We've always been a multi dog household having normally 2 but sometimes as now 3. We try to have at least 3 to 4yrs difference in ages so that the youngster can learn good manners from the older ones and also so we don't end up with 2 or 3 old dogs at once along with the possible vet bills.

Our present dogs are Gyp, 11yrs old on meds for her heart and arthritis, Bracken 4yr old Pointer and then 1yr old Lucan our black Lab.

 

I don't think there is an Ideal Age Gap. I would say bring on two pups close in age is very hard work and having a large age gap (old dog, young pup) will probably mean they will not really have that bond two younger dogs have...but everything in between is blurred.

I've had 10 year, 4 year, 2 year, 18 and 9 months gaps and there are Pros and Cons with all of them, although I personally much prefer having a smaller gap than a larger one, purely because I love watching the young dogs play together.

 

There is exactly one year between Poppy and Smudge and it has been brilliant I have seen Poppy mature as Smudge has grown and now Smudge is having her first season and the two seem to somehow have grown closer.

I have expessed my desire to get another pup in the future, which was at first given a big NO!!!!!! But strangely my OH seems to be telling people when they ask about the dogs "oh, she wants another one you know......" without the addition of "NO WAY!!!!" So we will wait and see, but not too long I hope. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I'm not sure about what's best, I think it depends on the individual dogs really.

We have quite a large gap I guess. Minnie is the youngest and she's just over 2.5 years old. The next youngest is Sno who is 11, so there's a minimum 8.5 year gap between Mins and the older ones. It really doesn't seem like we have young and old dogs though.

Mins and Sno in particular will run around and play and chase together. Although Mins is absolutely full of energy and always ready for fun, she's very chilled out at home and has always been great around the older dogs, even since she was a young pup.

At some point we will adopt another younger rescue dog but for now Mins is perfectly happy with her older siblings. None of them know how young/old the others are and Max still thinks he's 11 months not years

 

As said I don`t think there`s an ideal age gap really, althoough I had 3 dogs who all died within 5 months of each so I went from 4 to 1 virtually in the blink of an eye, it was very upsetting for me and I swore I`d never have them so close in again, of course you can sadly also lose a young dog.

 

That's really sad Mary It is a concern of mine as until a month ago we had Mins plus four dogs aged 11, 11.5, 12 and approx 12.5 but we just adopted the dogs that were right for us/found their way to us and we adopted them over a period of years, it just happened that they all ended up being similar in age. I'm just hoping that the boys all live for ever!

 

We all do that Angela , the ones that died were two at 14 and one 15, all good ages.

 

I personally like 3 years minimum, but even that can be too close. If the oldest lives to 14 then by that time the younger will be 11 years old and may not take to a puppy hanging off it's ears. Anna was 7 when Amy arrived and is now 12 and Amy 5. If, (Heaven forbid) anything happened to Anna then Amy would be great for teaching the pup all she knows.

Regards, John

 

Mine are 5 years apart and it has been a lovely gap - Zadie is still young enough to play like a loon but old enough to be more sensible/trained.

I'm hoping to have persuaded OH that we can have a third by the time Hux is 4-5 years (he's only 8 months currently!)

 

Lincoln is nearly 3 and Lester just over 2, it's great to see them playing together and they run miles on walks and play together then too, which is lovely to see.
However they can be a pair of hooligans and a bit of a handful too. I always said I would wait until Lincoln was about 5 before getting another especially as he lacks maturity :roll: , however despite the hard work it's great they are similar ages as their energy levels match...mind you saying this..I can't see either of them slowing down for a good few years yet

 

I'm on a waiting list for a pup which will hopefully be coming home when Miepe is around 2. Thought this would be a decent age gap to allow us to focus on her training and development etc, whilst still having her young enough to enjoy zippin about with the puppy.
One of my dog-walking friends has 3 Westies, all almost exactly 18 months apart. :wink: