Adding a third lab

Question
I have a 15 month old black lab who has been fixed and a 5 month old chocolate male lab,, they seem to be doing great together thinking about adding a yellow lab, any suggestions on age of yellow lab or sex since I now have the older female and younger male.
Or is 3 company??
Thanks
Fred

Answer
I think it should work.  Adding a third dog means having 2 of the same sex.  The odds are a little worse for 2 females not getting along than 2 males.  I would not get one within 6 months of other of the 2 you have.  If you have 2 dogs too close in age to each other, they can bond too closely to each other and ignore you.  Just try to avoid getting an overly dominate dog.  Give them good leadership.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm


One of the best sources for dogs with a predictable personality is the rescue dogs.  These are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home to be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them.  You may find a rescue near you starting at http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm  The rescues charge a fee to help cover their expenses, but is much less than the price of a puppy plus all its medical expenses the first year.