Hi all, just looking for a bit of advice.  We currently have 2 dogs of the same breed - a bitch aged 6 and a dog aged 18 months.  We have the opportunity to add a new male puppy to our family but I am just worrying about the implications.  As much as I would love a new puppy, I worry about him fitting in with the other 2, especially as my 18 month old is still rather puppy like himself.

Of course there are the practicalities of walking 3 dogs, feeding 3 dogs etc but I am more worried about them all getting on together ok.  Our bitch generally ignores our dog as he is a bit too bouncy for her but she will play with him sometimes.  Although I know they do miss each other if parted.  The pup would hopefully make a great playmate for our dog and give our bitch the quiet life she seems to want.  What do you all think?

Hi

I've just gone from 2 dogs to three dogs and the only issue I have is transportation and if I have to walk them all on a lead.  they all walk fine on the lead separately but when I have to walk them all together - two of them compete and want to be out front all the time - the other one hangs back (and every now and again flys through the air to catch up  :)  )

Hi Kate,

as Maxine has already pointed out you need to look at the practicalities of walking three together and transporting that number together too.  Obviously the size of breed has a more significant impact here  unless you're talking about a toy or small terrier.

The costs go up too, not just food but vets, kennels and insurance if you use either of the latter.  Getting family, friends or a dogsitter / house sitter in while your unavailable (think emergency!) can be more tricky too.

The age of your current youngest could make it slightly more difficult to train and bond with a puppy - being so young himself, your current male will probably quite quickly become best friends with the new arrival (for a while at any rate!) and although it's great fun to watch them play and rough house it's sometimes difficult to get the opportunity to keep up to speed with the training *separately* of both :) 

It's difficult to predict how well they will all get on as your current males has not yet fully reached mental or physical maturity so his temperament is not yet set in stone and of course your new addition is an unknown quantity.

It's a judgement call TBH but I would personally recommend a larger age gap before adding a new pup to the mix.  I've generally tried to keep in the region of 4-5 years between my gang (generally 3 but at one time 4 mixed s#x) and still always found the youngest member delighted to play and buddy up with a new arrival :)

Give it some serious thought and try not to let your heart rule your head.  HTH, Teri  

Hi Kate

It depends a lot on your circumstances, i have 3 male gsd's aged 6, 4 & 2.5 and also a 7 mth old bitch. Although there are not massive age gaps between my lot i did ensure that they were up to a good standard in their training etc before adding another pup. At the mo i walk the 3 boys together on lead and walk the baby seperate until she has perfect lead manners, obviously this is very time consuming and finding time to dedicate to each individually does take up most of my time.

If you do decide to go ahead you are going to have to do a lot of planning, good luck on your decision x

Thanks you lot for some interesting food for thought.  You have all picked up on some of the things that were on my mind.  My boy being only 18 months was one of them - his behaviour was previously pretty good but he is now going a bit of a "Kevin" phase and I feel the need to improve his recall and walking to heel.  With the new pup being ready in just over 2 weeks time, this doesn't give me much time to improve this - although the pup would not be coming for walks until he was a little older.  And as Teri says

The age of your current youngest could make it slightly more difficult to train and bond with a puppy - being so young himself, your current male will probably quite quickly become best friends with the new arrival (for a while at any rate!) and although it's great fun to watch them play and rough house it's sometimes difficult to get the opportunity to keep up to speed with the training *separately* of both

Finding the time to train the 2 of them separately may prove difficult and I also don't want to neglect my very well behaved bitch!

Ooh it's so hard - heart is fighting with head right now!

I would wait until your youngster is about 3, especially if you want to be able to walk them all on lead to together. 

This will mean the youngster who is now kept in bounds by your bitch will have grown up properly and be a good example for the new one, also there shouldn't be any hierarchy issues with a longer age gap.

I am planning on keepign another pup in August and am rather dreading it as there will only be 20 months difference in age, and I have always had at least two years and usually 3 to 4 year age gaps.

I must admit i have male and a female with 1 year a part, and they were a right pair when younger was definitely more time consuming and hard work.
We are hopefully getting dog number three later this year another male but my boy is coming up to 5, which we feel is the right age/time to add our next addition.

Best of luck with your decision :)
Hayley

I recently had a new addition to my family,
I have a one year old bitch and now have a 6 month old bitch aswell,
I found she settled in nicely and started to learn housetraing really quickly as following my other bitches behavior
As for on the leads the both have learned heel command and walk nicely together.

Just wanted to let you all know that having listened to all of your advice, I decided against having dog number 3.  It was very tempting and my heart said yes but I had to be practical about it.  We will wait until our boy is a bit older and then revisit the situation.  I am currently upping his training programme so that when we do have a new addition he will be a good example.

Think I would like another female mini schnauzer but not sure on whether to go for a black or a black and silver..... Ho hum, I've got at least 18 months to decide! :-)

I found doing the research was the best thing!!!
Good luck with the fun and excitment of research and getting a pup in the not too distant future :-)

Thanks Freds Mum

Fred is a very handsome chap BTW.  When I was growing up 2 standard poodles lived next door - one black, one white, called Idaho and Georgia.  They were lovely dogs - big but very gentle.