How To Help Dogs Get Along in Harmony?

• Why Do We Need to Keep Two Dogs?
• What Are the Reasons when Two Dogs Start Fighting?
• How to Train Two Dogs to Become Good Friends?
• How Long Does It Take for Two Dogs to Be Friends and Like Each Other?

Pet friendship is a wonderful thing to witness — it's beautiful, pure, and strong, and has brought so much joy into our home. There's nothing better than seeing your pets cuddle together, play with one another, groom each other, and even resolve conflicts together, loving each other as unconditionally as they love us. Adding another dog or cat to your family may be the perfect choice. Two pets can double the joy in your life — as well as each other's. Of course, having more than a dog in your house means more responsibilities and training challenges; the article intends to provide you with some insights and tips that might be helpful for you if you would like the idea of having more than one pup to keep.

Why Do We Need to Keep Two Dogs?

1. Keeping Each Other Free from Loneliness and Boredom

There are obvious benefits to adopting two pets at the same time. Your pets will have the opportunity to socialize and play together, which means they won't get bored if you’re sleeping or working. They'll never be alone except when they want to be. Who wouldn't want that for themselves or their pet? Two pets means more companionship for the people in your family, too. Each pet has his or her own personality, and your family will enjoy getting to know each as an individual. Dogs can get attached to more than just one owner. When there is more than one pet in the home, they may each get attached to different people in the family.

2. Helping Each Other Get More Exercise

In addition to boosting their mental health, having a companion can also improve your pets' physical health. As dogs and cats grow older, lack of exercise could cause various medical problems. Pets often play with each other throughout the house. This can give them a lot more exercise than they'd get alone. When we play with our dogs out in the backyard, they tumble and romp through the grass, expending more energy than they would with any game of fetch with a human. Cats do much the same when they express their hunting instincts through playtime with each other at home.

3. Dog training will become much easier: if one of the dogs can learn some skills, then the efficiency of the other dog's learning will be greatly improved, and your dog obedience training will become easier.

However, before you want to keep two dogs at the same time, you need to be fully prepared because two dogs fighting is sometimes inevitable. If you wish to two dogs to live in harmony, you need to understand the reasons why the two pups conflict.

What Are the Reasons when Two Dogs Start Fighting?

1. Fighting for territory: Most people erroneously assume that dogs fight to establish authority, but there are a multitude of reasons. For example, if your dog fights with unfamiliar dogs, he is likely to have an underlying anxiety or fear that provokes these attacks. Perhaps he doesn’t have enough physical contact with other dogs and now he has a complete lack of understanding when it comes to canine behavior. As there was a lack of proper socialization when he was a puppy, he could be completely unable to read the signals of other dogs.

2. Attention-seeking: As you can tell, the mind of a dog is very complex, probably more so than you once believed. Except for the territory, dogs will feel the need to“fight”for the owner’s attention. This is something they definitely don’t want to share, so the owner has to play a major role in this. It is necessary for dogs to treat them equally, to reward and “punish” them in the same way when they deserve it.

Therefore, it is not a simple matter to get two dogs to live in harmony, so the question is: how to make dogs get along with each other?

How to Train Two Dogs to Become Good Friends?

Keep the dogs separate: here are certain steps to take when introducing a new dog to your pack. These steps are very important to keep the balance in your house. it would help if you prepared corresponding fences and other equipment and set up an isolation place so that the two dogs cannot reach each other. It is suggested that separate the two dogs for a minimum of 24 hours. It really works and creates a much smoother transition. It is best to provide a safe environment for the new puppies, let them become familiar with each other slowly, and slowly gain a sense of security. New members may be extremely excited, so remember that they must not be in contact with them. Otherwise they are very likely to fight, and let them slowly get acquainted with the arrival of new members.

Establish dominance of the owner: Dogs are pack animals by nature. Every animal pack has a leader, an alpha animal who dominates and leads the other members in the pack. Therefore, every dog pack must have a leader. You need some tips of aggressive dog training to let your two dogs know who the boss is, and let your dog know that it is useless to fight. Only the boss is the only boss. Dogs will instinctively compete to become the alpha in the pack. This is obvious when a new dog is being introduced to the pack. The interesting thing is you and your family are also considered part of the pack. Hence, what you need to is to seize the alpha position in the pack and dominate the pack. If your dogs see you as a leader, they won’t see each other as rivals in the pack and could possibly get along well.

At this point, you can let the two dogs make proper contact, let them smell each other, and let them know each other better. Then you can use basic instructions, such as "sit down", "set", "good boy", "no" and other instructions for dog training. If your dog does not understand your instructions, you can let them learn slowly through the temptation of snacks.

Basic obedience commands like ‘sit’, ‘stay’ or ‘down’ are essential. Let’s take ‘stay’ for example, it is an excellent self-control exercise. By using this command, you can make your dog sit still rather than go chasing or distracted by another dog. Obedience training is just like behavioral training, it takes time and effort. But the end result is promising.

Watch for body posture and consume some energy: Watch carefully for body posture or body language in dogs that indicate defensive or aggressive behaviour, including teeth baring, staring, stiff tail, ears forward, hair raised on the dog’s back and etc. If you see these signs on the dogs during the interaction, intervene the interaction and separate them immediately or you will get yourself in trouble. You can only allow them to interact again after they are calm and relaxed. Watch for the body posture changes to decide whether they are calm or not. Everyone knows what a dog's "flirting" looks like - the dog lowers the front of the body and raises its tail. It means that they are going to fight, and you need to enter the dog training mode immediately to stop the two dogs from fighting.

Be attentive and consistent - give each dog a fair amount of your attention, even when alone! An older pet should receive it no less than before, so as not to feel deprived and not to be jealous of the owner of the new pet. Spending time and playing with two dogs at the same time is also important and necessary, but they will develop, first of all, the connection between the dogs, and not with the owner.

For dogs that are particularly disobedient, it is suggested that you could use the help of dog training collars for dog obedience training. When the dogs fight, you can activate the remote control in your hand and use vibration, buzzer, and safe static current modes. When the dog feels uncomfortable, it will stop the desirable behavior. As a result. You can easily train two obedient and well-behaved dogs by repeating it a few more times.

In addition, the dog training collar can also be used for other aspects of behavioral dog training, such as stopping dogs from jumping towards people, stopping dogs from getting on the couch, stopping dogs from excessive barking, etc. It is absolutely safe and harmless to the health of dogs, and training will become efficient and straightforward.

Ultimately, dogs are just like us. Some dogs can become fast friends within a few hours, but some dogs may never get along. It could be due to clash in personalities. Be patient and let the dogs take time getting to know each other. Having two dogs can feel like a lot of work sometimes, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. From easier training to better mental and emotional health for you and your dogs!

How Long Does It Take for Two Dogs to Be Friends and Like Each Other?

It may take several weeks for the two dogs to get used to each other, so patience is required. But most of the time, dogs are accepting of other dogs, often welcoming the companionship. It's just a matter of an owner setting expectations and being consistent. Therefore, there is no need for you to be over concerned about it.

Hopefully the tips mentioned above enables you understand better how to make dogs get along when your wish to take another dog to be a play buddy for your pet. With some tips,patience and proper dog training, it can be realized smoothly. At first, it may be difficult at first to get two dogs used to each other. But with enough persistence, care, and love, your pups can quickly become the best friends.