New puppy? Do I or don't I?

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Hello.

just looking for advice really. We currently own a 3-year-old sproodle and I've been asked to take in a 10week old cockapoo after the owner suddenly passed away.

As the sproodle was born and raised on a small holding before we got him this meant he was trained to go on the grass already.

I'm hoping you'll be able to help me with a couple of questions

Will a 3 year old and a puppy (both boys) get along or will there be a territorial thing going on?

How hard is it to housetrain a puppy? I WFH full time so will be available 24/7 so there are no issues there.

Would you recommend we DO take him in or ask if there's a possibility of him going elsewhere?

TIA

PS: puppy tax duly paid 

Personally, if you have the time and energy for two dogs then I’d do it. There’s no real way to predict how they will get along unfortunately. It’s worth giving the poor thing a chance though in my opinion.

Some puppies are easier to toilet train than others - our golden retriever was going solely on puppy pads (not our choice, it was the breeder) by 8 weeks so it was relatively easy to train her to go outside, although we still had occasional accidents up to around 9 months.

Hard to tell if they will get on or not but I think that in general dogs do better than bitches, especially if/when both are neutered. Introductions have to be slow and careful in any case
As for toilet training quite often a puppy will learn from an older dog BUT it may will still take quite a bit of time, I know you WFH but are you able to be flexible and take lots of breaks? If you have to be glued to meetings a lot of the time its going to do difficult.

I follow this guy on YouTube he’s got a good video here about toilet train8ng

Nope, no meetings other than 30
Minutes on a Friday afternoon. I work in an investigative role so it's mainly report writing and sleuthing!
I want to give the poor thing a chance rather than being sent off to a rehoming centre
At the moment the pros are definitely outweighing the cons

*edited to change refining to rehoming. Stupid autocorrect!

My two dogs one female one male I have had since puppies now unfortunately my 15 year old had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago. But my other one was two years younger and they got on and she’s nearly 14 now . So yes they can get on

That dude video that I follow says crate training and toilet break on the hour every hour I didn’t do that but now if I had a pup I probably would

Will a 3 year old and a puppy (both boys) get along or will there be a territorial thing going on? No guarantee. Dogs can like other dogs in their home, as visitors, and even other dogs as permanent additions - but that doesn't mean they'll like just any dog. I've had dogs that took against dogs in their home randomly (I foster) with no rhyme or reason.

How hard is it to housetrain a puppy? I WFH full time so will be available 24/7 so there are no issues there. Every hour, minimum. After every nap. Every playtime. Every time it drinks or eats.

Would you recommend we DO take him in or ask if there's a possibility of him going elsewhere? Spaniel Aid. They'll find a brilliant home for him and put him into foster in the mean time. They don't have kennels.

Ultimately, if you want to do it you should. But don't do it just because you are worried the puppy will end up in Kennels - I guarantee that Spaniel Aid will take him in a heart beat and he'll find a family within two weeks.

You sound ideally placed to take him and he's gorgeous! Sounds like your sproodle will have similar energy levels and being a 3 yo not too much of an age difference. Is your current boy generally good with other dogs?

Copied this for you from Dog Training Advice and Support on facebook- definitely recommend joining the group, free guides to all sorts and trained behaviourists available to answer your questions once you've read the basic guides. They also have a book available on Amazon if you'd find that easier to read.

Good luck!

Introducing a puppy to the existing dog(s) needs to be done slowly and carefully whilst ensuring that they both get lots of one to one attention and that the puppy is not allowed to be a nuisance to the older dog. First impressions and experiences are going to shape their future relationship.

A lot will depend on how sociable the current dog is and his/her experience with puppies. Some dogs just don't do puppies, occasionally an adult dog may be scared of a puppy.

Use stair gates in doorways or a puppy pen so that they can see each other without interacting and then you can be guided by how they react to each other. If you have more than one dog then they should meet the puppy one at a time initially.

The initial introductions may be successfully accomplished the first day puppy comes home or it may take longer. It pays to take all the time you need to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Contrary to popular belief it is not advantageous to have the adult dog 'tell off the puppy'. It's not fair on either of them. There are very few suitable teaching dogs and those that are, are able to teach and guide puppies without using their teeth and frightening the puppy.

A new puppy needs to spend 24/7 with his humans in the early days and limited, supervised time with the other dog(s).

Always feed dogs separately and apply the same rule to chew toys or indeed anything that either dog may not want to share.

Written by Sally Bradbury

copyright www.facebook.com/JackandBillyPuppyTales/

Will a 3 year old and a puppy (both boys) get along or will there be a territorial thing going on? You won't find out until you try it - dogs are like humans, some get along, some don't! Can you do a trail walk / sleepover to see how they interact before you commit? I have found that most dogs are good with young pups though. Some are completely indifferent until they grow up and calm down a bit but that's fine too....

How hard is it to housetrain a puppy? I would say very easy but maybe we were lucky?! That was probably the easiest part of the puppy stage - all the rest of it was much harder (crying when we left the room, biting our feet / fingers / ankles, chewing everything in sight....). I hated it at the time but would definitely do it all over again!

Would you recommend we DO take him in or ask if there's a possibility of him going elsewhere? If you have got the time, the patience, the money and the love to give then do it!

FWIW we took in a 2 year old rescue (male) this year alongside our 5 year old dog (also male but have had since a pup). Our 5 year old is VERY dominant and alpha so we didn't know how it would work but after a few scraps (nothing major, just establishing hierarchy but scary at the time!) and lots of discipline and training, they're now the absolute best of friends 😊And it has made our life a lot easier as they tend to play together and keep each other entertained most of the time! And you wouldn't get the fighting with a dog that young....

If you're happy to take on the work of raising two dogs then go for it. There are never any guarantees when introducing new animals to the home, but I do think boys are generally more accepting than girls in that respect.

We introduce new puppies on neutral ground and it works very well.

Housetraining varies from dog to dog. One of ours arrived at 8 weeks and was almost entirely done and dusted by 10 or 11 weeks ('Wot? All I have to do is pee out here and I get a treat? Bargain! See me wee!'). The next one was a bloody nightmare.

I got him...collected last night. Our sproodle has had a sniff through the crate but isn't keen at the moment! i

We'll persevere just to give the little fella a chance.

Thanks for all your advice folks - you've been really helpful xx

Too late now, but do you know his background? Any decent breeder would be taking him back at 10 weeks which makes me think puppy farm which can have their own issues.

You are probably right, its unusual for Doodles NOT to come from some sort of puppy farm.
However, with time money and knowledge it doesn't have to be a disaster, despite a few early issues our pupy farm dog has turned out to be a wonderful member of the family

Well, yes. At 10 weeks he can barely have left home the first time. Surely he should be returned to the breeder?

The problem is, if you persevere you could end up with a dog (the puppy) that is terribly neurotic and nervous around other dogs as a result of your dog not liking him. Cockerpoos are well known for having a tonne of behavioural issues, including anxiety, aggression and reactivity.

Growing up, we always had 2 or 3 boys and they got on well.

The important thing with multiple dogs is to give each one individual time both at home (simple training exercises like sit, down,... while other dog is locked away.) and away from home (walks & training class).
My adult dogs will sit on their beds while I work with one of them, but that takes a lot of time to teach. Youngest is 2 and just about gets it! So being able to put one in the kitchen sitting room while the other is in the garden for toilet is a good start...

Ideally they should have been introduced on neutral ground but it's a bit late now. It will likely take a few weeks to get them to settle together.