Should I adopt this baby?

[lauramj]

I am torn!  I have a wonderful 160 pound, 8-year-old (neutered) male Great Pyrenees named Murphy.  We recently lost his lifetime companion, my 15-year-old shepherd mix named Dehli.  She had a long, happy life, but we had to have her put to sleep due to health issues.  We lost her about a month ago.

Now, I had an opporotunity FALL into my lap.  I have a chance to get the dog I have wanted since my childhood, a bronze (or I refer to it as chocolate) male Newf.  He is 6-months-old, and has lived with his littermates for his entire life.  He is not yet house broken.

I have a couple of big issues to consider.  Is it fair to Murphy to bring in a new guy?  Murphy IS 8 years old.  Do you think the new Newf (whom I have already been calling "Indy". . . ha, ha, our last name is Jones)will have already bonded with the family he is currently living with?  Will he be able to form strong bonds with my family (with 3 kids)? 

Will I be able to potty train him?  He has been living in a "free range" environment, sleeping in a garage with his siblings, able to go out whenever he wants to.

To his credit, he comes from very healthy parents, and has been socialized with many children around him since birth.  He is very affectionate, and just going thru the normal clumsy puppy/teenage stuff. 

My main concern is Murphy though.  I do not want for him to have to spend his last few years of life fighting for the alpha position (although in all truth, the 13 pound cat is the alpha around here).  Please help me!  I want Indy SOOOOO bad, but I want to do the right thing for my family and my Murphy!  I appreciate all of your input!

Laura

[jesday]

I agree with Holly about possibly having a greet and meet time for the boys. At least you can see what initial reactions are like.

Our pups are 9 months old and a neighbor has 3 Great Danes. She walks them by our place often so I let our babies out to see what they'd do. After copious amounts of sniffing the big guys started getting frisky and wanting to "play". This was too much for Sophie and she wanted back in the garage ASAP. Syrus was happy to play but he too was soon overwhelmed and we had to settle the situation down and separate everyone. After a few more encounters Sophie still wants nothing to do with them but Syrus is one of the pack as them tromp around the yard.

I guess my point is you probably won't know the personalities until they are together.

As far as potty training, we got our's at 4 months for Christmas. They too were raised outside in pens with litter mates. They were just too hot in the house for very long and spent most of their time in an outside pen or in the garage. We had to watch them all the time while inside. As soon as they would assume the position we tried to get them outside. I still don't trust them 100% but we haven't had an inside incident for several weeks. They are inside the garage for the night and occasionally there will be a potty or two in the morning. Now that the weather is hot they want in the cool of the garage and I noticed Syrus will give me a bark for potty. Unfortunately it is more of an announcement. Instead of a "I have to go", It's "Hey, I went potty. Come out and clean it up."

Finally, just an opinion. Since Indy has spent his entire life with litter mates and is now separated from them, he may be a little 'needy' and want the company of your big guy.

If all works out, you will love your Newf. Such a wonderful breed. Good luck.
 

[jesday]

I forgot to add in my last post that neither of our pups potty inside anymore, so you should be able to train him fairly easily, especially since he is used to going outside already.

[Thelma]

just to give my 2 cents on potty training....wh en we rescued
Toby he had been tied outside for 5 years...took us
one day to break him....only one accident....no ne since

[lauramj]

I do not really have the option of a trial run with Indy.  The breeder whom I would be getting him from has 6 6-month olds and 2 3-month olds in addition to her family Newfs (can you imagine that crowded house, much less the food bill?).  She has had a difficult time placing them in homes due to the current state of the economy, and she lives a very long distance from the city (we're talking hours).  She only breeds the Newfs for family pets, not show. 

Murphy has never had a very dominent streak.  Dehli ruled the roost around here (and she was a spayed female), and had been around for 7 years when we finally got Murphy.  Like I said, the cat seems to think that he is the leader of the pack, and seemed to assume that position when Dehli became ill. 

Everyone's comments have made me feel a bit better about the potty training.  I will eagerly await all the feedback that anyone is kind enough to take the time to leave!

Laura

[lauramj]

I forgot to add, his history with ther males is pretty good.  My brother often brings his neutered 4-year-old hound mix over to play.  Murphy has been pretty tolerant, and durring their most recent visit, my old guy actually played a little bit (as he lumbered slowly about and the hound ran circles around him, no less), but it was definately playing, and NOT agression!