Adding a New Baby.. but when?!

[MissyGallant]

Well, I have a completely different experience. Tara and Clara are exactly the same age. Well, there's probably about a half hour difference but we don't know who is older because we went to breakfast, and when we got home, they were both there.

There is something to genetics. We can observe behaviors in both of them and say, "Yep, that's Casey. That's Annabelle. That's pure Clara. That's all Tara." That is very funny. And I love being able to know that. Tara and Clara are twins, and are as different as possible. Tara is more like Casey. Clara is almost a twin of Annabelle. Although, Annabelle is much more affectionate.

Now there is Cooper. Annabelle is 6, the twins are 4. And on a daily basis, I am glad that there are THREE Belles to help wear Cooper out! I love him, but golly he has so much energy! As active as the Belles were, none of them had the constant motion that Cooper does. But the Belles LOVE having him around. He is the best toy we ever bought Clara.

We had two puppies with the twins, and I wouldn't change it for a minute. They both love us very much. And there is always a sheltie to cuddle even when someone else is playing with Cooper.

 

[Ann]

There are some great observations here! My experience has been varied. We've added puppies to the household when dogs were between 2 and 5 usually. That worked well, except in Pixie's case. She was 2 when Barkley came and was terrified of him from the minute he landed. He was a typical puppy boy and chased her endlessly, so she was always hiding from him. She lost her playfulness, and I hated to see that.

Ruffles was born here so it was a bit different...she fit seamlessly into the herd as she grew. Ruffles was 2 when I brought Sprite home and I wanted her to be a playmate for Ruffles, who desperately wanted to play with the older dogs but they wanted no part of it. To my surprise, Ruffles viewed Sprite as an interloper and wanted nothing to do with her. But Sprite was persistent and after a month, Ruffles couldn't stand it. Now they play constantly! I worried about our senior dogs who are now 10 and 9 but Barkley at age 9 also plays with Sprite. He loves puppies and plays with all of them. Once they're grown, he ignores them.

I think as long as your resident dogs are young enough to withstand the constant barrage that is puppy play, they will adapt. From my experience, I think adding a puppy when the others are 2 to 4 is perfect. Don't worry about one teaching the other bad habits...it's a given. They all learn the bad traits but not the good ones!

 

[Silaria]

We added Keiran to the house when Edan and CJ were 8.5 years old. Why so late? Because I had to compromise with my hubby on a third dog. Originally it was supposed to be when Edan and CJ were 10 and we were just starting to look expecting to be on wait lists and the little one just fell into our lap.

Honestly Edan took to Keiran pretty quickly and was Keiran's best buddy. Why do I say was instead of is? Because the little intact puppy is being a little bit of a brat and you can see a little jealousy creeping in. Edan has to 'protect mom' from the puppy and he's very subtle about it.

CJ didn't, and still doesn't, want anything to do with him; though she will join in a game of chase. We are hoping this will change as he matures and is neutered. Right now he is very insistent on putting a nose where CJ doesn't want it.