Leviathan

Thank you to all those who replied. Your information gave some food for thought. Here is some info in response to questions asked in response to my original post. The puppies appear to be well socialized and we spent around two hours at the breeder's place talking about the puppies routine, observing the puppies, their interactions with each other and the mature dogs in the house. With all their running around I almost expected to see them at some point running on the walls or on the ceiling. :D We were unanimous in our decision of which puppy we take (the one that fell asleep on my lap after running out of puff). However, after we came back home we had quite a few long discussions about potential impact for both the dog and our household if such an energetic and intelligent dog becomes bored during daytime when all family members are at school/work. Another issue is that the 'owner' of the puppy is our younger child. With her tendency to be a bit possessive and controlling about her things (we keep hearing at regular intervals about HER puppy) we thought that we needed some means to address that. So after considering all implications we could think of having second dog in the family we decided that it would be beneficial for both the dogs and for the human members of the family. Now I'm thinking if getting two puppies was really such a good idea and whether by doing it we're going to get more issues than we thought we would resolve.

We’re getting two 5 month old Papillon puppies in a week time. By that time it’ll be the start of school holiday and both of my kids (16 and 9 yo) will get a chance to spoil the puppies or to set them on the right track to become valuable members of our family. As the puppies' age is considerably higher than the usual age of puppies at which they join their new family we might encounter issues that are different or bigger or there are more of them than the new dog owners experience with 8-10 weeks old puppies. We’re not first time dog owners but it’s our first experience both with the breed and having two dogs in the family. Hence the reason for this post is to get an advice from people well experienced with the breed and peculiarities of having two dogs. Here are the questions I have got so far: - do they need separate bedding and crates? The reason I’m asking is that we have got items left after our previous dog (he went over the rainbow bridge a month ago) and they are big enough to easily accommodate Papillons with plenty of room left. - do we need to give the puppies some time to settle down before taking them to an obedience club. My concern is that moving into a new house and almost immediate commencing of training at an obedience club will be too much stress for them. I’m certain that there will be more issues than I can think of now so it would be greatly appreciated if you can share with me your knowledge about matters relevant to our case (older sibling puppies) such as: - Must do - Watch out for - Avoid - Recommended Both dogs are desexed males. It’s my first post in those forums but somehow I have a feeling there will be more of my posts asking for advice.