Soon to be dog(s) owner - some questions

rickshapiro

Hello there. I just found this forum and wanted to introduce myself. My girlfriend and I have just committed to bringing two puppies into our lives. In about a week we will be taking possession of two 10 week olds, a Morkie and a Porkie. We are both in our late forties, I've had dogs when I was an adolescent, for my girlfriend this will be her first experience with dog ownership.

We decided on two probably for the wrong reasons. We both work and are out of the house for 8-10 hours a day. We thought having two dogs would allow the dogs to entertain themselves during the day. We have now been told that there are significant challenges raising two dogs. The biggest being that they would require less if any interaction with their owners (other then for the essentials). This makes me somewhat sad. We have also been told that be separating them most of the time and by spending individual time with each dog that it is possible to have a good balance.

We are committed to making this work but I'm a little nervous. We both have a great love for dogs and will do what it takes. I just hope with made the right decision getting two puppies.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

briteday

Two dogs can also equal twice the trouble. I've had it work both ways in our household. I'm gathering that these are small dogs, some sort of yorkshire terrier mixes. So at least they will be small. But don't underestimate their needs.

I highly suggest that each of you train one of the dogs separately. As soon as the dogs have their shots and can be exposed to other dogs I would start immediately with puppy obedience classes and continue until your expectations of daily behavior are being met. We have all dogs that come to our home participate in obedience classes but I think it is particularly important in multi-dog households.

What are you going to do with the puppies during the day while you are gone? It isn't a realistic expectation that you will be able to leave puppies for 10 hours per day unattended. Do you have someone that can come in to feed and potty them every 2 hours? Even as adult dogs they probably will need a break midday.

Also, please try to keep in mind that dogs are companion animals. They need to be with their people. So give them as much attention as you can when you are home since they will be alone so much of the time. Most dogs do not entertain each other, even littermates.

Westhighlander

I suggest you uncommit yourself to either one or both of these puppies. You don't seem to have enough time right now.

rickshapiro

I understand that many people feel the way you do. I think that to make ends meet these days many couples need to work and it sometimes means long hours. It is a shame that this would eliminate many potential loving owners from having pets.

That being said, we are home bodies most of the time and have plenty of time outside of working hours. I'm already torn about this but we are really committed.

Thank you for the reply.

We do intend to take classes. We even had a local trainer over before we made the decision. And yes we would be leaving them unattended for quite some time. Both trainers suggested the use of litter boxes in the beginning and that the proper use of litter boxes does not exclude the ability to train them to go to the bathroom outdoors. The trainers have recommended separate areas with a crate within a small pen. While we are at home and at night, they would stay crated and can be taken outside when they need to go to the bathroom. During the day they would remain in their respective crates with the door open to a small indoor pen that would have the litter box.

ScoobyDoo

Welcome to the forum. Its a good decision to bring a dog into your life as it helps to get rid of all the frustrations and where no any other way works out. I am a living proof of these conditions. I hope the forum helps you a lot to get proper answers to your questions.

rickshapiro

Thank you for the welcome it is greatly appreciated. We are so excited and a little nervous.

GroovyGroomer777

LOL Morkie and Porkie!!
8-10 hours is awfully long to leave little pups alone. Like Brite said, you should have someone come midday to walk them. Even if they do learn the litterbox thing (IMO, eww), they should still be exercised during the day. That just isn't fair to the dogs. If you don't have friends or family to help out, you can hire a walker or pet sitter.

sheltiemom

Hi! My husband and I raised two puppies at the same time who are happy, well adjusted and well trained two year old dogs now, so maybe I can help....first of all I have to say I loved having two pups...it's so much fun watching them play together and grow up together, and they really do keep eachother entertained alot of the time, which made it easier on us. They seem much less bored than single dogs I've had in the past.

I think individual time is good, but I don't think it's necessary to seperate them for long periods of time. We really did not seperate ours all that much...in the first few months my husband and I were each responsible for the training of one of the pups, but we would take them in a seperate room, do a few minutes of training, then they would be back together, or we would go out for seperate walks or outings sometimes, but not all the time. As they got older we would train them together or switch which of us trained which pup. We also have seperate crates for them, but sometimes we also leave them gated in the kitchen together. I read alot of the same things you have probably read about puppies bonding with eachother but not the owner....we never had any issues like that, and honestly I don't even understand what people mean when they say that.

