1 year old standard and wood floors and mixing with 9 yr old minature

Question
Hi I am contemplating getting a 1 year old male unneutured standard poodle.  I already have a 9 year old minature female poodle in the home.  I had a 16 year old female minature poodle that passed away 2 months ago from a stroke, so my 9 year old female is alone.  She acts fine but I know she has been used to having a companion.  I am contemplating getting the male std and immediately having him neutured; what is your take on that and also do the booties really work on the hard wood floors.  The std has been a house dog and is house trained but his owners now have left him outside for the last few weeks because they are preparing to move.  What is your take on this situation.  My minature is a very loving dog and the std seems to be also. What do you think? I would love any tips you can give me.

Answer
Hello Kim,
I think that getting your 9 yr old dog a companion is a good idea.  Dogs seem to do much better together than by themselves.  Getting the male neutered is also a good idea and the sooner the better because you don't want them to develop unwanted habits that come with intact males.  
Booties on the floors work ok if the dogs decide to keep them on.  Some problems with them is that if you don't get the right size they will fall off, some dogs just won't keep them on, they can cause the feet to sweat, and if they don't have the rubber bottoms on them they can cause the dog to slide just as badly as if they were on the wood.
You might try baby booties first.  Get the booties that have the little rubber dots on the bottom and see if the dogs will even keep them on.  The Standard will be ok with infant sizes, but you might have to get the doggie ones for the Mini.  You can keep them on with Vet Wrap that you can get from Farm supply stores, but make sure that you don't wrap them too tight.  

As for the Std being kept outside for awhile, he should transition to not going potty in your house pretty easy if he was pottytrained for them.  However, he will have to learn your rules.  If he does make a mistake, dominate him by laying him on the floor with his head on the ground and make him submit to you.  You can also do this if he disobeys or if you have an issue with him (such as biting or growling).

Give this a try and if you have other questions or would like more tips please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim