introducing two puppies

[Multiple Doodles (or dogs)]

I have a 7 month old, 9lb, male maltipoo named Sherlock who LOVES dogs. I have fostered rescue dogs and my dog enjoyed having another dog around. However they were all older and didn't like puppy antics, so they never played with him and would on occasion snap at him to let him know this. When I go to the dog park, my puppy plays for HOURS with other puppies and he loves going to daycare. He plays equally well with both males and females and has a preference towards other poo-mixes and dachshunds. He seems to really like golden retrievers as well, but he's so much smaller than him that they never pay attention to him.

I have never lived in a multi-dog house, but I'm expecting a male mini goldendoodle (parents are 14lbs and 17lbs) in three weeks. I am so excited to have two puppies at once. My maltipoo is still young and playful, and I think 7 months is a great time to introduce another dog. He's housetrained, decently obedient (obeys commands in the dog park while other dogs are playing all around him), and still puppy enough to really appreciate another puppy companion.

Has anyone else ever had two young dogs at once? I heard that taking litter mates is a bad idea because they'll bond closer to each other than to you. So I decided to wait until Sherlock was a bit older, but still under 1 year old, to get another dog. What is the best way to introduce my 7 month old to my new puppy?

Another quick question, is it best to train the dogs right away to walk on the leash couplers? Do those even work?

thanks!

[1qrgkdwnfqccb]

izzy is about a year and 1/2 old and we got tucker about 2 months ago at 8 weeks. i took the advice of my groomer on introduction, because we have no dog parks to visit, and the other dogs izzy is around, she has been with since she was a baby. she gets along with all of them very well, no aggression issues but i had no clue what she would do with a puppy of 8 weeks. i did a lot of research on the web only to find that there were so many different opinions that my head was spinning on what to do....lol
so that is when i went to lynn, our groomer... she told me that in the boutique that izzy loved everyone, she played with all the other dogs just fine, so that i should just bring tucker in, not the house but in the yard, keep izzy on a leash just in case and let them go..i did just that, i had my son hold tucker outside our fence, let them smell each other and things went fine! they are now best friends! i guess it all depends on if sherlock is territorial?

i am sure this is not the proper way to do it, just letting you know what worked for us : )

[Adina P]

My opinion is to just do it. When I brought Rosco home Clark's dogs were at my place (my roommate had watched them while we were away getting Rosco). Clark let his dogs out into the yard is I was entering the yard with Rosco in my arms. I plopped Rosco on the ground, the other two dogs rushed over to sniff him, he became frightened, let out a huge deep sad moan. He then peed right where he was. A few minutes later he was chasing the big dogs and having a great time.

When a good friend of mine got a new puppy (12 weeks old) we brought her over to my yard and let her sniff around for 10 minutes are so first, to get comfortable. Then we let our three dogs out to meet her and she did fine and they did fine.

I like to keep things simple. And your seven month old seems to be well socialized and has a great temperament... Thus I say, just do it.