Our mini was a young dog when we introduced his sister, a German Shepherd. They were in love for many years. He is similar in that at dog parks and such he is friendly with other dogs, he lives with cats and has never shown aggression towards children. We lost his sister a few years ago and he has become slightly more aggressive towards other dogs ever since.

During a cross country road trip, we made a last minute stop to visit some friends who have 2 dachshunds. We wanted to introduce them but were so nervous our old boy would be terrible to these young dogs. I held him to gauge his reaction and his tail started going a mile a minute. He didn’t bark like I expected him to. We all agreed he seemed fine, and I put him down. I have never seen this dog happier. He has met other dachshunds and has had small dog friends, but never gotten to play with other wienies. He was like a puppy again. It broke my heart to know how much happier he may have been with a sibling his own size vs the big dog he lived with for so long. He seems perfectly content to sleep all day under covers and be a sole small dog. He doesn’t have long enough left to bring in another dog now. I know my dog would have loved having another dog his own size to play with, even if it took some time to adjust.