What Is The Age Difference Between Your Dogs?

[smisch]

We have

5 yr old afghan - Xanthe

4 yr old BC -Denver

21 mth old lowchen - Ella

6 month old Lakeland terrier - Amber

These dogs haven't grown up together. Xanthe and Ella have been together since Ella was a baby and Den joined the pack when Ella was 16 months old and we since have gotten Amber :)

[Bubitty]

4 years apart. I wish the age gap was smaller. I'm not sure how Bitty will adjust without Bubby. She was raised to be independent of him and she is but any time they are allowed together they are exceedingly fond of each other which worries me a bit if Bubby does go first.

[RubyStar]

Same age, although I got them 2 years apart. Didn't plan on getting another the same age, nor did I really plan on getting a second dog so quickly. I just saw her on a breed rescue page and she was flown across the country less than a week later :laugh: I was just about to start competing with my first dog when she came along.

I like 5-6 years between dogs for reasons FHRP mentioned for competing dogs. My two are now 5.5 years so to stick to my plan I should be currently puppy hunting. But the time isn't right and they aren't quite yet in that "maintenance" training mode for competition, they are still learning!

I am training up my mum's almost 12 month old pup so that gives me something to work on while I wait for the time to be right for my next addition!

[BC Crazy]

PME, the suspense is killing me :)

[Simply Grand]

Saxon turns 3 in a month, Riley is 13 months and Quinn is 6 months.

The gap between Sax and Riley was perfect, I decided I wanted another dog when Saxon was about 6 months but patiently waited until Sax was approaching 2 years before actively looking for a puppy (so unlike me, I'm very impatient!!). By that age Saxon and I had our communication and routines down, he'd gone quite a way through obedience and was easy to manage so I knew I'd have the time to focus on Riley.

I still desperately wanted an Aussie Shep though and although I had every intention of waiting until Riley was at least 1 before getting another pup, I happened to find the perfect pup already aged 5 weeks in my first week of looking... So I decided to go for it. I don't regret it for a minute but having 2 working dog puppies has been quite full on and I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like noise and mess :)

I haven't made plans for another one any time soon, I have my dream breed for now and plenty to keep my hands full, although I suspect there will be another one before I lose one of the current 3...

[Teebs]

18 months here. Always wanted 2 dogs but wanted the first trained before getting the second

[banjobuzz]

Our GSP was 9 when we brought our Brittany home. We noticed the GSP was getting older and really wanted her to teach any future pup some manners before she died.

[meggie]

My Stafford is 11 & the whippet girl who came to keep him company after my special Stafford girl went (at 15) is 2 1/2. We added a rescue whippet (now 3) 16 months ago. He had been shown & came with impeccable manners, apart from his propensity towards chook killing. Never intended to have three, but he fitted in straight away.

It works well as the whippets have livened the old boy up - he really pined for Rowdy - and the two young ones are great company for each other. Can tire each other out while the old boy snoozes after brief play.

These may well be my last dogs because of some health problems, so it's good that the whippets are of a similar age & I hope they have a long life together.

[DeltaCharlie]

This year ours are:

13 (Aug)

11 (Dec)

10 (Aug)

8 (Feb)

7 (May)

6 (Dec)

5 (Oct)

2 (Jul)

2 (Dec)

Smallest gap is 5months, biggest is almost 3 years. The older ones are kind of a blended family, I already had Delta (6 in Dec) and Charlie (just turned 7) when I moved in with Tailwag who had 5 of her own. Then we got Whip (2 in Jul) and bred a litter a few months later (Rush- 2 in Dec). Next 2 will likely be littermates from a litter planned for next year.

[kayla1]

Mine are 4 yrs, 5 yrs, 12 yrs, and 13 yrs. I didn't plan it that way, it's just how it worked out (some failed fosters). The two oldies love short walks and food. The two younger ones get longer walks and lots of games. They all get along really well.

[B-Q]

Buster is 7.5 years older than Quinn. She is just on 2 now. I want to wait till she's about 5 to add another dog but it will depend more on when I'm happy with her training and where she is.

Edited May 28, 2012 by B-Q

[Little Gifts]

I got my heart girl as a 13 week old rescue when my old girl was heading towards 14. My old girl had lost her son two months before and just aged overnight from the loss. She was always very nurturing of other animals so she took the new pup under her wing and it brought life back into her. She lived till almost 17. I hadn't planned the new pup either - she needed a home and we offered her one. It ended up being the best decision for all of us. I have no regrets and didn't struggle with managing the age difference.

[mish13]

This year ours are:

13 (Aug)

11 (Dec)

10 (Aug)

8 (Feb)

7 (May)

6 (Dec)

5 (Oct)

2 (Jul)

2 (Dec)

Smallest gap is 5months, biggest is almost 3 years. The older ones are kind of a blended family, I already had Delta (6 in Dec) and Charlie (just turned 7) when I moved in with Tailwag who had 5 of her own. Then we got Whip (2 in Jul) and bred a litter a few months later (Rush- 2 in Dec). Next 2 will likely be littermates from a litter planned for next year.

God I thought I was bad

This year for us

10 (May)

9 (April)

9 (Nov)

8 (March)

1 ( March)

I went a bit crazy with the first four and got them all not long after the other, my Newf is a long awaited dream dog who has definitely livened things up at home.

