I plan on buying two (female) dogs, a German Shepherd and a Rottweiler. I’ll purchase them as puppies, and they’ll be properly socialized and trained. I’m just worried that the two types of dogs won’t get along with each other.
What do you guys think?
There are only 2 of your self-claimed "experts" that I didn’t TD – and for one of them I came close to it.
As you managed to spell & punctuate both breeds correctly (although you omitted the THIRD word of my breed’s name), you are presumably a little more intelligent than the average Y!A Asker (despite you being a descendant of folk who didn’t have the sense to stay on the ship until it reached Aotearoa…). Therefore you should know that there is a HUGE difference between your "Can" and the word you actually needed, which is "Will".
There are two VERY big flaws in your plan, plus a serious consideration that you have overlooked.
BIG #1:
As you’ve been told, it is close to impossible for one person to concentrate 100% on TWO pooches at once. That concentration is ESSENTIAL during the first week, when you are home 24/7 concentrating on Pup 100% while it is awake, so that you learn Pup’s timing & signals for such as "Wanna go toilet" and "Wanna BITE sumfing!" in order to PREDICT them and take INSTANT appropriate action. It is VERY IMPORTANT during socialisation (a misleading term – it involves safely – in the PUP’s opinion – udergoing "familiarisation-&-confidence-building" for every movement, reflection, scent, sight, sound & texture in your district, and must be completed before Pup is 13 weeks old, 16 at the latest). Trying to work with TWO pups in the same class (even if you handle one and a family member handles the other) is close to impossible when training in a proper training club’s weekly classes where YOU should be for about a year starting when Pup is 18-22 weeks old, so that YOU are coached to improve your awareness & skills..
BIG # 2:
Two pooches of the same sex CAN get on together, and are almost certain to do so prior to 9 or 10 months old. But from 10 months (an age at which under-trained pooches act like those turbulent tempestuous teenaged humans who rebel against every vestige of authority) through 3 years, a pooch’s "ranking status" is VERY important to it. But only within its OWN sex. A dog and a bit.ch can BOTH be #1 in its sex. But 2 dogs or 2 bitches can NOT.
The situation where 2 of the same sex get on is when:
(a) both are gammas (natural followers, with no wish to be a leader), or
(b) one is an alpha (natural leader), the other a gamma.
It is HELL if:
(a) both are alphas, or
(b) one or both are uppity betas (wannabe leaders but without the right bearing & instincts, it knows only how to bully, so constantly starts fights). Many ignorant people think that an uppity beta IS a dominant alpha. NO WAY! A true alpha almost NEVER has to fight within its pack.
And when it comes to domination fights, dogs are often satisfied with mere posturing as their starter (which gives an observant alert owner a chance to intervene), but bitches almost ALWAYS go straight in for the kill (or at least to cripple the opponent’s front legs)
CONSIDERATION #3:
If you have 2 pooches of the same age (regardless of sexes) they are almost certain to die at close to the same time. So much grief usually results in the humans vowing "Never again!"
People wanting to be 2-pooch households should NOT get their second pooch until:
•1• The first is FULLY trained, so that it will set a good example for the new pup to copy (dogs learn VERY quickly from their elders – much quicker than they do from humans. It’s because OUR ways of communicating are so different to a dog’s way of communicating).
•2• The first is neutered and healed. That way there is no rush to neuter either of them too young. Read the research reports (in the Links section of the first address below) about the possible side-effects of Neutering at various ages – they convince me that voluntary neutering should wait until at least 11-15 months old.
And preferably
•3• Wait until the elder is about half a life-expectancy apart.
? Add http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source to your browser’s Bookmarks or Favorites so that you can easily look up such as rescue groups, feeding, vaccinations, worming, clubs, teething, neutering, size, diseases, genetics.
? To ask about your pet’s breed, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. If you don’t know how, click my group’s hot-link then, in the centre near the top where it says [Search for other groups], type the proper name of the breed, (For a cross-breed, either use the one he/she is most like, or do separate Searches for each parental breed).
Each group’s Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967
