The Schnauzer Forum

Although new to this forum are not new to miniature schnauzers as I’ve had five over the last 25 years however four of them have passed away and I now have beautiful six month old boy dog named Billy he’s the most wonderful caring of all of the miniature schnauzers I’ve had, and I believe extremely good looking as he thinks as well, he’s a bit of a poser and loves female company so it’s a bit of a Romeo

Welcome to the Forum

Lovely photos of Billy

Hi and Welcome. He's very cute

Hi welcome to the forum what a handsome boy you have.

Hello,

My name is Brett, I am new to this forum and have a nearly six year old mini Schanuzer named Herbie. He is the center of our home and could not be more adored. My 13 year old daughter is eager for us to adopt a second pup but I am reluctant as we have such a good thing going with our current dog and I am concerned he will not be accepting of a new pup. He is very clingy and protective of all of us. Any suggestions?

I'm not much help as we've only ever had the one dog at a time. I would say some of it would depend on how he is with other dogs too and how much time does your current dog take with training etc. puppies are very time consuming. I know if we got another dog because Jasper is high maintenance with anxiety etc I would have 3 lots of training to do instead of just the one lot now. Continuing with Jaspers training, training new pup, and training the 2 to be together

Bgentry1 wrote: 12 Nov 2024, 18:27 Hello,

My name is Brett, I am new to this forum and have a nearly six year old mini Schanuzer named Herbie. He is the center of our home and could not be more adored. My 13 year old daughter is eager for us to adopt a second pup but I am reluctant as we have such a good thing going with our current dog and I am concerned he will not be accepting of a new pup. He is very clingy and protective of all of us. Any suggestions?

As stated above, it may depend on whether you are still spending time training Herbie and how sociable he is with other dogs especially puppies. Generally speaking an older dog will usually be accepting of a new puppy in the home and often a puppy can bring a shy dog ‘out of its shell’ and encourage a more exuberant and self confident attitude in the older dog. Puppies are very playful and this seems to trigger a greater joy in life in the more sedate dogs.

However, if Herbie is very unconfident, anxious, needing careful handling / training, it may not be a good idea to introduce a puppy whose behaviour might be affected by a poor example. It is better to introduce a puppy into a family while the resident dog is not too old as that can be disruptive for the older one so 6 years old is a good age and should usually mean the resident dog is settled and mature but still able to join in games with the puppy.

If you do decide to get a second puppy, you will need to be sure you can ( in the first few months especially ) devote a lot of time to settling in the new addition and training him/her. You will also need to be careful to keep Herbie’s routines the same as they are to a great extent and ensure he still gets love and attention and a space to be away from the puppy, if and when he wants to be on his own.

Two dogs in the home can be excellent, providing companionship and fun for each other as well as the rest of the family but it does need careful consideration of the temperament and needs of the resident dog and making sure the puppy comes from a good breeder who has raised their pups to be self confident and resilient in health and temperament.

Great advice, thanks a bunch!