# Is the time right to buy a second puppy?



## Tango2020 (Feb 11, 2013)

Allow me to describe my situation and please give my your thoughts.

I have a 5 1/2 month old white female GSD (Millie) that is my 1st GSD dog ever. I love her to death and she lives inside as I wanted her for protection reasons for my family. I work nights a lot. 

I also have a small Jack Russell - 5 year old. Millie won't mess with him because he simply will not have it!

I have a 13 year old Poodle- female- Cher. Millie bugs the crap out of her trying to play all the time....not so good for Cher because she is old and blind.

I'm considering getting another GSD puppy and this is my thinking.

1. Someone for Millie to play with besides me.
2. They will be good together through adulthood.
3. Added protection
4. May get Millie off Cher's but for a while.
5 Millie has already damaged the carpet and sofa so may as well get the puppy thing over and done with all at once.

Good Idea or bad idea?


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

bad idea. you don't want to bring another puppy into the mix until the first puppy is pretty well trained and solid. Most don't recommend getting another pup until your current youngest dog is about 2-3 years old. You don't want the new pup learning bad habits from the older pup. Just how it works. 

Just because they'd be good together as puppies doesn't always mean they'd be good together as adults. maturity changes things more often than not. 

As for protection, puppies don't protect. And you never know if your dog will be protective until put in that situation. Most dogs will run rather than step up in a situation. Self preservation and whatnot. 

There is also the risk of the pups forming a stronger bond with each other instead of you and the human family which makes training more difficult because they'd be more focused on each other than on you. Even training them separately gets tricky and time consuming and then when they're together again, you may as well not exist.


----------



## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

No advice but your #5 is hilarious. It doesn't have to be that way!


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i think you should train and socialize your 5.5 month old dog
before adding another one. if you need protection buy a gun
and learn how to use it.


----------



## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Personally, I would wait. As you said, Millie is your first GSD, and she's only 5-1/2 months old. You don't really know the breed yet, she has a lot of maturing to do, and she may become more challenging as she matures - do you have the time and energy to deal with that while also raising a brand new puppy? She hasn't even hit adolescence yet. 

You also have a lot of training ahead - do you have the time and energy to devote to a new puppy when your first one is not yet fully trained? Can you take classes with both of them at the same time? Some people can, but for me I'd rather devote 100% of my training time to one dog at a time, so neither of them end up shortchanged. Classes are only once a week but homework for a class should be daily and I only have so much free time in the evening after work. 

1. Someone for Millie to play with besides me. She may find the puppy a lot more fun to play with, and then you'll have trouble getting the attention of two puppies rather than one. 
2. They will be good together through adulthood. Yes, but barring illness or tragedy they will also grow old together and then you'll have two seniors - can you handle the expense of vet bills for two dogs of failing health at the same time and the heartache of perhaps losing them both within a fairly short time? 
3. Added protection ???
4. May get Millie off Cher's butt for a while. That's really a training and management issue - consider also that BOTH GSD puppies may be on Cher's butt! Are you prepared to deal with that?
5 Millie has already damaged the carpet and sofa so may as well get the puppy thing over and done with all at once. Puppies vary in their destructive behavior. I've had several that were very bad and a couple that were extremely good. Neither Dena or Keefer were destructive chewers, but having Cassidy (2000-2004) and Halo (one of my current dogs) at the same time? I can't even imagine the devastation and horror! :wild:

Dena was only 13 months old when we got her half brother Keefer, and that went against my plan of 3-5 years between dogs. It was actually the first time we'd had two dogs at once, and the only reason we even considered getting him was because she was already practically perfect. I felt totally comfortable temporarily suspending her training to work with him for awhile. Also, because she was such a fabulous dog, the idea of getting another puppy with half her genes was very attractive, even though it was sooner than ideal. Their dam was only going to have another litter or maybe two before being retired, and there was no guarantee there would be a male puppy of suitable temperament, so we didn't want to let the opportunity pass by. If she was a wild hellion (like Halo! :rofl, we wouldn't even have considered it.

Think carefully before making this decision. Done right, raising a puppy takes an incredible amount of time and energy, and raising two at the same time takes even more.


----------



## Tango2020 (Feb 11, 2013)

Thanks for the replies. Your advice is what I thought it would be but I guess I was wanting to justify it.
We have her in puppy training classes and are going to continue her,(our) training.

As far as protection her job is to make sure my wife gets enough notification to get her handgun out of the lock box beside the bed.


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Tango2020 said:


> Thanks for the replies. Your advice is what I thought it would be but I guess I was wanting to justify it.
> We have her in puppy training classes and are going to continue her,(our) training.
> 
> As far as protection her job is to make sure my wife gets enough notification to get her handgun out of the lock box beside the bed.


 
hope your dog at least alerts. My 3 year old female doesn't alert or react to anything really. She's supposed to be my alert in case of a problem. Nope. She's a companion. She takes up space on my couch and wags her tail. She's good for a laugh but no intimidation lol.


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

who's going to teach her her job?



Tango2020 said:


> Thanks for the replies. Your advice is what I thought it would be but I guess I was wanting to justify it.
> We have her in puppy training classes and are going to continue her,(our) training.
> 
> >>>>> As far as protection her job is to make sure my wife gets enough notification to get her handgun<<<<<
> ...


----------



## Tango2020 (Feb 11, 2013)

doggiedad ......Do you have some good suggestions on how I can work with her on this? We have a 1/4 acre in chain link fence in the country and she for the most part gets very vocal of someone odd shows up. (Makes me proud)

However I can sneak in on her at night when she is sleeping and she doesn't know till I'm in the door and is just happy to see me. ( I chalk up to being a puppy)

Can I work with her on this?


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Tango2020 said:


> doggiedad ......Do you have some good suggestions on how I can work with her on this? We have a 1/4 acre in chain link fence in the country and she for the most part gets very vocal of someone odd shows up. (Makes me proud)
> 
> However I can sneak in on her at night when she is sleeping and she doesn't know till I'm in the door and is just happy to see me. ( I chalk up to being a puppy)
> 
> Can I work with her on this?


 
maturity. socialization.


----------

