Yesterday, I was thinking about my dogs and their social life… or lack thereof. They don’t have any super close puppy pals at the moment, though we have had them in the past.
I realized that we do have two likely candidates for friendship right here in the building. Our next door neighbors have an adorable little Chihuahua mix named Brownie — Moose and Lally have met the little guy before and seem to like him. I’ve seen Lally making the play bow at him, which is a good sign. She wants to play with him.
I think the little guy is a little bit intimidated by their size, though. Moose and Lally are both HUGE compared to little Brownie. Maybe in an off-leash setting (like the nearest dog park), the three could investigate each other without owners on top of them and leashes getting tangled.
We also have a young dog living upstairs from us. He’s a mutt, as far as I can tell, but his face reminds me of my brother’s dog Kuma who is a pit bull/lab/boxer mix. Rocky has the same eyes and a similar head shape. We’ve run into our upstairs friend a few times and everybody has been interested and friendly — tails wagging in Lally and Rocky’s case (though Moose doesn’t have anything to wag).
In our visits to the dog park, we haven’t met any dogs that Moose or Lally have just fallen in instant love with. But that doesn’t mean we won’t find the perfect puppy pal there someday!
Other ideas for helping your dog find a friend:
- Try Dogster.com or PetPop.com — you can search for pets in your area and even join theme groups for your breed or your city.
- Facebook.com has an application called Dogbook — you can make a profile for your pets and try to find friends that way.
- Try a doggie day care that allows the dogs to play together. Your furry friends may find their soul mates at day care!
- Take obedience classes. This is a good way to find dogs in the same age group (like a puppy class) or at the same training level.
- Try a new sport like flyball or agility.