House Training a second cavalier

[shippers]

We are considering getting a second cavalier puppy as a companion for our 13 month old cavalier Sally. We met a local breeder at crufts who has recently mated two of her dogs and is waiting to see if the bitch has taken which she should know at the end of the month. It will likely be the very beginning of August before these pups are ready for their new home if it is to be. My concern is how easy is it to house train a second dog? I'm worried that Sally might go backwards if she witnesses the puppy having an accident in the house and that Sally might think its ok for her to do it . Sally is fully house trained now. What are other members experiences of getting a second dog as a puppy?

[Cathryn]

Generally I find that the older dog actually helps to train the younger one through example, your girl will be of an age where she will find it pretty embarrassing to have an "accident" after being "clean" for so long and will in all probability be a good example for the new puppy. Just remember to not allow your new baby too much freedom initially and work on from there and you should have no problems at all!! HTH??

[WoodHaven]

I have three pups I am trying to house train. The older dogs are providing all of the hands on demonstrations-- I am merely the cheering squad. So far we are doing about 50% outside-- but we are on day 4.

[pippa]

I found that the older dog kind of teaches the younger one...My second dog learned a lot quicker with my help and the example of my older dog.

[shippers]

This all sounds promising. What other problems has anyone encountered when getting another Cavalier? I'm trying to cover all questions before we go on our search for a new puppy. We have some time yet as it will be the middle of July to beginning of August at the earliest. I was also considering insurance. We already have Sally insured but do any companies do insurance deals for more than one dog?

[Cathy T]

Shelby was super easy to housetrain...she did what Jake did. Thankfully she picked up on his good habits and none of his bad

[Bruce H]

I'll just agree with what others have said. In my experience, it's actually easier to housebreak a puppy if the puppy has an adult "role model" to watch.

Other problems? Obviously more vet bills, food, etc. As far as getting along, sometimes our adults get a little annoyed with a puppy's over-exuberance and may discipline the puppy. That's actually a good thing IMHO, it teaches the puppy doggy manners; we have never had a puppy hurt when it was disciplined by an adult, it always sounds worse than it really is.

Others may be able to speak on this as well, but we have never had a problem bringing a new dog into our house. After the initial get aquainted period (if you do a search, lots has been written about this), it's like they have been there forever. Our adults are so used to having visitors because we board dogs for our puppy people, that get aquainted period is usually less that a day. Others here have talked about it sometimes taking longer, but I don't recall anyone saying they had a long-term problem.

Don't know anything about insurance, maybe others can comment on that.

I'm sure others will comment on any problems they have had, but I truly believe the benefits far outweigh any problems. Even if I didn't breed, I couldn't have just one or two any more.

[simonrickell]

I think that we have had mixed success with this. Following the leader sounds like it should work - and to some extent it did for us.

HOWEVER, Willow was fully trained with our Guinness. BUT when Bailey came along - we found that he was marking territory in the house. I think that he was a bit lost - did not quite know what was happening and wanted to demonstrate to this newcomer that he was important.

I found that I had to start knocking him down a peg, as Will was getting a bit too big for his boots. It didn't last too long , but when it is against four poster bed curtains, and long white curtains inthe dining room - it gets a bit tedious.

[Phyllis]

Our Molly came to us at 3 1/2 years from the breeder after two litters as she developed uterine inertia the last time, had a caesarian and had to be spayed. She is an angel dog ( no bias here!). There were no pups available ar that time.
Of course, we just had to have another! Seven months later we got Cholmondeley ( Chum) and Molly accepted him as one of her own -she was used to puppies. She helped train him as the others have said and he followed her everywhere. I've heard it's best to get a pup of the opposite sex to the one you have but Cavaliers are so friendly in general that don't know if it really matters much.
He keeps her active as he wants to PLAY when she wants to snooze. He pulls her ears etc. until she will chase him - all in fun. What we didn't realize was the NOISY play that goes on with the older dog yipping to sort off say," Ouch!" and the little guy growling and racing around to make her chase him. Yours will be closer in age though.
Well, we love them both and don't regret our decision though a pup is much more energetic!!
Phyllis

[shippers]

Thanks for all your good advice. The breeder has invited me to see the dogs she has so I will be calling in some time this week. I need to remember all the questions I need to ask. I was wondering when other members have asked the price of the puppies? I don't want the breeder to think I'm only worried about the price but then we don't want to get our hearts set on puppies that are way too expensive bearing in mind the parents have been placed at crufts.