back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
Posts: 3,149
Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Aug 25, 2014 20:39:57 GMT
Hope you decided to get the puppy who is tugging at your heart strings. I vote for two!
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purplebee
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,792
Jun 27, 2014 20:37:34 GMT
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Post by purplebee on Aug 25, 2014 21:11:02 GMT
My first reaction to your question was also concern about socialization. I had a toy poodle puppy who I got when she was about 3-4 months old. She was being raised with a sibling, they were the 2 left in the litter. We wanted both, but just could not handle two puppies at that particular time, so we opted to buy the little girl. She was very cute, and had a sweet personality, but never really bonded with me like my other dogs. She never really asked for affection, though was fine about being picked up and held. After reading about canine socialization, I realized that her aloofness was likely because she had bonded primarily with her sibling.
But whatever way you decide to go, I wish you luck with your new baby(ies). Nothing cuter than a new puppy!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 10, 2024 20:23:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2014 22:02:07 GMT
So send us a pic of those two adorable puppies you are getting already!!
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Post by omarakbt on Aug 25, 2014 22:10:19 GMT
I'm in favor of one puppy at a time, so that puppy bonds to your and the others in your family, not to another dog. I want the time to bond with, train, enjoy the one dog until they are grown and trained. I like 3-5 years between my dogs so that one is trained and an adult before bringing in a new puppy. The older dog can then help with the training upbringing of the new puppy. Plus you don't have two senior dogs at the same time with all the attendant issues that senior dogs can have. I want the puppy to be MY dog, not another dogs best buddy. I want the benefit of being the special person in that dog's eyes.
But that's me
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jayfab
Drama Llama
procastinating
Posts: 5,592
Jun 26, 2014 21:55:15 GMT
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Post by jayfab on Aug 25, 2014 22:40:14 GMT
I vote get both. We have two mini schnauzers who are litter mates. They have tons of fun playing together. Haven't had any trouble when they are away from each other.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 10, 2024 20:23:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2014 22:42:08 GMT
I never, ever regretted getting two labs at the same time (although they weren't siblings). The expense was more, but it wasn't any more work at all. The only real drawback is that it might have been possible to find one person to watch a lab for us instead of boarding them, but it is asking a lot to ask someone to take on two labs.
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Post by petenthusiast on Aug 25, 2014 23:37:13 GMT
OMG do NOT, I repeat NOT get 2 dogs that are littermates!!!! They are not at all like cats and though everyone wants to see two get a home, this is not a kill shelter, and it's not a dire rescue. Please listen on this one, I speak from experience as someone who had two littermate puppies "gifted" to our yard 12 years ago. At the time I was taking an upper division psych class, and the Dr got her Phd specializing in DOG behaviour, and raised and trained an endless amount of dogs her entire career. She IMPLORED me to seek out a different home for one of them, stating "You canNOT train sibling dogs!" I, of course, could not bear the thought of separating these poor sweet babies, and was adamant that "where there is a will, there is a way." Armed with all of my materials from her class in positive reinforcement training, AND years of classes with professionals skilled in the same, it became all too clear she was right. I resisted meds and stuck to training for five years before we had no choice but to resign ourselves to meds. That was a long ordeal of trial and error ( some making them even more hyper) until settling on generic prozac. That helped for quite some time until this year when the one is acting like he's lost his damned mind at times worse than imaginable. Did every test in the world, even tried some pain meds thinking it might be his arthritis, nope. He us now not only on his prozac, but a sedating anxiety med that does not sedate him, and yet another sedating med. this is what it takes THREE times a day with 2 of the sedating meds to not sedate him, but make him a somewhat normal dog until abt 2 hrs prior to the next med time when he get mind-numbingly, stressfully spastic beyond what the most patient person could tolerate. We have the most vet'd pets on earth, so rest assured he has been examined and re-examined and there is no medical cause. Behaviourist from the vet also at a loss other than the sibling issue from the get-go As we speak I am soaking in a bath in a nightly Calgon-take-me-away retreat from his uncontrollable barking this hour before his next med. Hubby constantly takes them on walks, they have a large fenced in yard to run off all that energy when outside. Done it ALL, believe me. I love these dogs with all of my heart but often I