Introducing A Second Dog

[BonJosie]

Hello

My partner and I have a 15 week old beagle puppy (we've had her for seven weeks). It has always been our intention to get her a playmate (a rescue dog, so we're not sure of breed yet), but we're unsure of when would be the right time to introduce a new dog into the family. We want her to have a friend as soon as possible, but of course we will wait however long we need to for her to feel comfortable with a new family member!

What does everyone think? Is there a minimum amount of time we should wait, or is it more about her behaviour?

Thanks!

[Borderpower]

Honestly is probley best if you wait Until your puppy you have now is at lest 6 months old

It can be really hard raising 2 puppies at the same time.

[poodlefan]

I'd say do it when your puppy is old enough to have established manners and less likely to pick up bad habits from an adult.

I'd wait until she was about 18 months old at least.

Get another Beagle! A dog of the same breed means they will be matched in size, understand each other's body language etc. Get a male.

[kelpiekaye]

I would wait till your beagle puppy is at least 18 months. Enjoy having one pup. IMO you will establish yourself as the leader and be the instigator of the pups fun. When you have two pups they often will play with each other and ignore you. As poodlefan said get the same breed or close to.

[BMAK]

there is another thread exactly on this topic not that long ago have a read through it.

[koalathebear]

Hello

My partner and I have a 15 week old beagle puppy (we've had her for seven weeks). It has always been our intention to get her a playmate (a rescue dog, so we're not sure of breed yet), but we're unsure of when would be the right time to introduce a new dog into the family. We want her to have a friend as soon as possible, but of course we will wait however long we need to for her to feel comfortable with a new family member!

What does everyone think? Is there a minimum amount of time we should wait, or is it more about her behaviour?

Thanks!

Hi there, this thread here over in the puppy sub-forum might be helpful as it covers similar questions. The majority view is to go for a greater age difference which is probably wise because the first dog will be more settled and hopefully be trained up to a level with which you are comfortable. We choose to go with two pups so have two male Kelpies that are only 4 months apart - an 11 month old Kelpie/Border Collie and a 7 month old Kelpie. We're very happy with the way things have gone and haven't had any problems. Having two puppies was a lot of hard work for the first month or so we had Hoover (getting him settled in, house-trained, yard-trained etc), but it's been fine since then. It's possible we were just lucky but our two get along so well, having Hoover's been great for Elbie and Hoover adores Elbie and being of a similar age, the two love playing with one another but don't get overly rambunctious. Anyway, the other thread goes into things in more detail and you'll see differing views. We've had an extremely positive experience with our two pups and regret nothing but some people haven't enjoyed having two puppies etc so it's good to get the different views.

Good luck whatever you decide - there aren't really any hard and fast rules and you have to make up your own mind based on your own situation and what you think you can and want to handle

Edited January 28, 2011 by koalathebear