How old is too old to add another dog?

How old do you think is just too old to add another dog? If you think so at all.

Sometimes I hear of people having a 10-15 year old dog and then adding a puppy and the older dog never really enjoys or likes the puppy.

Sometimes I think it's not fair for an older dog, who has lived so long as an only dog, to suddenly have their life disrupted by a puppy. But maybe some older dogs would really enjoy it and appreciate it so I know it just depends on the dog.

Jackson will be 3 this October, which I realize is still young, but I kind of feel like I need like a 'deadline' on when to add a second dog. I don't want Jackson to reach a point where he would no longer want a companion. Maybe that's stupid. I know that I will have another in the future at some point. There is no way I could last Jackson's whole lifetime with just him. Not that he's not good enough, he's my perfect dog, really, I'm just such a dog person and I can't imagine living with only one for 15+ years. But his happiness and well-being is also very important to me.

So how old was your oldest dog when you added a second? How long did it take for them to like or play with new dog, if they ever did at all? Do you feel it's better to get dogs closer in age?

Just random questions.

I really really wonder this too, and since I adopted Maddy its made me realise she was a really bad choice. I mean, I love her to bits, she is my absolute heart dog, but I should not have brought a 2 year old home to live with a 9 year old (Todd). They have never bonded and he has stopped doing so many things he loved doing, like running and playing, because she is just too much for him. I mean, don't get me wrong, they don't hate each other, but they definitely don't love each other. They just tend to ignore each other for the most part, and that's not what I wanted.

In future, when I come to get a companion for Maddy, I will get a dog the same age as her. Means I can never have a puppy, but that's OK, I don't really like them anyway :rofl1:

I keep looking at dogs born in 2007 (same year as Maddy), and there's so many I want!

But basically, no, I don't think its fair to have such a large gap between dogs. I will always have dogs the same age or maybe one year above or below.

Arnold (7) gets better about accepting dogs as he ages. Shamoo (13) has never cared if introduced properly. Sloan (1.5) seems oblivious. Backup (1.5) gets worse with maturity (like many intact males).

As a rule there is no rule, just know your dogs tolerance.

I heard a LOT of stories growing up that "the puppy gave my old dog new life, so much energy, etc. etc.". We added TWO puppies to my 15 year old American Eskimo's life, and while he wasn't made miserable by it, he definitely didn't LIKE it. Looking back, I wish we waited, he passed away 6 months later.

That said, my boss had an elderly shih tzu in a similar condition (deaf, losing eyesight, a bit senile) to my eskie, and when added a puppy April (the older dog) did get a lot more energy, enjoyed sleeping with the puppy, etc...and lived for another year happily.

I think it entirely depends on the individual dog and situation.

Casey is about six years old I believe, Once we added Emme he became alot more outgoing and playful.

I have never really had any issues with adding a puppy with having an older dog.

Badger the Bouve I PTS last summer was not overly fond on Teagan wanting to love up on him, but he would have defended her to the death. He was the Play police when it came to Teagan and playing with other dogs. He did not like that at all. Other dogs were not allows to play rough with Teagan. Yet he acted like he did not want anything to do with her most of the time.

I know that I will be adding a puppy to the lot in a year give or take some and I really have no issues. I think Teagan will go through the initual jelousey's but then get over it.

She does oh so much like correcting puppies bad behavour

I think it largely depends on the dog. Winston was nearly 10 when we brought Dance and Keira into his life, but he wasn't old and frail. He still had lots of puppy in him, and once the girls got their adult teeth, he loved them (he just didn't like them in that piranha puppy stage).

Hmmm, I'm interested in some responses here. Harleigh might be close to 5 y/o by the time I'm able to add a puppy - yikes, seems so weird saying she'll be 5!

Bamm was nearing 5 years old when we brought Cricket home as a puppy. He does get annoyed of her sometimes because she's a super ball of energy, but he adores her at the same time and really... Bamm seems happier and more lively with Cricket around. I'd like to have a dog closer to Cricket in age... maybe a year or two younger at the most so I'm really trying to shoot for getting my Ibizan hopefully in about a year. Even though Bamm has more life in him with Cricket here, I've noticed he does tire out easier these days and as he's aging he is slowing down a little bit. I think having another dog closer to Cricket in age will be good for her so she has another dog around that can keep up with her all the time.

I agree with the people saying it depends on the dog. For example, my aunt's 8 y/o shih tzu adapted great when they added Buffy. However, at 10 years old, Moses still hasn't really accepted Cali... but hopefully it'll change when she calms down and stops biting his heels. There have been times when I've seen them sleeping almost side by side, but that might've just been because Cali snuck over and laid down beside him haha.

When I got Maeve my cocker Patton was 3 so there was not much of an age difference. Given how Patton usually was not fond of other dogs I was surprised by how much he loved the baby collie

Now Maeve is 12 and we got Watson, who was 4 months old when we brought him home. His energy is a little much for her, but I would not say that she dislikes him. He does sometimes annoy her and wear her out. If he is too rough I run interference

They do hang out together...

Buster was 7 when I got Quinn, Mac was 4.5. Buster took too her better and faster than Mac, Mac didn't warm up to her for months, she hadn't had a younger dog introduced to the house with her before and she didn't understand.
I'll be interested to see how she goes with the next puppy.

Buster is a bit of an old hand at puppies. He is a bit full on but a good teacher.

This. When we bring our new white Swiss Shepherd home Sheena will be a month or two shy of 9yrs old. She will be the mentor. She loves puppies and loves to help with their training. Luna will be the one the puppy gets to run around with and go crazy with because she will be close to two by then.