think about if they ended up in any other home it would not have been a forever one. For 12 years they cannot be left to roam the house alone because they will tear apart and eat ANYTHING. They feed off each other. They are their own pack and you are not really in it no matter what you do. If one goes to the vet or groomer both must go or they will somehow hurt themselves, despite having a thick METAL extended babygate that spans half of a large room dedicated to them when you can't be right there watching them. The barking...ignore it long enough and it will stop right? WRONG not these dogs they will go on hoarse forever if need be without medicinal intervention. Don't believe me, believe with love and patience anything is possible...that's exactly what I thought. I have all the patience and time in the world having not have to work all this time...but here we are 12 years later ("they'll calm down after 2 years" everyone said...ye-ah. I love these dogs, I don't want to lose these dogs..I feel endlessly guilty about even saying anything negative knowing they are up in years, but here I am, stressed in the bathtub. Again. With zits from stress because it has gotten so bad again lately and I've done everything imaginable . At least the current meds are getting him through the night because when this all started up again It was like some torture using sleep deprivation.. But I carry on, try new things, and it very calm... UNTIL that 2 hr mark before any more of the med can be given. You wouldn't be doing a favor for SIBLING dogs (littermates) believe me. Despite this long soliloquy, you haven't even scraped the surface of what I could still go on about, but most will still think it's just some freak thing and encourage the "sweet" idea of it anyway (like I was convinced). I will not ever give up on these dogs, but most people aren't equipped to go as far as I have. Sure you'll hear about the exceptions to the rule, but that is akin to the person who smoked 4 packs of cigs a day while eating 49 slices of bacon while driving on the autobahn and lived to be 100, but the littermate thing...it is real and more common than exception. I don't want an award, but I do know I wouldn't want to put anyone else through this. Did I mention I really LOVE these dogs?
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 26, 2014 0:31:29 GMT
I know I have posted this previously, but our six year old sheltie (good dog) was the perfect dog. We brought home the eight week old corgi (bad dog) and she was an instant big sister. She played so gently with him and was very sweet and rarely had to put him in his place. She lost about five pounds and started acting like a puppy again herself. Now she is nine and still plays like a puppy with him. They are such great companions for each other. When we go for walks they frolic together and wait for each other all of the time. Neither one seems dominant, they are just great buddies. Two, if you want two, is perfect.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 26, 2014 0:34:49 GMT
I know several people that took litter mates and never had a problem.
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Post by irisheyes on Aug 26, 2014 0:41:50 GMT
Petenthusiast,
If you don't mind answering, what kind of dogs are your litter mates? What was their temperament when you got them? Does that make a difference?
These two dogs are the most calm of the litter - would that make a difference? I called the vet today, and they didn't think it would be a problem, but I don't want to do a disservice to these dogs. We want them to be happy, healthy, and well behaved.
I don't have pictures yet, but when we pick one or two up on Saturday, I will post pictures. I am still unsure what to do.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 26, 2014 0:56:38 GMT
One of my friends had lab litter mates and they were adorable together. I also know people that have corgis, dachshunds, and goldens. No one has ever said anything about litter mates. One guy kept all six dachshunds; now that is a fun house. Lots of tripping over there.
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Post by Restless Spirit on Aug 26, 2014 1:39:35 GMT
We are on our 2nd time of having a set of beagle sibling/litter mates. They just turned 1 year old this month.
The very worst part of having 2 dogs the same age is that there is a bigger chance you will lose them both close together. We lost our beloved Tucker in May 2010 and her sister Zoey in Jan 2012. It was very, very hard on me to lose two so close together. But the over-riding joy of having 2 sisters compelled us to do it again.
Maggie and Lily are wonderful, sweet, loving dogs. They love our mini-doxie and she loves them. We love being a multi-dog family and can't imagine our lives being any other way.
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jen4
Shy Member
Posts: 39
Jul 9, 2014 11:29:45 GMT
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Post by jen4 on Aug 26, 2014 1:48:36 GMT
I had a single boxer for 7 years and always wanted another one. I finally got a another boxer puppy before Christmas last year and I have absolutely no regrets about it. They both got along well, play together, sleep together, even learning from one another too! They keep each other company as well which is nice for them. The older has been trained and mellowed down a bit which made it easier for me to train the puppy.
