Female emotional pit needs a new friend?

[harlowgirl]

So i have a 2 yr old female rescue. She is obediant and well trained but she doesnt like guys aside from me at all. unless they are dog people, she wont get near them. Infact she barks and growls at guys that get to close to me or come close to my desk ( i bring her to work with me) She is very skidish and afraid of most things. The first floor tenents of the house i live in have a female blue nose put that my girl Harlow loves. They are moving in 2 days...harlow doesnt like many dogs. We went to the local pound over the weekend. We met a 8 month old male. He would be fixed upon adoption. They played great, he was very submissive to her. They really liked eachother and he really seemed like a sweet heart. I want to adopt him but i dont know if its a good idea. I can afford it, but i just want to make sure its ok for her. She plays well with other dogs but she doesnt like being overwhelled (gets agressive when overwhellmed/ threatened. Any thought?

[plebayo]

A couple of things...

First of all what do you consider "aggression" from her? If she was in a stressful situation would she redirect on the other dog? Also being that she is 2 she is at the age where she will start trying to decide how friendly she wants to be towards other dogs.[2-4 seems to be when they start getting picky if they're gonna get picky] You say she's already picky about who her friends are, I would be worried with a younger dog if he doesn't stay submissive to her you could have problems. usually male and female combos do better/get along better but if she's had some dog aggression issues I'd really be cautious about the next dog I'd bring into the home; you want to make sure whatever dog you get is very easy going and won't mind the other dog it lives with potentially being pushy.

Basically, she sounds really insecure and I don't know how much you want to flip her world upside down by bringing a new dog into the home. Sometimes having another dog around who is confident can help I have a dog who is defensive/fearful of strangers, especially tall men and having a goofy easy going dog has helped her but it can also make it worse because then the insecure dog can always be insecure while it has the confident dog to hide behind. I've seen it go both ways.

In a nutshell I think you just need to be sure this is the right situation, it would suck if things didn't work out and the new dog had to be rehomed.

[mnp13]

Suzanne addressed the dog issue pretty well, I'd like to comment on the work one. If she is "skittish and afraid of most things" and doesn't like men. Then I would encourage you to rethink bringing her to work with you. One incident could be a disaster for a dog that is already lacking confidence. There are lots of things you can do to build trust and confidence with her. She can even learn to like strangers, just ask Christine, if Mick could do it she can too!!

So many things can go wrong in a situation like you are describing, that it might be something to rethink and work on before adding in another dog.

[TheRedQueen]

My honest opionion would be to spend time working on your current dog, and get her where you'd like her, training-wise. I have a lot of dogs...but they're all trained to a certain level and have good basic skills/manners before I even think about bringing in another dog.

Suzanne has great points...and one thing I didn't see mentioned is the possibility of crate/rotate if they end up not getting along...are you willing to spend the rest of their lives having to have them separate in the house and yard if that's what it comes down to?

[harlowgirl]

"there are lots of things you can do to build trust and confidence with her" ... what should i do. i want her to be happy and confident. i always praise her when she is good and give her affection. how can i be proactive