Meeting a breeder tomorrow to discuss being a guardian family!

[Sandy]

Currently I have one dog, Toby, aged 4.  He is wonderful, although he was a challenging pup.  :)  The breeder has a 6 month old, a 9 month old, and a 3 year old, all girls, and 3 pups (not quite ready to go yet), to choose from.  So.....half of my brain says not to mess with a good thing, and the other half says I would love to have another Toby in the house.  I am SO torn.  

She would have 4 litters from each of the younger girls, and 2 more from the 3 year old.  

Tell me - am I crazy, or could this be a good/great thing?

[lyn cederholm]

We just added a second retired Australian Labradoodle to our home and it did make things crazier, but we love her so much.  Both of our dogs were older (4-5 yrs) when we got them.  The plus side is that they were great dogs with some training and we knew what their temperaments would be like.  We have just 2 breedings with our one guardian dog, with just one of them to go.  I like less breedings and a little older dog personally.  If it was me, I'd go for the 3 year old if she is a great temperament.  Good luck!! :) Lyn

[Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki]

Hmmm not sure of your situation...  so hard to comment.  We had 2 girls from the same litter that I received within 2 weeks of each other, at around the age of 3 months.  I wouldn't do that again... without the training knowledge I have now.  That being said... some how I have managed to get myself a 3rd.  He is from my girl Opal's last litter... like his Mom, he is on a guardian program.  The girls were 5 years old... mellow... trained enough... and then I add a boy that pees on everything... energetic little fool... but he is SOOO cute and sweet and eager to please!!!  We got him April 1 and he was ~11 months.

 

It will alter our travel plans a bit.  So I say... if you are going to do it... look at what YOU really want to do for yourself in the next while. THEN.. what do you have the time for.  Puppy stages of chewing and peeing and general rambunctiousness... is almost a 2 year process, right?  Training an older dog... not so bad..... AND the bonding process with an older dog is very rewarding in my opinion.

 

That's my 2 cents.  Good luck!

 

[Sandy]

So - the breeder that I'd discusses things with....cut off communications with me.  I couldn't come on the Monday night, and it was a busy week, so I asked if we could come on Saturday.  She never responded, and up until then we'd been e-mailing back and forth quite nicely.  Oh well, I guess it wasn't to be.  

[Ginny Nightingale]

So sorry to hear that--sometimes they have multiple inquiries about a dog and they go with the one that comes first--you wouldn't believe how many times these things fall through and it behooves them to go with the surest thing. I hope something new comes along!