r/scottishterriers

My partner and I currently have a beautiful and extremely sensitive and gentle female American Eskimo, not spayed.

We have a pretty good harmony in our apartment currently. The dog doesn't bark excessively, and she has matched our energy perfectly. We're both fairly introverted fairly low energy people, so I was very surprised to find out that a high energy breed like an Eskimo was able to adapt to our lifestyle.

She loves to snuggle up next to us, she's very much a Velcro dog. She gets a lot of her energy out in the evenings when we play with her for about 30 minutes just tossing toys around and sometimes doing some memory retention games or challenging her mind. She has been socialized but only with a limited number of dogs. An older dog that passed away a few months ago, that she would only see on the weekends every other week, and then a middle-aged dog that she got to interact with maybe a dozen times over the course of her first year. Oh. And a cat that she absolutely loves and gets to see 2 weeks out of the month. Other than that, she isn't the most socialized.

Still, other than barking and trying to approach other dogs outside occasionally, she hasn't really given us much behavior problems.

We have thought about adding another dog to our family, and Scottish terriers have always been a breed that I've personally been very interested in. The Eskimo was definitely more of my partner's vibe, but I've grown to love that dog. I've always wanted a Scottish terrier because I'm much more the type of guy that likes to play with a dog for like 20 minutes and then just have the dog kind of be there but not demand all of my attention all the time. My only issue would be the stubbornness, but the more independent streak of the Scottish terrier and the idea of having a dog that for once doesn't have separation anxiety is quite appealing.

Unfortunately, I have read that Scottish terriers are pretty much one of the worst pairings I could make with an American Eskimos, but I want to know just how true that is ...

I've read that they are much more independent, stubborn and not eager to please, much more difficult to train, and that they can be prone to barking. I have also read that a female Scottish terrier will try to push the more gentle dog for dominance as they get older.

Most of all though, I have heard that if you have two unspayed females in a relatively small space like an apartment, it is a recipe for disaster. They can fight, and injure each other.

So me and my partner are trying to figure out if we're going to be picking up a Scottish terrier or not ...

Currently we're thinking it's probably not a great idea, but I'd like to hear from Scottish terrier owners who may have experienced a similar situation with two breeds that are very different, and or with two unspayed female dogs.

Our lovely Scottie is coming up to 3. He’s male and neutered, and it’s been a very hot summer where we’re based.

Recently he’s had to be on a diet as got quite chunky but have noticed he’s low a lot of time. Either sulking around, or just sitting on his own in the garden. His main points of interaction are when he wants food, and really playing with other dogs is what makes him happy.

I know the breed well so although I appreciate they can be aloof etc, this feels different. He just seems sad!

Any thoughts or advice?