Have any of you....

[Donatello]

Brought up two puppies (from a big breed) at once? My girlfriend and I both want dogs, bigger dogs (I miss my old Rottweiler and want another as it is my favourite breed) and we want them from puppy age. I posted on a dog forum and was absolutely battered as 'you should never have two puppies at once with big breeds, one is hard enough' bla bla bla...

Now I take all advice on board but just thought it seemed a bit dramatic? I mean, the Rottweiler would be mine and the other (by the sounds of it some sort of Mastiff) will be my girlfriends. We would train them individually and both would have a direct 'owner'.

Basically wondered what the PH dog owners thought of this? Quite shocked and dis-heartened with the response I got tbh

Edited by Donatello on Thursday 23 December 22:40

[bexVN]

I know a client who took on 2 Dogue de Bordeaux pups both males (went for one, came back with two!) So far so good (and they are big dogs!)

Granted it's a bit more unusual because most people who choose big breeds only have space and costings for one but I don't see why it should be that big a deal if you have both of these and some knowledge of the breed you choose.

[okgo]

yep raised two alsations from puppy's.

Although having a stable to keep them in makes things easier.

I wouldn't listen to some mong on a dog forum, you want a car forum

[Le TVR]

I don't see a problem. We have had pairs of Irish Wolfhound pups in the past and there weren't any issues.

[Mrs Grumpy]

I would say it depends how experienced you are and how much time you will be spending with them.

Not sure size or breed makes a difference...

Certainly pups are VERY hard work. I would not choose to have a pup and definitely not two at once. The problem with taking on two pups is that they are likely to bond more with each other than with you. You would definitely need to train them separately.

[The Nur]

Donatello said:

Brought up two puppies (from a big breed) at once? My girlfriend and I both want dogs, bigger dogs (I miss my old Rottweiler and want another as it is my favourite breed) and we want them from puppy age. I posted on a dog forum and was absolutely battered as 'you should never have two puppies at once with big breeds, one is hard enough' bla bla bla...

Now I take all advice on board but just thought it seemed a bit dramatic? I mean, the Rottweiler would be mine and the other (by the sounds of it some sort of Mastiff) will be my girlfriends. We would train them individually and both would have a direct 'owner'.

Basically wondered what the PH dog owners thought of this? Quite shocked and dis-heartened with the response I got tbh

Sorry to be cynical but it sounds as though you have asked people who know what they are talking about and heard something you didn't like. You are now asking other people so you can hear something you want to hear. Get a grip man, if it's a bad idea it is a bad idea, asking somebody to tell you something different wont change that.

[Jasandjules]

I think it would be quite difficult to have enough time to train two pups at once. And energy.

I'd personally rather have a puppy and when it's about 18 months old consider a second one so the first one is pretty much trained up and knows the routine and is under control.

And I've never had two puppies - two kittens yes, but dogs no.

[jeff m]

I had two puppies, with birthdates 4 months apart. Training each individual dog went ok, the older one was far superior, never really found the limit of his "Stay". The second one was good but not quite as "zippy" in her execution.
However as they aged, the slightly older male dog took over control of the female.
Example. play and exercise..throw ball for male, on command he'd get ball dump it at myfeet. Female dog, throw her ball..she would look at male dog for permission to get her own ball Put male dog in the house, throw ball, female dog looks at kitchen door.
He would obey "stay" and not chase her ball, but would give her a stare that I assume meant "no".
A dog trainer said it was that he didn't approve of her playing with me.

Sort of made sense as all other commands were fine, but it made it difficult to exercise her.
Walking them was not sufficient, they could "walk" at 12mph, yes I tested them with the car.
Both dogs were very well behaved and appeared to be happy.
The female also never asked to go out. The male dog would ask for both of them

I did probably screw up somewhere in their training.
I would not let this stop you from getting two puppies, just be prepared for a few suprises and accept that one has to be dumber than the other.

Female dog was blonde BTW

ETA Should have said they were big..... Afghans, not 120lb big, but big enough that they need to very well trained, as they have a high prey instinct and grooming an afghan that thinks it's a Westie would be difficult.

Edit again
Big dogs and prey instinct...small children other than your own.
With a large dog it is really important that you acclimatise them to not see small children as something to chase or eat
I got mine use to small kids by walking them around the time the school bus arrived. Two afghan puppies are almost irresistable to kids (and many adults).
They got a lot of stroking/handling by strange kids when young. They enjoyed the attention. So at parties they would ignore the big people and teach the small kids how to throw the ball. To see an afghan with a full coat "running" at 1mph being chased by a three year old toddler is really funny. We always kept an eye on them of course, but it was really worth the effort we put in at the puppy stage.

Edited by jeff m on Saturday 25th December 19:34

Edited by jeff m on Saturday 25th December 21:22