My son was recently married and moved out taking his shepherd. My rat dog is about 5 and lonely and being older myself I was just thinking this morning that we should invite an older dog into the family. Would it be unjust to take my rat dog and let her decide? she is about 12” tall and kept the young male shepherd (very tall) at bay when she wanted. Knowing how dogs have to establish alpha hierarchy, I am concerned a bit.
when we adopted our last dog (she was our 4th pick as they were adopting out so many it was a 4 hour wait) we had to go home and bring our older dog to see if they would get along before we were allowed to adopt. that was in 2003. he died 2 yaers ago at 13 and she died last year about the same age. we have been lucky in taht all the new dogs and the established dogs got along fine. the last 3 were lab mixes.
Since your dogs do have to get along, I think it’s quite reasonable to take your dog with you and have her help you pick out your second dog.