The main negative was housetraining both of them, it's harder to watch two pups and I do think it took us longer than it would have with one, but we got it by the time they were 8 or 9 months. I do agree with having someone come and let them out once, maybe even twice during the day while they're pups....I think that'd really help the housetraining process. Let me know if you have any questions about how we did things, I'm happy to help.

rickshapiro

Thank you. We had not thought of hiring someone to come over during the day. I looked at some local businesses at they are charging $25-$30 per/day for 20 minutes. That is not doable for us. I have posted an advert on our communities on-line forum to see if there is some in the neighborhood that may be interested. We will see.

sheltiemom

^^ Yeah, that seems high, I would want to pay more like $30 per week if you have a fence they can be let out in, but I guess more if that's 20 min of actual walking....even the full on doggy daycare here charges less than $25/day. I actually wouldn't want a stranger walking my dogs off my property anyway, I'd rather have someone play with them in the yard and walk them myself at night. I would look for a neighborhood teenager who could come by....

rickshapiro

This forum is great, I would not have thought about that. We could but up a fairly good size pen in the back where the sitter could let them play.

BarclaysMom

Our Barclay was litterbox trained at the breeders before he came home. It has been useful. He goes outside most of the time (haven't had an accident indoors in a couple months now) but he will still use it if he has to spend a long day in his pen. The other night I woke up because I heard water splashing, and jumped out of bed only to see it was just him using his litterbox When he is mature enough to be left loose in the house when we're gone, he'll have access to a dog run, but until then it's handy to have a potty area in his pen.

We also used an exercise pen with his crate in it so he could go in and out of the crate and use the litterbox if he needs to. It has worked out very well. He still is confined to the pen when we are gone, or if he is just being a handful and we need a break.

However, having spent the last 10 months raising him, I'll say that one dog is a handful, I am constantly training him and keeping him out of trouble, and he still gets away from me and does stuff he shouldn't - last week he chewed through a lamp cord when I wasn't looking - and I don't even know when he did it, because I watch him all the time! Luckily he pulled it out of the wall first One dog is completely exhausting, I can't imagine having two!

zimandtakandgrrandmimi

If you have a vet school near you...go put up some dog walker wanted fliers on the campus...

struggling college students who need an extra buck and love dogs(or else why would they be in vet school?) will eventually contact you...usually sooner than later...

RonE

What it might eliminate, or minimize, is many potential loving owners from taking in a pair of puppies.

There is a reason why many of us chose adult dogs, one-at-a-time.

Still, I wish you luck.

musicmom116

Just what is a Morkie and a Porkie? I'm thinking a Morkie would be Maltese/Yorkie mix and a Porkie would either be a Poode mixed with a Yorkie or a or Pug mixed with a Yorkie.
My neice just got a Pug/Yorkie mix and she was told it was a Pugshire.
Anyways good luck with the 2 puppies.

RonE

Yorkie/papillon

(I had to Google it.)

Laurelin

........

StarfishSaving

Puppies should only be asked to "hold it" for a couple hours at a time, very young puppies even less. I'm not going to tell you that this is a bad idea, but it's not a decision I would make. I don't think it's possible to housetrain these guys if you are going to have to leave them for so long, so I'd invest in pee pads. I abhor them usually but that's better than accidents all over the house.

I have heard that unless you do a lot of work, raising two puppies together can lead to anxiety issues when they're separated later and I've met a couple pairs of siblings that definitely showed it. Maybe some people here can chime in on how to deal with that.

rickshapiro

Yorkie and Pomeranian

I guess what we're hearing is that training a puppy to go inside the house in a designated area in a litter box and also teaching them to go outside is possible. Obviously puppies will not be able to hold it in while we are gone, they need to eliminate so often but when they are older the should be able to hold it in for longer periods.

We are also being told that it is healthy to regularly separate the dogs and for us to spend some individual time with each puppy. I'm not convinced that it will make a dent if they spend a large majority of their time together. We plan to keep them penned separately for a while.

RonE

And I had to resist the urge to editorialize.