Long-Dangerous Tails

Julie, you know I always love your puppy shots—but that first one is just priceless!

The puppies are always wonderful. I’d love some opinions on the best age of existing dogs to introduce a puppy. I’m not ready yet, as I have a 12 year old male GSD who is just a bit set in his ways (and requires some special TLC to keep him going), but I’m just thinking ahead. I know it isn’t a good idea to get two puppies, and it has been my experience that getting a puppy keeps the middle aged dogs hopping, but I’d appreciate some thoughts from the Alta-Tollhaus family. Thanks!

Laura Reply:
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:34 pm

@Laura, I don’t think I was clear that I have dogs in addition to the 12 year old GSD. I guess my question is, how old should the youngest dog be before one should think about adding a puppy?

Laura, I think a lot of it has to do with you and how much time you have for a new puppy. How old is your youngest? Although I prefer to raise one pup at a time, I have also had success at raising two at the same time—and they were just two weeks apart in age.

Wow — two weeks apart! My ‘puppy’ is two and a half YEARS old — so I guess his age shouldn’t stop me from adding to the family! You’re right about the time factor — I should probably think more about that than the age of my other dogs.