[huski]

There is 4-5 years between all of my three and there will be six years between my youngest dog and my new pup by the time I bring it home. It's worked out really well for us as we've never had any issues with the pack :) I don't think age is the only reason why we have a pretty harmonious household but I do think it plays a part in making it easier. My dogs are 13, 9 and 5.

Edited May 28, 2012 by huski

[Liath]

6 years and just over a year. We got the 2nd when my dog passed away but the oldest didnt want anything to do with her so we ended up getting the 3rd. 2nd and 3rd dogs play together and will be company for each other in their old age. 1st dog gets to laze around and just be herself.

[Guest Clover]

Sounds like I can hear the pitter / patter of tiny paws heading your way PME, you lucky girl. So more info please :laugh: & pic's too please.

You may well be on the right track BC Crazy!!! Wait til the weekend and all will be revealed!!!

So if something terrible happened and I was down to just one dog, or one 'young' dog, I'd add another sooner. Of course, there's those times when you can't resist a certain puppy, even if the timing may not be ideal :)

This is where I was at. My first dog it was all ok and after 2 years (as I said earlier she was 9 years old when I got her!!) we added Kenzie to the clan. Yes it was succession planning, but I also wanted a younger dog that I could start working with. Ideally I would have waited til Kenz was a little older before adding another dog, but losing Em last year has left a very big gap in our house, and sometimes there are reasons that can't be resisted!!

It has been interesting to hear from everyone about the age gaps, and what I also think is interesting is that so many of us have ideas about what is ideal, yet something seems to happen to throw those plans in to disarray and we end up with dogs at times we weren't necessarily planning!!!

Ah yes i have had a couple come along when i was not realy planning on it. Tinny mainly because her and her brother had been apart 2 years when she came to live with us. She was not realy going to stay and we had intentions of finding her another home but it never happened :laugh:. Now i know i will possibly loose them close together but will deal with it when the time comes.

[Diva]

Just one year's difference between my two and it's worked well. They play together a lot even at 4 and 5 years of age as they are now and they have never laid a tooth on each other, but they are also closely bonded individually to me. I'll probably add a youngster soon-ish, I would rather add two as I like them having a playmate of similar age but number restrictions here won't allow that.

[mumtoshelley]

13 year old

4 year old

7 year old

10 month old

[zeebie]

Top Doggles is coming up 9 on 20/12

newbie doggles will be 1 on 9/12

Newbie doggie is to be trained up to replace current working doggie as he moves into retirement, really hard to think about him not working anymore, and to start over with a new dog and not be 100% sure she will be as accurate and as proficient as older doggie.

[leopuppy04]

Hehe - you know my dogs but here is my reasoning:

Leo and Kinta - 2.5 year age gap - L was my first dog so I wanted to properly train him first rather than having 2 puppies at once. At this particular time I felt I was more than ready and I always wanted to have 2 dogs competing in dog sports together for the reason that if one couldnt' do it the other could (ie: if one is sick/ injured I didn't have to miss out!). I also wanted them to have company for each other. Downsides is that I may run into trouble down the track and loose the two close together. Upsides, these two really have an inseperable bond and just LOVE each other so so so much! I find that this is common in my little pack too that the dogs closer in age seem to have a very close bone.

Next came Tahlia who is almost a 4 year age gap between Kinta and a 6 year age gap between Leo. I would have preferred another year or two in this age bracket because I had originally planned to have 2 dogs (2 year age gap) then another 2 dogs (6 and 8 year gap between older dogs, 2 year gap between each other) as this will allow me to have to 'oldies' ready to retire from their chosen sports, and 2 up and comers ready to compete etc etc. However fate doesn't always work that way and the 'perfect' dog was ready a few years early, so who am I to say no! LOL! The benefits is that the two 'oldies' just LOVE playing with her and give her the time of day as opposed to saying 'we're too old for this!' however you can definitely see they still 'see' her as the baby of the family! LOL! It's not a bad age group and I'd happily repeat it. Because she came earlier than planned, the plan is now to have about a 4-6 year age gap between Tahli and the next dog. The downside is that it's hard to fit the training in but more-so it's becoming very expensive to train/ trial 3 dogs! LOL!

Here are the confusing add ons:

Zara who is 14mths older than Tahli and 2.5 years younger than Kinta. She lived with us for around 12mths and I found that again they all got along very well. The older two were 'trained' enough to teach her right from wrong, young enough to play with her and I really liked (and still do like) the balance between the dogs. If Tahli and Zara lived together I would say that a 14mth age gap for me is too close, and I find these two together hard work! They get along like a house on fire, but the playtime is constant, the lead each other into trouble, the level of arousal increases and being both entire girls, there is the *potential* for issues there (touch wood, they've been very good!). While the girls love each other, I think it's definitely better that they don't live permanently with each other!

Som is 2 at the middle of June and is another that wasn't planned. She's only 1 mth younger than Tahli and she came here when she was about 10mths old. She gets along with ALL the dogs and I don't see her age as a concern or issue. However, it was a main deciding factor when deciding to keep her. Downsides is that it is making it significantly harder to complete all the training to get her up to scratch for training but the upside is that because I got her as an older pup, she slotted in well and the other issues of having 2 puppies close in age were irrelevant.

So what's my ideal now? I think 2 years is possibly too close and I may not do it again. However I LOVE having 2 close in age, big gap then 2 close in age. So thoughts are my ideal is about a 2-3 year age gap then a 4-6 year age gap....