You might want to have one for awhile and see how it goes for your son. Two is the merrier but you'll want to be ready to handle two, more work, food, vet visits, etc.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 10, 2024 20:23:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2014 2:32:00 GMT
I'm in favor of one puppy at a time, so that puppy bonds to your and the others in your family, not to another dog. I want the time to bond with, train, enjoy the one dog until they are grown and trained. I like 3-5 years between my dogs so that one is trained and an adult before bringing in a new puppy. The older dog can then help with the training upbringing of the new puppy. Plus you don't have two senior dogs at the same time with all the attendant issues that senior dogs can have. I want the puppy to be MY dog, not another dogs best buddy. I want the benefit of being the special person in that dog's eyes. But that's me I can honestly say that our dogs were not bonded to each other more than they were to us. My black lab was definitely my husband's buddy and the chocolate lab was mine. They were good together and there was never even a growl between them, but the truth is that when our black lab died, our chocolate lab looked for him for one evening but after that, he seemed more concerned with us being upset.
While you can have compounded health issues with two senior dogs, the benefit is that they are both at the same level of playfulness, etc. so when you walk them or play with them, one is not completely exhausted before the other one gets started.
It may vary by breed though because labs are especially people oriented.
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Dani-Mani
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,709
Jun 28, 2014 17:36:35 GMT
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Post by Dani-Mani on Aug 26, 2014 2:54:49 GMT
The puppy years were the worst years of our lives (she's 9 now, and I think she finally is outgrowing her puppy years...). The thought of getting another one breaks us all our in hives. The thought of getting two would put me in the emergency room.
Good luck with your choice.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 26, 2014 2:57:53 GMT
The puppy years were the worst years of our lives (she's 9 now, and I think she finally is outgrowing her puppy years...). The thought of getting another one breaks us all our in hives. The thought of getting two would put me in the emergency room. Good luck with your choice. What kind of pup do you have?
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Post by scrappinmom3 on Aug 26, 2014 3:14:17 GMT
Until recently, when we had to say goodbye to our sweet Hunter, we had three dogs. I have to say now, two is perfect but three is too many. Of course, add our mini pig and 5 parrots to the mix and we have entirely too many pets! Go for two!
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Dani-Mani
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,709
Jun 28, 2014 17:36:35 GMT
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Post by Dani-Mani on Aug 26, 2014 3:16:44 GMT
The puppy years were the worst years of our lives (she's 9 now, and I think she finally is outgrowing her puppy years...). The thought of getting another one breaks us all our in hives. The thought of getting two would put me in the emergency room. Good luck with your choice. What kind of pup do you have? Our 9 year old dog is a big, beautiful, and sweet dopey black lab who we took home as a rescue at 5 weeks of age. She was the worst puppy in the world. She once ate through the tile in the bathroom floor (while we were in the room with her!). She broke more than one baby gate. She would sit in the middle of the road (no sidewalks here) because she hated taking walks (and still does). She does not like water, and once took the paint off the bathroom wall climbing the up the damn wall trying not to get a bath. She HATED the woman who taught obedience class, and on the last day, she (after being house trained for at least 5 months with no pee accident, let alone poop), took a massive dump on the floor (we still crack up when we think about it). We had to wear tall boots for a while, because while she was teething, she'd bite our shins. She's consumed her fair share of drywall. We got her a dog house, because we had over an acre of land, and wanted her to enjoy outside. She hates outside, so she tore a hole in the aluminium screen door to get back in. She just walked in and laid down like she didn't punch a hole in the door. Every morning we would give her kisses before we left. We were in a hurry once, because my sister was having surgery. We came back (not even an hour later), and she had taken her pillow, which she had for at least several months, and tore all the stuffing out. Then she took her paws and pushed it out of her crate, because she couldn't be bothered with it. Seriously. We have so many stories! She's very opinionated, very anxious, very smart, very dramatic, and not a lick of common sense. We wouldn't change it for anything, we love her to death. But we will never get a puppy again. Have you read Marley and Me? They're so related.
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Post by ilovelucydog on Aug 26, 2014 4:13:44 GMT
I have Papillon litter mates and they are fabulous. They love each other, but they love us more. No trouble bonding with any of us and they play like crazy with each other. I love that they are together when we are at work. They curl up together in their kennel and are as happy as can be. We adore them and are so happy we got them both.
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Post by DinCA on Aug 26, 2014 7:32:33 GMT
I think two is better than one, also. We got our second a year after the first and they are the best of friends. They always have each other if we're not around. And while my dogs are not litter mates, they know who is in charge.
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Post by gossamer on Aug 26, 2014 21:23:05 GMT
Never had 2 puppies at once, but if you only get one, maybe you can find someone locally with another puppy for play time. Love to see 2 puppies playing together.
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Post by irisheyes on Aug 27, 2014 2:12:24 GMT
We will pick them up on Saturday. We are so excited and nervous about having not one but two puppies. I'll post pictures Saturday night.
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