my australian shepherd

Question
Hi,
I have a 7 year old australian shepherd who of coarse still has the energy of a puppy. My parents work and i dont get home until 3 pm and leave at 7 a.m, our dog shows no problems but i feel bad leaving her home by herself with no one to play with. She had seperation anxiety from my mom but she's over that now. We're considering getting another dog, either a miniature or a toy australian shepherd and i wasnt sure whether we should or not. We hav a decent sized back yard and i hav an 8 yr old sibling. both of us are very active and usually play soccer or catch with riley (our dogs name). She usually goes on runs with my mom or i also like 6 times a month, so we're very capable of giving the puppy its necessary attention. She has shown slight agression towards dogs but that's really only around food, for the most part she just tries to play with them. So i don't know whether we should get a bigger dog? Or another aussie? or even a dog ingeneral. If you cld help i'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

Answer
I really can't answer for you whether or not you should get another dog or not. That's a question everyone in the family needs to discuss.

I might ask, though, why do you want another dog?  As a companion for you, or for Riley?  Many dog like being the "only" dog.  Riley may only be aggressive around food, but is this something you feel capable of handling on a daily basis?

If you and the family decide to go ahead with adding another dog, I would take Riley with you at the time you go looking and find another dog that SHE likes, not you.

Keep in mind, too, that you and the family cannot dictate which of the dogs becomes the "alpha."  This is something they have to work out themselves, and it can often change as the dogs age.