Should our new puppy get a sibling sooner or later?

J

Janine's Mom

Forums Regular
Hi Sheltie Lovers! My husband and I have never had just one dog at a time. Until now. It was always easier in the past to bring in a younger dog to a pre-existing household o'pups. However, it's not the case this time and we have a single, glorious, 12-week old pup! We love her; she's great! But we're concerned that if she becomes used to getting all the attention, and then a second pup enters the picture, what will it do to her? Might it be better sooner than later?

(Additionally, once I get a sense of when to add in the second, other than a Sheltie, have any of you adopted a Collie? Asking because of so many similar tendencies.)
 
Well, that's a tough one...
maybe I am not the right person to comment since I have only introduced a friend for my Laddie at age one! It went perfectly. The new sheltie was a rescue and five.

I have rescued many more and never had any issues. They all got along as if they had grown up together.

That said, I have heard of others (not shelties) and they got a second pup and they bonded to each other! Not to the humans!

So, not sure how to respond to answer your question. I am sure others will chime in!
 
I honestly would wait until your new pup is older, potty-trained and obedience trained at least in the basics. Like at a year of age. I do think two young pups bond so much to each other and may be much harder to train at the same time. When your girl pup has got the basics and a good foundation down, she will then help "train" the new one.

We got Asta as a pup when Skye was 13. Then we got Ally at 1.5 yrs when Asta was 2. Brooke came along at age 7 when Asta and Ally were 11. When Asta passed unexpectedly, Faith joined us at age 2. All those combos worked out well. Skye especially taught Asta the puppy a lot by example.
 
Unless you're getting an adult second dog I'd definitely wait. Better to wait until you're through adolescence if you're going to add a pup. If you add an adult dog though, you can do that at any age - in fact it may make house training easier (other training will depend on how well behaved the other dog is).

My two are close in age and I'd never do that again: It's too exhausting. It only happened because a show quality bitch came up sooner than expected. The first year was tough, and it didn't get better. There's the house training, two dogs going through adolescence, the separate walks (initially because Deska got to the age he needed to run off energy while Tully was still little, and then because I wanted Tully to bond to me and not just to Deska). You'll be training two dogs at once, and they'll pick up the bad behaviours of the other dog before they learn from you. And just when you think you're getting a handle on it, the first one hits adolescence. But I think the hardest thing is the competition - the one-up-manship. With Shelties being a barky breed, outdoing each other invariably ends up in out barking each other. If they're going to do something naughty they look at each other first and that eggs them on. They are 10years old and it still happens! Maybe if they were a quiet laid back breed - like a pug, it would be easier. But I honestly don't think it's worth all the extra work.
 
Our second dogs came when both first dogs were older and it worked out fine. We've only ever had one puppy though and he was our first Sheltie rescue. I honestly don't think we'd have managed 2 at once then.
 
Sharon7 said:
I honestly would wait until your new pup is older, potty-trained and obedience trained at least in the basics. Like at a year of age. I do think two young pups bond so much to each other and may be much harder to train at the same time. When your girl pup has got the basics and a good foundation down, she will then help "train" the new one.

We got Asta as a pup when Skye was 13. Then we got Ally at 1.5 yrs when Asta was 2. Brooke came along at age 7 when Asta and Ally were 11. When Asta passed unexpectedly, Faith joined us at age 2. All those combos worked out well. Skye especially taught Asta the puppy a lot by example.
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Caro said:
Unless you're getting an adult second dog I'd definitely wait. Better to wait until you're through adolescence if you're going to add a pup. If you add an adult dog though, you can do that at any age - in fact it may make house training easier (other training will depend on how well behaved the other dog is).

My two are close in age and I'd never do that again: It's too exhausting. It only happened because a show quality bitch came up sooner than expected. The first year was tough, and it didn't get better. There's the house training, two dogs going through adolescence, the separate walks (initially because Deska got to the age he needed to run off energy while Tully was still little, and then because I wanted Tully to bond to me and not just to Deska). You'll be training two dogs at once, and they'll pick up the bad behaviours of the other dog before they learn from you. And just when you think you're getting a handle on it, the first one hits adolescence. But I think the hardest thing is the competition - the one-up-manship. With Shelties being a barky breed, outdoing each other invariably ends up in out barking each other. If they're going to do something naughty they look at each other first and that eggs them on. They are 10years old and it still happens! Maybe if they were a quiet laid back breed - like a pug, it would be easier. But I honestly don't think it's worth all the extra work.
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Wow. Thanks all for the invaluable input! It's been 12 years since my young puppies--I've forgotten how much work it is! I just want the new pup to be happy. Wondering if things might be better, when we do add our second pup, to go with a different breed altogether.
 
ghggp said:
That said, I have heard of others (not shelties) and they got a second pup and they bonded to each other! Not to the humans!
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Gloria - I so agree this is just one important thing that many not at all think of.

Janine´s mom - I think you've got so fine and good advice of the other members.

Personal I would earliest add a new puppy when my first is about 3 years.

Minnie is my first Sheltie - their minds and behavior is so different from most other breeds, if I should add a new dog I would think that the same race will get the best out of each other.
 
I'll be the other side then.....
I had Cranberry and Dixie who were 3ish when I brought Jocu home in Jan 2013. Later that year, I initially accepted, then declined the pup that I wanted to get 2 years later- mostly because Jocu was still a pup and not a year old yet. well, I took all 3 to meet Destin because there probably wouldn't be that perfect pup in 2 yrs and yes, long story short- we brought him home. we take classes all the time so Destin had his own obedience class and Jocu had already had his turn at obedience class. Jocu is the one who is bonded more to the other dogs - I say more but in other breeds, he'd be considered very much a people dog. it's just compared to my other three shelties that he seems to be a little more dog bonded. when we play fetch, when Jocu gets the toy, he tries to get the other dogs to play with him and the toy. the other two boys bring the toy back to me so I can throw it again--- but if Dixie gets the toy, she takes it away and it's game over....
so I'd say you can add a second whenever the time is right for you- if you are prepared for the extra work that it takes to make them both well adjusted members of your family
 
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