The best time to add another to the pack?
 

When is the best time? Berlin is 6 months. I would obviously not get anther puppy for at least a year, but what is the best age gap for getting two dogs? Would a male or female get along with Berlin better? Only reason I ask is because my shepherd mix is really getting up there (15 years old or so) and her time is getting shorter. I'd definitely want another female in the future, just at the right time :)


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I think 2-3 yrs is a good age gap, depending on your abilities. Koda is 2 yrs, 9 months and I am preparing to get our next shepherd. (:

I personally think it is a individual thing..

I brought Zefra home (she was 3 months) when Stark was just over 2 years old. Stark was an "easy" dog to own, once we got his reactivity under control! ;)

Zefra is a fun dog, tones of work in regards to her training schedule... lol.. my fault, not hers... lol... but again, a pretty easy dog to live with (for me).

I would like to add another dog and there are a few breedings I am looking at but nothing is set in stone.

Only YOU know what you can handle and what works for YOU. ;)

I do think its based on the individual and the dogs in question. Mine is 16 months and I feel I can bring another one(must be a male, three females would be pushing it IMO) in at any time and it would be fine. Now my oldest dog is 8 and the golden is 3, which means the golden was just going on 2 when I brought in the GSD and it worked out beautifully. The bad part is that the closer they are in age, the closer together they will pass away. With mine, my oldest has the potential to go until about 15..so that is 7 years, at which time my golden will be 10 and GSD 8.5 I'm potentially looking at all my dogs going within two years or so of each other....it will be very bad for me:(

Thats what I was thinking :)

Thanks! I know I definitely could not handle another right now, Berlin is ALOT of work! He is very high energy/drive. So before I even think about adding another, I want him to be trained, and mature.

Thats what I dont want to happen, having the dogs get sick/pass pretty close to each other. I think that atleast two years, probably three is a good time for me. That way Berlin will be 2-3, trained, and can set a good example for the new puppy!! haha, but I guess when my shepherd mix girl passes, i'll also see how it is, with one dog. I wonder how Berlin will do, he loves playing with her. Hopefully she's still got another year or two in her. :)

Is adding a female to a household with a 2-3 year old male going to cause any problems??

Well I added my second dog when Schatzi was only 6 months. :eek::wild: But I got lucky that Schatzi and Cudi have a chill personality. Cudi is really mellow and friends, while Schatzi has her moments. However, I want to add another one, but I think I will wait till these 2 turn around 2 years or so. :)

I wouldn't put an age on it, but I would want the older dog to be well balanced, trained, socialized, mature, etc. The last thing you need is the older one teaching the younger one all the bad habits!

glad it ended up working out for you!

This is exactly what I was thinking. Whenever Berlin is nicely trained and can be a good example, I will add a puppy :) (of course....thats going to be a while... :D)