I am thinking of getting a westie puppy but it will be alone for about 6 hrs a day, 5 times a week ( other days i don't work). I dont mind buying a pen with a crate and paper training he/she. I was thinking of getting another westie pup to keep the other company. Is this a good idea? They will get my full attention when im at home. Is a westie good with young children as friends sometimes visit with their kids (ages 4 - 12)

Appreciate any help or tips

KM

Getting two pups at the same times (or very close together) is generally an enormous mistake. It makes rearing them about four times harder, because you have to train both of them separately, and then together as well. Besides, they usually bond better with each other than with you (especially if they are left alone together for several hours most days), which again makes training much harder. I've done it, and would never do it again. It wasn't until my two were four years old that they started looking to people for company over each other.

Also, who will be coming in to feed and play with and let out the puppy while you are at work? (Young pups need four meals a day - one being at lunchtime). 6 hours continually alone during the day is, in my opinion, too long.

I agree with Jeangenie, I would stagger the buying of pups (unless you are experienced) two together are hard to train. Also leaving a dog for that length of time (you need to add the time the dog spends alone at night also) on a regular basis is wrong..even more so with a puppy. Dogs are pack animals and most are miserable when left alone for long periods and become destructive or have behaviour problems :-(  I know many people do it but that does not make it right.

I own a westie she is 10 months old now and the longest I have ever left her is an hour at a time, westies can be very vocal in fact there s nothing worse than a dog that keeps barking all the time and I think if you leave a young puppy for that amount of time it will get fed up and bored and keep barking, I dont think it is fair to leave it for so long, and if you have two then its double the noise.