At the moment I have an Old English Sheepdog who is 7 months. I am quite keen to get another puppy (OES as well) but I really can't decide whether it is best to introduce a new puppy to a dog that is still young itself, thereby not being so territorial or to wait until my dog has reached a more mature age, e.g. 2 years old.

The next question is whether it matters getting a bitch or a dog?  We are not intending getting our dog castrated as he has very good bloodlines.  Does this mean that getting a bitch is not really an option?

Lastly, if you advise that getting another puppy at this stage is acceptable, would you recommend waiting until we move house.  We are looking to move in about 6 weeks.  I thought that my dog would be less guarded against a new puppy if he was in new surroundings as well.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

I certainly would NOT recommend getting a new puppy now.

In any case, i suspect it would be very hard to find a OES pup from a reputable breeder in that time frame (if you did you would be VERY lucky, but more likely the only place you could get one would be a BYB or a puppy farm).

Irrespective of the unrealistic time frame, you have to move house. Thats never fun wtih just one young dog, absolutly manic with TWO.

Then, of course your existing dog is only a youngster, who will, or already has, hit his 'teenage stage'. Especially considering you wish to keep him entire, you are going to have  your hands more than full already, dealing with him and your house move.

The LAST thing you need right now, is a young dog, who will encourage him to behave younger than he is, and hinder your attempts to get either of them to behave well.

Id leave it for another 12-18 months, giving your current dog plenty of time to grow up and develop his personality, and bond more firmly with you. Then consider getting a pup, a bitch is probably safer, IF you can keep them seperate when she is in season, or have one of the neutered.
An 18 month/2 year old dog shouldnt have any problems accepting a new pup into the house, even my staffie x tolerates puppies, and this is the dog that HATES smaller dogs iwth a passion, and relishes nothing more than a good scrap with big dogs!
In any case, you should have socialised your current dog with enough new dogs of varying ages and sizes so it really shouldnt be a problem.

Young dogs togther, even with an age gap of 5/6 months are a pain. (I look after a 9 month old collie x, and have a 19 month old lurcher, i do know!). The older dog is not old enough to have learned proper dog language, and if he HAS, he is not old enough or mature enough to be able to pass on good manners to the younger one. Instead he will revert to being a pup himself, and pick up bad habits. Probably the worst thing about two young dogs growing up together is taht they tend not to need other dogs as much, and so DONT learn what is and isnt appropriate behaviour. Ending up in adult dogs (and in your case LARGE hefty adult dogs) who think it is FINE to play with other adult dogs as if they are tiny puppies. (IE bashing oveer th head with paws, jumping on them etc).

My advice? DONT DO IT!!!!!

Em

Good advice.  Just what I needed in order to make the decision.  I will definately leave it for now but will look to get another in the long term future. 

Thanks Em