What is an ideal age for your dog to be before you introduce a new puppy to the picture? I know that it will vary somewhat depending on breeds, but I'd love to know what people thought a rough age range would be. I have a labrador who is coming up to the year mark and I am looking to extend my doggy family but am unsure about how much older he should be before I start seriously looking, if that makes sense.

He is a wonderful dog and a joy to own, well trained both in and out of the house and gets on well with dogs and people - new and familiar.

Any input most appreciated!

Rachel x

I think it depends on the dog/dogs already in the home. I like to leave long enough for the existing dogs to be fairly well behaved, socialised and trained so that I can concentrate on a pup and also (hopefully) there won't be too many bad habits for pup to copy :-)

Something also to consider is that it is very hard to lose dogs close together so it may be best to leave say 3 years between them for that reason too.

My current lot are 10, 7, 5 and 2 and I will have another in a year or so.

3 years

Personally for me it would be the minimum of 2yrs for the most easy going breeds and for mixed sexes. If I were to go ahead and get the same sex again I would personally leave it a minimum of 3 years and would have to look at personalities before I went down that road again...

I would say 3 to 4 years works best at both ends of the dogs life.

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for the input, most appreciated :)

2-3 years I would say.

3 years for me too.  Old enough for the training to stick; sensible enough to handle a puppy with consideration; secure enough in their place in your household to cope with sharing; and reliable enough to behave with minimum intervention whilst you are a bit distracted and sleep deprived with the puppy!  Finally, young enough to enjoy a youngster.

However, if you are keen on a particular breeder (lines) it's worth letting them know your preferred timings any time from 2 years onward.   They won't arrange a litter around you (!) but they could let you know how it fits in with their plans.  After all it would be a shame to miss your perfect puppy for the sake of 6 months or so.

My older dog was 4 before the next one came along (our timings really, not his).  The middle dog was 3 when the pup arrived and he wouldn't have been ready at 2yrs, would have been ok at 2.5yrs, but was perfect at 3yrs! :) 

I too would say 3ish years, mine are two at 13, 9, 7, 5 & 10 weeks. I know 3 of them are only 2 years inbetween but the 9 year old came back to us 2 years ago, when his owner was killed in a car crash & he stayed.

Yes I do believe I'll continue searching around and meeting with breeders from now until my lab is a nearer the 3 year mark :) It's a new breed which I'm interested in, so gathering as much info. as I can.

Thanks again for the help!