In 3 weeks we'll be a 2 dog house when Trio the boxer pup joins us. So now is the time to get tips on having more than one dog - what was a good idea, what would you not do again?

In one word its MENTAL :D But saying that I would probably not go back to having one dog on its own, it makes life much more interesting with 3! Get used to ALOT of barking and general silliness in the house! Maybe thats just our lot.......!!!
We were gonna stop at 2, we had alot of problems with Kayla when she was a 'teenager', but we(well me really!) decided we should get another and Idõ has fitted in so well here that its hard to imagine when we didn't have him and he's only 18 weeks! We got him when Kayla was 2 and half, she had just begun to 'come right' at about 2 and has continued to mature so I'm sure we waited jsut the right amount of time to add a new pup.

Its great to see the dynamics, Kayla and Idõ are as thick as thieves most of the time, and as soon as she wakes up on a morning he's straight upto her ears to drag her through to the living room to play! Chloe is very good considering she is now not very dog tolerant, she used to be very playful in her younger days but now prefers her own space, I think she is getting used to the fact that Idõ is here to stay!

I'm sure Echo will love the new addition, its great for a pup to have a dog playmate, they should have lots of fun together!

I bet you can't wait?! I was so excited I hardly slept the night before we picked Idõ up :D

Emily

What i would not do again is keep two pups from the same litter because they drive us nuts, we have 8 dogs but soon to be 9 as i am keeping a pup from a litter i have at the mo, god help me i must be mad !!!

Beware of the maddies, the mad 10mins or so, there is more damage done to a pup from over boistrous play. Echo is much stronger and will not realise his own strength. Pup will egg him on so its not Echo's fault so you will have to be vigilant and curtail the running and jumping etc. I managed to catch Tia in mid air flying off the sofa after Bailey had chased her, so another word of advice is, Do not leave them alone in a room without supervision.  That goes for outside playtime too.  Bailey thought it was great fun to bodyslam Tia off the brick wall, god knows how her hipscore came back as good as it did. Having said all that,I have 7 dogs, 3 under 13 months and wouldnt change a thing.   They all get on great, have their little mumbles as will Echo and Trio but on the whole live very comfortably with each other. Amuse yourself by watching their body language, it will also help you to understand their attitude towards each other as they grow and mature. Have fun and enjoy them :)

Hi All, I am Jane. I have an 18mth old shar-pei, and soon adding another shar-pei puppy. But i am a bit worried on how i introduce the new puppy to my older one? any help and ideas?

Hi Lazydaze,

A lot will depend on the character and gender of your existing dog and also the gender of the puppy you are planning on adding.  This is not my breed, but as a general rule, it's always a good idea to leave adding a new puppy to a household until the resident dog is well trained and has outgrown puppy antics which may lead to double trouble on the bad behaviour front :P

Also, the safest combination is ordinarily one of either sex as there are less likely to be personality clashes between a single dog and a single bitch.  That said, there is of course the future problem of accidental matings to be taken into serious consideration :rolleyes: nowt's ever straightforward in the doggy world :D

Any more info you can provide? Regards Teri :)

Thanks Teri, the puppy will be a male, Blossom is quiet well trained, i am the boss lol. some told me to get a crate, that i could put the puppy in now and again until they suss each other out. Mateing oh my, there another problem lol.

Hi again,

Crates are a good way of giving the puppy and older dog "time out" - usually much needed in the early days.  They also prove invaluable during seasons when you have both sexes entire as we can't rely on ALL family members to be as vigilant as we "perfect" ladies when it comes to remembering shutting doors and ensuring escape routes to the garden are impossible if one is in a cage while the other out relieving itself ;)

I always let new puppies meet my adults on neutral ground - even if it's more or less just outside the house.  Blossom will be able to have a sniff at her new friend before he comes into "her" space.  Just supervise them carefully for the first couple of weeks and I'm sure if your breed is much the same as any other they will soon become best friends and have great fun together.  Don't leave toys, food or treat type rewards around in case that should spark anything off - young pups need to learn manners but some older dogs are a bit stricter with "high value" possessions :P  And new pups take up so much extra time with house training etc that it's important to ensure Blossom gets some quality time with you too to avoid jealousy.
HTH, best wishes, Teri :)

Should have added to the above post that your "little boy" could well be fertile as early as 5 months of age - so you really will have to have plans in place in the near future as to how best to handle potential mis-alliances

Teri ;)

Hi teri
Thanks for all that advise, it really will help, but nearly fell off the chair at your last add on about him beening fertile at 5mths or so. oh my. big plans will have to be in action lol. Blossom has so many toys, i didnt think about that one either. then again i should be use to boys i have 3 sons.
Take care, Jane

You will love it Lorelei - but as the others have warned you'll have to be cautious at the beginning to avoid accidents.  Once the new puppy is a little bigger and stronger and things are less fraught on that particular front, you'll wonder how you ever managed with only one ;)

Personally I don't think I'd ever go back to just having just one again (only ever did have a singleton for 7 months and that was 15 years ago) - since then I've always had multiples although have never had them so close in age again for practical reasons.

Good luck, no, strike that, HAVE FUN.  Regards, Teri :P

Have fun, Lorelei, life will be chaos!  I prefer having more than one myself - although did very much enjoy the one on one relationship I had with my Lily for a year after I'd lost 2 oldies.  My one tip that I'm suffering from a tad at the moment is make sure you do things separately with them - Mum is OK when I take her away from Daughter, but Daughter is unimpressed to be missing out when she's had to stay at home following her surgery.  Don't doubt you will do this though.

Not meant to be confrontational as I know from reading your posts how committed you are to training, but how do you think you're going to get on with Echo and a male boxer, when Echo does seem to have some dominance issues from reading your other posts?  I've always understood Boxers to be one of the less male-friendly breeds, although could be entirely wrong.

M.

Is the pup a boy then?

Hi Lazydaze,I Love sha peis,wish i could have one i saw some at crufts couldnt keep my eyes off them.

Sheila.

Hi Sheila, i fell in love with them about 12 yrs ago, and was on my xmas list all that time. then hubby supprised me dec 03, cried buckets and nearly had a heart attack when he gave her to me:) I had a ticket for crufts that day, but my sister decided to have her baby lol.Getting a new pei puppy soon, Cant wait.
Got lots of pics of her on my web site.
Jane

Hi again Lorelei,

Is your new puppy a male puppy???   I assumed it was a bitch....
Have pm'd you.

Teri :)

Maybe I've got it wrong - I just went searching for 'Trio' as I'd missed Lorelei's post that the new addition was coming, and was surprised to see it seemed to be a male puppy.

M.