two puppies together or just one

[bunny]

some say that purchasing two together is a good thing as it helps with sleeping at nights and companionship during the absence of the owner, i now find myself in that position, i can continue on with one, but the opportunity to have another is there, i am very tempted, iwould love to take two, but would appreciate advice on the issue, others say that two bond to each other rather than the owner, but has anyone ever done this in practice, rather than theory, if you have could you please share your experiences, i would really appreciate it. :?:                    

[Pammy]

Bunny- this subject comes up so many times. There different views on this - mine view fwiw is to wait until pooch number one is at least 18  months to two years old. Get them well trained and settled etc. Two puppies may be cute but fraught with problems over dominance and traniing is a nightmare - they don't pick up good habits but bad ones :?

Waiting until your current pup is a well rounded adult means pup number two will clearly know who the boss is and number one will keep pup in place. There is less risk of number one forgetting their training - allowing you to concentrate onm number two.

hth


PS this should have been posted in the puppies section - Mike may well move it when he can.                    

[bluesmum]

Hi Bunny,

I would definately say DO NOT get two puppies together!!!!

I know a few people get two but they will tell you it is really really hard work! Also two puppies tend to bond with each other rather than with you, making it so much harder for you to train them.

I have 15 months between my two and cant tell you how hard it is and I'm home all day for both of them and just right at this moment have no time at all for myself, everything is revolving around the dogs and their training, and Blue is really good too but I dont want him to fall behind just because we have Bailey now so if I had two puppies that I had to train from scratch then I know without a doubt there is no way that I could do it! I'm not saying that you couldn't do it Bunny and if you decide to go ahead with the two then I wish you lots and lots of luck with them.                    

[Jane S]

I would agree totally with Pam & Maria's advice. Many good breeders will not actually let 2 puppies go to the same home or sell one to a home where there already is a v young pup. We have a FAQ article on this very subject which you might find useful: http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/forum/viewt...opic.php?t=2017

Jane                    

[Sheila]

I agree, it is much better to be able to give one pup your attention and time.
Most breeders won't sell two puppies together to the same family, which tells me that they think it usually doesn't work well.

We have a very large age gap with our two, but Lottie is learning so much from Goldie. The older one does set a good example is the age gap is large enough.

Good luck with your decision.                    

[PennyB]

Unless you have unlimited time and energy, then don't get two pups together. In order to make sure they don't just bond with each other and leave you out of the equation then you'd have to make sure you spend huge amounts of time with each on their own. Its a lot of work when a lot of people can barely spend enough time with one dog.

And then no self-respecting breeder would let you take two pups anyway (not from the same one anyone).

Spend time with one pup and then get another when that one is mature enough and trained.                    

[Michele]

In a word NO  :!:                    

[Pipers Mummy]

I agree with what everyone else has said  :wink:

Another reason for not getting two puppies at the same time is for your sanity  

The thought of two of the little beauties ripping my hands to shreds, needing toilet training, chewing my furniture and chasing the cats sends a shiver right up my spine                      

[speedyjaney]

Hi There
Just to be controversial I'll add my 2 penneth  
We got both ours a week apart....we have not had it any harder than those with one pup....in some cases its easier as they are playmates for each other.
HOWEVER - we got different breeds...2 cockers would have been a nightmare..we got a westie and a cocker and they compliment each other wonderfully   typical hyper cocker with laid back chilled westie.
We also have 4 adults in our house all over 25....means plenty of training time available for each dog....Also the best spent £100 was a crate...they share and we havent had ONE sleepless night...
BUT when they start to play in the house the noise is amazing...loud, nasty and viscious sounding..but its only play!
You need loads of time...dedication and willpower for one pup...we had 4 adults with all this...and could cope with 2....some families would find it too hard...we all are pretty strict....Katina calls herself a cruel mum but we are the same...however at almost one year old our are great...only prob we have is walking on the lead...both want to be in front  
Think carfefully....one pup is very hard work....2 pups can be double or more this hard work....but then you do get double the pleasure  
Cheers
Jane, SaffiWestie and JessieCocker                    

[lizzy]

I would rather stand on hot coal than have 2 cocker pups!!  

Evie is 5 months and as much as I love her she grows more mischevious by the minute ( her knickname is C.T. chocolate terror  :wink: ) so I could
not cope with 2 of her!

I'm also glad of the bond I have with Molly ( my 2 and a half  year old )
she really is a good little girl, very grown up and mature! And I don't think you would get that if you had 2 the same age.

Lizzy Molly and Evie                    

[Becky]

We had Danny from a pup and he's now four.  He was a nightmare from day one.  He's lovely now though.  We're having another in a week and I'm really nervous because I know how hard it's going to be.  Obviously, it's worth it or we wouldn't do it again, but I don't think I would cope with two together.  Anyway, if you want two, at least if you wait you get all the pleasure and excitment twice!                    

