Buying Two Brother Cocker Spaniel Puppies?

by Bob Locke
(France)

We're buying a cocker spaniel puppy. He has a twin brother and we're considering buying both, but we've read that this may not be a good idea and that they may not get on with each other.

Any advice please?

Reply from Pauline (Web Owner)

Hi Bob!

You're right, it's not a good idea to have two puppies at the same time, in fact, a responsible breeder is highly unlikely to allow two puppies from the same litter to go to one family.

There are many reasons for this, some as follows:

• One of which is financial - having two puppies in the house means twice the costs.
  
  You have to consider whether or not you can afford two lots of vet fees, twice the feeding costs, double grooming fees, training school for two puppies, and if you ever intend to board your dogs, there will be boarding fees too!


• Puppies take a lot of looking after, but two puppies will take twice as long - do you have the time? A new puppy care routine can take a good two or three hours out of your day, spread across the whole day an most of the night - imagine how much time you'd need for two puppies.


• Dogs learn form each other - bad behavior as well as good behavior - unless you're an expert dog trainer, you'll more than likely end up with two very mischievous puppies!


• There is a danger of your puppies bonding with each other and not with you or any other human.

My recommendation would be for you to enjoy one puppy - give him your complete love and attention and when he's around 1 year old, you then consider getting another puppy. By that time your 1 year old will be well-trained and will probably teach your new puppy good habits, not bad ones.

As an added bonus, your puppy will still be young enough to want to play with your new puppy.

Hope this helps - good luck!