Two Danes

[New mom]

We have a 9 week old male merle dane whom we adore. We are thinking of getting a male harlequin from the same litter. Both will be fixed when old enough. Does anyone have experience raising two males from the same litter or even two males together?

[jpy]

I think there is some info in the archives about this. (Certainly any K9 behavior site warns of the perils of this.) The general consensus of breeders, trainers, & experienced owners is two pups from the same litter is almost always a mistake, and two males are very often a problem. However, none of this becomes at all apparent until the 2d male is at least 9-18 months old & able to challenge the first male, which leaves the owner with some very unpleasant choices? Can two neutered males live together peaceably? Sure. DO they often? No. Can you count on it? Not at all & that is something to think about as once a fight occurs, they must be forever seperated. AS TO TWO PUPS TOGETHER, I don't think any quality breeder would recommend this & most will not even allow a (pet) puppy home to ever *try* to raise two littermates-esp. males (!) together. Two pups from a litter CANNOT be raised together without great damage to their ability to bond to humans & to their individual personalities unless they are kept mostly seperated during their formative time (3-9 mo.) If left together alot, one will often become very assertive (to outright aggressive) while the less dominant one "fades" to outright timidity. Not to mention they can injure each other as wild, growing babies, they tend to train MUCH more slowly & by 9 mo., with two boys the danger of male competition has set in. Will some people tell you they did it? Sure. It can be done. For household harmony the best guarantee & the general recommendation is to neuter the first pup by/around 6 mo (before sexual maturity), then when that dog is 18 mo-2 yrs & adult enough to help, rather than hinder, the new dog's good behaviour, then a pup of the opposite sex is added & also neutered young. After 20 years of watching people try to raise two pups together, I've only seen a very few homes with two experienced & dedicated dog people, with scads of extra time & the willingness to go to extra puppy classes ever end up with half-way normal adults. As a breeder I outright refuse to sell two pups from a litter to one pet home, nor will I give a 2d pup to a home with a dog under 1 yr. Most I know do the same. JMNSO of course. But it's an opinion based on a conservative policy of sparing dog owners grief & the idea we can learn from the mistakes of others, & not be doomed to repeat them, to find out that 'generally true' usually means for both me & you. Regards/jpy

[Nancy]

Puppies are so adorable it's easy to think it would be nice to get another one for the first one to play with. I think it would be better to give your new puppy time to adjust to the family by himself. It is much easier to train one puppy at a time.

[Susan]

IN addition, does anyone have any ideas on having two or more male danes together... I want to get him a companion, and I have heard that two males together does not work. Please let me know what your views are on this I keep hearing mixed opinions

[Troop]

Susan - I have two male Danes. They are approx. 1 yr old and 1 day diff in age from diff litters. The KEY is to separate them often for social activities and training. They will get attached to each other but socializing apart is very important. Both of my boys are neutered. They get along very well together,however one boy is not the most social to other dogs. Not a great thing for a 135# puppy. I think two males would be fine as long as they're neutered and from diff litters. Just be sure to do alot of separate socialization.

[Carol]

I don't feel it's usually a good idea to keep two of the same sex together. The best combination is a male and female.

[Carolyn]

do you plan on neutering either one or both??