[PennyB]

Just to add that mine are 13 months apart in age. Still it was hard work. My eldest who was quite well trained decided that she'd forget all her training as the pup didn't have any why should she. While I am on my own I work from home and while I don't have limitless time I can organize it better than the usual 9-5 so that helped a lot with training (or should I say retraining in Ruby's case and its not that she's stupid but should I say opportunistic). I don't have personal experience myself but have friends who didn't heed this advice and now regret it (they have terriers). Rarely it can work but its more luck than anything else.

The ratio I've been quoted is that its not twice as much work but 5 times as much.                    

[Juel]

I'll share my experience with you all;

I had 2 cocker puppies at 9 weeks of age last year (as some of you know we sadly lost one of them... our Honey Bun 2 weeks ago last Thursday :cry: )

I have mixed experiences really.......i loved having the 2 together,they played together & kept each other company  but were VERY hard work.
My hubby& I can't have children  so there are just the 2 of us so i suppose we had more time than some to spend with them.

We were very lucky in the fact that our breeder starts house training with his pups from 2 weeks(if you pay extra!!) & by the time we got them home  they were almost fully trained which with 2 was a Godsend & well worth the extra money,so as you can imagine that in itself made life much easier for us.

The training classes were a challenge as our 2 just wanted to be together  & caused havoc in the class  :oops:  but we loved every minute....not sure the trainer did though!! :wink:

Thinking about it as i'm writing.......we did it as a team & that's maybe where some would find it hard, my hubby & i both worked really hard with them & spent as much time as possible with them to make sure that they bonded with us & i can honestly say they did,as time went on they became quite independant of each other & both loved our attention more than each others,so we were lucky there!

The times that were hardest were when i was on my own at home,i did shed tears i can tell you & i do remember one day sobbing to Dave saying "why did i let you convince me to have 2 together" BUT it was only occasionally that i felt like that & i came to realise that my puppies came first & if i was finding doing housework etc difficult then i would leave it 'till later when Dave was home to help care for Honey&Harvey,when i came to accept this then life became much easier & my house much messier :wink:  
Another thing to consider is the walking.......if my 1st cocker was getting too boisterous around the house i would always take him a walk around the block to use up some energy but with 2 it was a different matter,even after training classes i couldn't cope with both of them together so every walk had to be with Dave & over our local park as it was easier than road walking.

I must say that i don't regret having them together for a moment, our house was so much fun & we coped well really but we are quite easy going couple & have a good sense of humour which is a must but i must stress that team work is essential if there aren't two of you who can spend lots time with them then i would think about it long&hard......i'd never really thought of it that way 'till now :?  

We had our 1st cocker off the same breeder so he knew us but he still sat talking to us for ages about the prospect of 2, he put lots of down sides to us & wouldn't make a decision until we'd gone away & thought about it...in fact we went every week for 6 weeks to spend time with them,interact with them & see how we got on,by then the breeder &  ourselves were confident that we'd be ok but maybe he was comfortable knowing that we have no other comitments,except work of course but i only work part time & had cocker experience :wink:

This is something that you must think long&hard about,you must realise that having two will be a full time job&very hard work but if you do decide to go ahead just enjoy them......we did!! :wink:

luv
juels xx                    

[taniac]

I think the last entry was very useful, but thought I'd add my comments too..

I always wanted more than one cocker but made the decision to wait until my first boy was nearly 2 before adding the second.  I take Neo to a weekly training class and he's a very good, quiet and gentle boy.

At Easter we brought home our 2nd cocker, he's very different personality wise from Neo and has definitely bonded more with Neo.  I take him to a separate training class because he howls if he can see Neo but not get to him (Neo's not bothered tho'   ).  Neo is also very soft and am not sure at this point if we're going to have problems with Jovi trying to be top dog.

We have been very careful to socialise Jovi and give him experiences without Neo. We walk Neo without Jovi once a day because he started to have separation anxiety and we needed to over come that.  Luckily Jovi is now very confident whether Neo is there or not.

My friend got her 2nd cocker too close to the first one, became pregnant and she just couldn't cope with the two.  Luckily her sister took on the youngest and so she sees her nearly everyday.  This helped me control myself and wait until Neo was older!!                    

[padfoot]

I have fostered two or three pups at the same time...and yes I do have grey hairs  :shock:
The playing, playfighting, tug of war, destructiveness and cleaning up are never-ending.
I had two pups for several weeks and I barely slept because they would howl and cry in their crate all night every night.
They also bonded with each other and not me or my family. This wasn't a problem for us as they weren't ours to keep...but it may well have been a problem for their new owners as they had to be seperated at 14 weeks  :?

One puppy is a lot of hard work....far better to get one trained before the next hooligan arrives  :wink: