Question for dog lovers - 1 puppy or 2 ?? Help!

[TheTravelMan]

Hi there,

My Mums dog, a cavalier king charles spaniel, has had puppies of which are now 6 and half weeks old, we have chosen a gorgeous chestnut coloured blenheim girl for ourselves, us being 2 adults and 2 children age : 7 & 8.

However we have also fallen in love with the other blenheim girl, this one is mostly white with only small chestnut brown markings.

Can anyone out there help us convince ourselves, before she sell's as she and a tri coloured girl are both for sale. whether or not to have both puppies?? or should we just stick to one? any advice, good or bad, please let me know. Our first caravanning trip with 1 or 2 puppies is to Bowness at the end of May, our puppies will be 8 weeks old and ready to come home on Friday 1st May.

Look forward to your comments.

Andrew.

 

[Chris_374413356]

My wife says have 2, reason, if you have 2 and have to leave them for an hour or two they won't fret they'll be company for each other.

 

[LMH]

Hi Andrew

Twice the feeding, twice the training, twice the insurance cost, twice the speying cost, twice the innoculation/booster/worming costs.

Personally, I'd have just the one and put 100% work into it rather than the possibility of only being able to put 50% of work into it, if you had two of the same age if that makes sense.

You could always get another one when you've 'done the groundwork' on the current pup.

Lisa

 

[RogerP]

i'd go with the one as well.

Concentrate on one puppy at a time , we've got 2 dogs which are roughly a year apart and it worked well for us. Especially as the younger one 'copied' the older one so training was a bit easier.

(providing you get the training right first time around that is!!)

 

[Mr C]

We had exactly the same thoughts and were going to get two Cavaliers , our neighbour is a vet and totally advised getting two at the same time as they are harder to train and more likely to bond with each other and not listen to you. We took this advice and got a wonderful Ruby Cav who fitted so well into our family(apart from the molting). After two years we went to ' Discover Dogs' at Earls Court, a wonderful day out in Nov, my wife fell in live with the Miniture Schnauzer , we got a little girl and they get along wonderful and are a real asset to our family, yes you do get twice the costs but to us they are worth it. Our advice is if you can afford it to get two dogs but not at the same time and possibly not the same sex but making sure of no little accidents !

 

[Mr C]

We had exactly the same thoughts and were going to get two Cavaliers , our neighbour is a vet and totally advised getting two at the same time as they are harder to train and more likely to bond with each other and not listen to you. We took this advice and got a wonderful Ruby Cav who fitted so well into our family(apart from the molting). After two years we went to ' Discover Dogs' at Earls Court, a wonderful day out in Nov, my wife fell in live with the Miniture Schnauzer , we got a little girl and they get along wonderful and are a real asset to our family, yes you do get twice the costs but to us they are worth it. Our advice is if you can afford it to get two dogs but not at the same time and possibly not the same sex but making sure of no little accidents !

Just read through my post and should have said our neighbour, a vet would totally advise AGAINST getting two puppies at the same time, sorry, I really should read through before I post !

 

[James_374408700]

Andrew,

Stick with 1. When we decided to go for a second Boxer it ended up costing about 25,000 grand! Caravan too small for 2 dogs so bought bigger van then had to buy bigger tow car!!!!!!

The vets bills and insurance etc really add up.

PS. Just think how much damage 2 pups could do to your home/caravan!

Good luck

Jim

 

[lessirrocc]

Andrew

We have 5 giant breed Newfoundlands two at 5 years old, one at three years old and two ten year olds .

All come away with us yes we have a big van and awning three sleep in the Vito and two sleep in the awning never had any problems with them on site we could never contemplate life with just one dog.

 

[Carl-GreyhoundsrUs]

Andrew,

It depends on your circumstances, and as Lisa has mentioned, one of the considerations is cost, we have 3 Greyhounds and just the rounds of worming and flea treatments can be an expensive time. However, I personally take great pleasure from my "pack", and if you think you may leave your dog alone for any period of time, having more than one should reduce the incidence of any seperation anxiety.

Carl.

 

[catherine2]

Hi Andrew

Most experts would recommend one puppy only, particularly if you are not experienced dog owners.

The reason for this is that it is crucial the pup looks to you as the pack leader. Where there are 2 from the same litter they have already bonded with each other and this bond will continue when you bring them home. Instead of taking their lead from you they are more likely to look to each other as their primary companion. Puppies can get into a lot of mischief and you can be sure that what one is doing, especially if it looks like fun, the other will follow - chewed furniture, torn up cushions and carpet, chewed wiring - all multiplied by 2!

Hope this helps and enjoy your new pup(s).

 

[neila1]

no one has said it yet but if you get two as puppys when the time comes you might have to say good buy to the two best things ever in a very short space of time, we were advised to train the one we have and get a second one after 3 years and our lab is 3 in july and i so want another one but other half is saying no at the moment so i can see both for and againsts, casper loves the caravan and is so chilled when we go away

 

[Ianofwilts]

Andrew,

If you've read the other item on dogs, some would say none.

Personally I would go for the 2 particullarly if you are a working family. Yes there is the issue of cost feeding, insurance etc. We have 2 springer spaniels and decided on 2 from the same litter for company when the family is out. We took alot of advice from the vet before making the decision because the house is empty during the day. The advice we got is in general they will sleep for most of the time but like humans they crave company so 2 fealt right. The only problem we have and i should have realised by their breed when awake they're absolute nutters. but a great addition to the family and 2 gives both our kids opportunity to mess about with them, that in itself can avoid sibling arguments.

 

[ed1]

hello andrew,

we have 2 dulux dogs, one is 20 months(blue) and the younger is 10 months(panda), i wish i had have got them both at the same time,(but when we went for blue he was the only one left so didnt have a choice) but anyway, first trip in van with them was ok as little one was only 10 weeks old, second trip in van was a nightmare, they nearly wrecked the van as they are now not so little.(new compass corona 524) that was it, we were never taking them again. but last week we went up to keswick with the dogs and it couldnt have been any different , they were well behaved, didnt crash into everything, did as they were told, and we cant wait for the next time, given the choice i would get 2 at the same time, or at least very close to each other, thats our opinion. the problem is once you fall in love with them its hard to say no. good luck. regards ED

 

[sgtzara]

Certainly take one however don't be getting two pups at the same time. They will bond with each other and not you. Best get one now and then a year or so down the line get another one.

 

[WilliamLX]

Two dogs are better than one, if they are ever going to be left alone for periods of time (as dogs are pack animals and find isolation distressing). However as several have said, avoid getting two pups together as they will be a handful and can bond more with each other than you. I would also avoid two siblings as chances are much greater that if one has genetic or behavioural problems, so will the other, than would be the case for non related dogs.

Last thing I would say is that Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are probably not the best choice of breed. They are one of the breeds most prone to health issues due to the level of deformity in the facial skeleton, small size and how inbred this breed is (although as your mother is a breeder, I assume you will be aware of this).

 

[Steve L]

We have had upto 4 Labradors with us and I would throughly recomend pairing up animals as they have both the companionship of each other and the ability to learn from each other too.

Sadly we are now reduced to just one chocolate lab who has learnt all his people skills from our 14 year old white lab. She had been trained for both security as personal protection and family obiediance. With only minimal input from us our current youngster has adopted all the same discipline as the old girl had.

Dogs are so much fun and not too demanding. We take our's everywhere with us and quite honestly if he is not accepted in any establishment then we just do not go ourselves.

We always make sure that the only trade mark left behind by our dog is his "paw prints" and quite often I do have to give out plastic (degradeable)to other less decerning dog owners.

You can always spot our car in the car park as it is the one with windows down and an air circulation fan buzzing inside. I even chose our Laguna estate mainly because it has an opening window in the tail gate that allows full flow of cool air for the dog and a super cool air con system for us all to share.

Our 40Kg Lab costs us about 35p a day to "run". Wow, what a cheap rate for fun, companionship and entertainment.

Regards

Steve L.

 

[Guest]

We are often dog sitters or with friends and families dogs, we're not in a position to have dogs ourselves.

We look after pairs of dogs from the same litter at times. It is a joy to see how dogs from the same litter interact together and with people. Our dughter was told that two girls from the same litter may not get on. We look after a pair of Spaniel cross girls from the same litter, they are very sweet together. They have a grumble at one another off their leads. One is protective of the other in the car and the upposite way around in the home. They are a joy to be with and at night they curl up together or when alone.

The washing rituals of washing one another eyes and ears is very sweet and they care for one another if one gets a scratch or nick.

Family have dogs in pairs from the same litter, boy and girl combo's. Again they are very sweet and caring for one another and all are well behaved and seem to have learned fom one another without problems.

On dog sitting duties my wife and I have found the dog pairs are fine and we really enjoy having them, they always have the continuity with their pairing.

None of them have problems coming to us strangers.

 

[WilliamLX]

Steve L,

What is a white labrador???? As far as I know (and I have been keeping labs for 36 years) there are only Yellow (most popular), Black and Chocolate (also sometimes called liver). I have heard the incorrect use of golden quite often, but white is a new one (unless your dog was incredibly ancient and had gone white all over. Yellows have always been my favorite, but I currently have two blacks (a dog and a *****).

 

[ed1]

hello william, we had 2 labs before the duluxs, both were classed as yellow, but codi was definately not yellow, he was a creamy white, and a very very very creamy white at that, and we did refer to him as the white one. ED