Bringing in an new puppy?

[Chantal]

Does anyone have any more info on introducing another puppy into the house? Our obedience school said that you have to make sure that the puppy does not bond with the older dog, and that it bonds with you. They said the puppy should spend no more than 1 hour per day with the older dog, until it is 6 months old. They would both be in crates during the day (our girl right now is only 10 months). Any comments or past experiences?? Ever heard of this before?

[AngelBunny]

Chantal:

Generally speaking, it's far easier to raise one puppy or young dog at a time for people who lack experience and time. while it's easier to do things with both puppies or dogs together, this isn't wise to do because the dogs will bond more closely with each other than they will with their owners. The owner must be sure to do things separately with each puppy/young dog, where one stays home while the other is taken out. The owner must do what it takes to ensure that the focus of each puppy's or young dog's focus is on humans, not each other. And this involves considerable effort.

[winniecnm]

I raised three puppies at the same time...they are all within 2 mo of each other. But I crated them seperately and took them to obedience seperately and trained them all seperate too. Pretty much everything they did was seperate. They were allowed about 2-4 hours of playtime with each other, then the rest of the time they were mine. http://www.rottweiler.net/rottie/smile.gif

We also sometimes took two of them to obedience together so they would learn to work in each other's presence without getting distracted, but they also learned that hubbie and I = their boss. I really think that that helped out a lot.

Angelbunny is right though. It takes a LOT of time and effort. The only reason I pulled that one off was cause I had no job and my hubbie had a good work schedule. We were at obedience 3-5 times a week and always on the go...You have to make sure that noone gets too much attention or jealousy will start to erupt, that noone's treat is bigger or better just like kids http://www.rottweiler.net/rottie/biggrin.gif