it was absolutely no more work and no different when my pawrents went from having one dog to having two. No difference at ALL! Uh, mom…why are you rolling your eyes? Well, anyway, I KNOW it’s double the fun!
Wiggles & Wags,
mayzie
Ha! Lollie certainly is broader than Chick, but he is much taller. So in effect, they are the same size and weight. Hard to believe looking at that picture, eh?
Hello, we were directed here by Mayzie. We are Oskar & Pam and we run a blog, http://www.PetBlogsUnited.com. We have a feature called Foster Friday and Mayzie suggested that maybe Lollie would be perfect for the FF post.
If you are interested, please contact us at PBU at comcast dot net.
Oskar & Pam
Two is always so much more fun. And thanks for the mention. Though Miss M’s definition of best friends seems very one-sided. I keep saying I love that hoodie, but it was even better seeing them both together in the hoodies. Now I’m thinking I should get our dogs matching colors so people can ask if their brothers too. In those photos I didn’t realize how sturdy she is, like the original Yale mascot. I love the picture of the two of them together.
We’re a two dog family. Have been for awhile. Wouldn’t know how I would live without my sister Pocket. I am willing to try. Anyone want a sister let me know
They look so cute together in their matching sweatshirts! We recently adopted our second dog and while it is more work, we would have to adopt 10 more dogs to equal the high-maintenance needs of our two birds! The dogs are a piece of cake compared to them!
What a pair! They are really eye-catching together. I love the insight into how much “addition” an additional dog adds. Our experience has been much the same.