As long as you know your dogs temperments, limits and so on it can work well. Know when to give the older dog a break from the puppy. When to distract and so on.

Mary was 12 and Victor was 5 months. She didn't talk to me for 3 weeks. Yes he was a little hard on her, but he got her up and going, and eventually he made the quality of her life soooooo much better because I had to get out and do those things to wear him out that I had not done in a while because we had become lazy. She had to work harder to keep up with him, which made her feel better and I truly believe he added to the quality of her life and added years to it because we were having just too much fun.

Also having her as a trained dog helped me teach both Victor and Pepper and she enjoyed being the leader and "helping". I really think it depends on the older dog. THis has been our experience. If she had been much older 14 or so, I don't think she would have been quite up to his 5 month old antics. THat might have been too hard on her.

I'll second or third the it really depends on the dog. Also the experience of the owner and the willingness to crate/rotate the new puppy if need be. If the new puppy is essentially terrorizing the older dog or the older dog really does go into complete avoidance maybe it's as simple as keeping the two separated until your puppy is old enough to have learned some manners.

On the flip side of that equation is the older dog who LOVES puppies. Two years ago when Rain was a wee nipper I was amazed how much our old spaniel adored, played with and doted on the puppies. A dog I hadn't seen play with another dog in ages was a romping rolling fool.

My poor old Lab, Bonnie had two puppies converging on her when she was pretty old. First, I got Chulita but Chulita was never a wild puppy or a pest. And Bonnie was a very tolerant dog anyhow, a matronly type with loads of experience in life and all the changes that came with her life. She was one of those anything goes kind of dogs. I think she was about, oh gosh, I'd have to look back at records to figure out how old. But she was no spring chicken. So, those two hit it off very soon after I brought Chulita home, after one snarky episode initially from Bonnie, but she soon got over it.

When Chuli was a couple years old or so, I got Jose` and when he was mature enough, my Dobe. Bonnie was about 11 or 12 and the Chi's....oh man, this is getting complicated. Well, they were middle age, I guess. (my math sucks) lol. Now that Dobe puppy was hell on wheels. So, I made sure the others weren't harrassed by this pup. And that they had plenty of one on one time with me, a place to relax and so on. Soon, we were all taking walks together, Lyric was learning how to be relatively polite and they all loved each other.
Here's Bonnie with baby Jose` curled up next to her. He wasn't a wild puppy either....just loved to snuggle and she acted like a mother to him.




Here they all are on the beach together. Bonnie's a little in the background, her coat sort of faded looking. She was getting quite old but not decrepid yet..probably about 11 or so.










Then my son's dog came to live with us. Meanwhile, poor Bonnie went off to Rainbow Bridge.



So, I'll second the idea of... depending on the dogs and how it is handled. Each dog should get a fair deal for their situation and age etc. I've been lucky in that all my dogs have gotten along...never had any big problems. One little temporary issue from my Dobe toward Jose` in one kind of context, but we fixed that up.

Siren was a couple months shy of 16 when I brought Luce home. She was so senile though that it didn't really make much of a difference to her. They didn't play together, didn't really pay much attention to one another. There were never any difficulties, and I'm very glad that I made the decision to get Luce. I can't imagine how awful it would have been to come home to a house without a dog after putting Siren to sleep.

Totally depends on the dogs I think. Molly was 9 or 10 when we got Lucy; but Lucy was such a mellow puppy and pretty much matched Molly's senior personality, so there was no issue there.
But Molly HATED it when my brother would bring his puppies over. They'd keep jumping on her wanting to play and she was not tolerant of it at all. He was banned from bringing his dogs over because it just wasn't fair to her.
She didn't really like dogs in the first place though, so I don't think that ever would have been an enjoyable situation to her.


But I mean, it's not just a senior dog thing. Heck, Lucy was only 3 when we got Juno, but Lucy does not like other dogs (especially in your face dogs, aka boxer puppies) and so it was a big deal. It's all about teaching the new dog acceptable behavior around the resident dog.

Such a cute picture. Siren looked like such a sweet dog and Luce too. Yes, it is really difficult when one dies and you have no other dog to comfort. That's how it was when we lost our most recent GSD, Ajax. I couldn't stand it so only about 2 months went by before I got Bonnie. I think that we have to do what is best for us as long as we make sure the other dogs are okay. And they usually are as long as the puppy doesn't harrass them to death.

When the shelties were 8 that's when papillons began to enter the picture. After we got Beau, we ended up adding at least one young pap a year for the next 4 or 5 years.

Adding Beau was a little bit of a shock for the shelties. Peace and quiet was interrupted for sure. I will say nikki never liked them much. It was kind of a mutual love/hate thing. The paps tormented those old shelties. After we added Rose though, they'd just take a new one without blinking. Oh? You brought ANOTHER one home? By the time it came to let the papillon breeders keep a 13 year old Trey with the 16 paps they had at that time I am pretty sure he thought he was a young papillon. He never batted an eye. Trey did really love the paps and they would baby him. Rose especially watched out for him since he was so blind and deaf towards the end to let him know if the dogs were going outside to potty or something.

Summer was 5 when I added Mia. She's 7 now and I don't worry about adding a puppy at all. I think especially if it was another pap she would be overjoyed. She'll deal with the BC even though she'll likely be 8 :yikes: or nearing 8 by the time it comes. Summer acts younger than most young dogs I know. She's in great shape and still very active and high strung. She better last me a LONG time.

Holy crap, the realization that Summer will be 8 next year.... :yikes::yikes::yikes:

I remember at 8 thinking Nikki was getting old. It seems impossible that Summer could be that old. She doesn't seem it at all.