Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,
I just bought a female dobermann pup. She's nearly 12 weeks. I have also wanted an Irish Setter for a long time. I want two dogs that can run with me on my jogs every morning. I am planning to get the second puppy - a female Irish setter, in about 6 weeks. The dobe will them be 18 weeks, with the Setter at 8 weeks. Has anyone had any issues in having a doberman and another breed of dog growing up together? Or having two females together - one of which was a doberman?

Thanks for your input!

Well, in my experience having two dogs of the opposite gender tends to work best. There is an alpha male in a pack and an alpha female in a pack and the two have seperate roles and conflict- although it does happen on occation- tends to be reduced with opposite gender pairs.

As for the age difference between the pups- again, in my experience, having two dogs grow up together that close in age is tough. It's not impossible, but training two dogs of that age- especially potty training- is difficult especially if one has an accident, the other will probably mark over the first dog's accident. General manners and obedience training is also difficult.

If you want a running partner/s, your puppies can't run with you until they are around a year old at minimum and still you have to be careful how hard you take it- asphault is tough on joints of growing dogs. Why not get a 1 year old rescue male dog and raise that one with your doberman puppy? A 2 year old may even be better because of the added maturity. Just my opinion though. People have done as you are asking. I'm just of the opinion why should you make things harder on yourself and your dog than necessary. Two dogs is more work than one imagines.
-----
PHReign
Email me: HReign@pethobbyist.com" target="_blank">PHReign@pethobbyist.com
Dear dog,
I can not buy anything larger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think that I will continue to sleep on the couch to ensure your comfort. Look at videos of dogs sleeping, they can actually curl up in a ball. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to your fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straigt out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space used is nothing more than doggy sarcasm.

>>Hi all,
>>I just bought a female dobermann pup. She's nearly 12 weeks. I have also wanted an Irish Setter for a long time. I want two dogs that can run with me on my jogs every morning. I am planning to get the second puppy - a female Irish setter, in about 6 weeks. The dobe will them be 18 weeks, with the Setter at 8 weeks. Has anyone had any issues in having a doberman and another breed of dog growing up together? Or having two females together - one of which was a doberman?
>>
>>Thanks for your input!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dobes are one of the breeds where it's not recommended to keep one with another dog of the same sex, and that's most true of the females. I'd strongly recommend your second dog be a male. I'd also strongly recommend you wait two years before getting him, and spend that time training this girl. That is your best chance of winding up with two well-adjusted, well-trained dogs who can be good running companions as well as good in many other ways.

Keep in mind that if you get the other dog with timing to be close in age to this one, they will be old at the same time, and you'll have no running partner. Spacing them out gives you better continuity for a running partner. Also, if you want them to feel any bond with you and to be at all trained, you will need to separate them a LOT, and train each of them separately. It is exhausting to do this with two large-breed pups at the same time!
-----
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

It's just NOT correct to say that female/female aggression is the most common in this breed. While it might happen once in awhile, male/male aggression is far more likely to be an issue.
Most of our better breeders WON'T place a male puppy into a multi male environment, many rescues have the same policy..it just isn't a common requirement with bitches.

Well, just my 2 cents but I have 1 male and 3 female, 2 of which are intact females and we have no problems at all. Now I have heard of problems of two intact male in the same household. but I have several friends who have a couple of females and no problems. One friend has a male doberman and a male minpin who are the best of pals and sleep together.

Thanks both for your great feedback. I will definitely go for a male over female now. My main reason for getting a second one so soon was so that they could keep each other company during the day when my partner and me are at work. I understand the training will be a lot of work and tougher though
Thanks.