Gun Dog Forum

How far apart in age does everyone like their dogs to be before getting another?

My wife and I have a 7 month old Brittany and are tossing around the idea of getting a second Britt this summer. What's everyone's opinion on having two dogs this close in age?

What are some negatives and positives to getting puppies this close in age?

Negatives: they will age together, two balls of energy running around the house instead of one, and twice the training/equipment
Positives: play together, After a few years I will have two dogs I can rotate or run together in the field,

Two pups now means two elderly dogs later. Unless you can keep three or more at a time, you'll be pretty much dogless then.

Dogs of the same sex, close in age, could mean aggression problems later. Been there, done that TWICE :roll: -never again!

It might be nice to OD on puppy breath now, but what will you do for a fix in 3 years?

You want the pup to bond with you, not the other pup.

i've had the best time spreading my puppies out to 2-3 year intervals. One's pretty well started then we can mess with a new guy; we have a finished reliable dog to fall back on when the started one is driving us nuts; we have a finished reliable dog as one goes into retirement. The older dogs teach the young ones, and the young ones keep the older ones active.

Poor man. You and your wife are becoming afflicted with birddogitis. Stop and give it some thought. Do you hunt so much you NEED two dog's? Are you qualified and do you have the birds and grounds to train two dog's? Keep this in mind: If you have two dog's, each will only get half the hunting unless you run them together and that usually isn't for the neophyte. They will both age together. They'll be two hellions now and two senile old pooches at the same time. Most people space them 7-8 years apart unless you just plain need two dog's.

I like to give the one dog my full attention for at least 3 years, then I consider another pup. I've had "two senile old pooches at a time " -and I make 3- and enjoyed them still.

In an ideal world I'd want a 3-5 year gap between the dogs. I have a 10 years old and an 8 years old dog here and the older one is now stone deaf and the 8 years old says he is too ! I now have a 3-4 year old and a 9-10 month old pup following up on the old codgers.

Wait until the pup you have is reasonably well trained before you get another one.

Bill T.

I've always kept two. I would add one at 5 or 6 years. Always have 1 in their prime. This last time I found myself getting behind, wasn't wanting to go through the puppy phase. I have 2 only 2 years apart. Really to close but I'm surviving. 1 is female the last a male.

Trekmoor wrote:In an ideal world I'd want a 3-5 year gap between the dogs. I have a 10 years old and an 8 years old dog here and the older one is now stone deaf and the 8 years old says he is too ! I now have a 3-4 year old and a 9-10 month old pup following up on the old codgers.

Wait until the pup you have is reasonably well trained before you get another one.

Bill T.

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LOL Too funny. Thanks for my afternoon laugh.

If I only had two, I'd wait until at least year 3 - 5 to get another one. One fully trained dog and one up and comer.

I waited until my britt was too old to hunt and by that time, family circumstances (inheriting my late mom's yorkie and having my wife's grandmother living with us) prevented me from getting another gun dog. Alas, between the last couple of years when the britt was too old and lame to hunt and this year of raising and training my setter, I missed about 4 years of hunting.

When Whip is about 5 or 6, I plan to secure another pup so that I can avoid that gap.

It was a drag

BtheBrit wrote:How far apart in age does everyone like their dogs to be before getting another?
What are some negatives and positives to getting puppies this close in age?

Negatives: they will age together, two balls of energy running around the house instead of one, and twice the training/equipment
Positives: play together, After a few years I will have two dogs I can rotate or run together in the field,

Perhaps you should re-evaluate what is positive and what is negative for the dog(s) rather than You ?

I have 2 dogs which are 6-7 months apart in age. 1 is just a pet, the other is my spaniel. If I can give you any piece of advice it would be don't ever do that! LOL. They were way too close in age and would never settle in the house. Now they are both over 3 years old and its not as bad, but it took 3 years to get to this point. I will never own 2 dogs that close in age again. If I wanted to have 2 hunting dogs, I would wait until the first is at least 3-4 years old. By that point the dog is pretty much finished and you can fully trust it in the field. Personally, I think what would be ideal is waiting until the first dog is about 7 years old. At that point the older dog is a seasoned veteran and still has a few years left to go hard in the field. A new pup takes about 2 years to really fully be useful. By the time the young dog is coming into its prime, the older dog is retiring gracefully. Plus, a positive for me is that when the new dog is a pup, at 7 years old the older dog will teach the young one the proper way to act in the house - instead of join in non-stop as is the case for me.

the time to get another dog is when your ready and that means when you can spend the time with the dog bonding and then on to training without taking away from the other dog so i say if you have the time for both dogs an give both the atention they deserve i say go for it

My Britt will be 6 this summer. I know that I will need to bring in another dog to make sure when he ages out I am not caught without a useful trained hunter. Truthfully I am perfectly happy with just the one dog and I worry how he will react to a new roommate. He can be quite alpha around other dogs but does great with some. He is so attached to us that it worries me how the whole dynamic in the house will change? Never had two dogs at once. I can't believe mine will ever grow old and deteriorate but we all know they have very short lives. At this point the plan is to get another when he is 8 or 9. At that point a new pup would be on its way to being a good hunter.