7 Possible Issues With Adopting Two Puppies at the Same Time: The Difficulties Explained
Some people think that getting two puppies comes with a slew of advantages that can make things easier. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether it’s raising two puppies from different litters or getting two littermates, getting two puppies at once is asking for problems.
We’ve highlighted seven different problems that typically come about from adopting two puppies at the same time. While most of them are workable, you need to be ready to do a ton more work.
The 7 Possible Issues With Adopting Two Puppies at the Same Time
1. Separation Anxiety
| Seriousness: | Moderate |
| Likelihood: | High |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Challenging |
Dogs that spend their puppy years together tend to form an extremely strong bond. This is super cute, but it also leads to tons of problems if you ever try to separate the dogs from each other. Whether it’s for a trip to the vet or something else completely, these dogs never figured out how to make it on their own.
Eventually, a time will come when there’s only one of them around, and when that happens, the other dog can start to act out. It’s incredibly frustrating as an owner, but it’s just as frustrating for the dog that’s suffering from severe anxiety.
2. Housetraining Struggles
| Seriousness: | Low |
| Likelihood: | High |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Moderate |
Did you know you should take your dog out every 30 minutes or so while you’re housebreaking them? That’s a ton of work, and if you have more than one dog, it takes even more work. If one dog potties in the house, the other one will typically want to mark the same spot.
And once the other one marks the spot, the original offender wants to revisit. It creates this never-ending loop that’s extremely frustrating to break. If you break up the time between new dogs, one should be fully housebroken before you bring home a second one.
This takes it from being a major disadvantage to getting two puppies at once to an advantage of having another dog in the home.
3. Cost
| Seriousness: | Moderate |
| Likelihood: | High |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Impossible |
Two dogs mean twice the cost of everything. You need twice as much food, two leashes, harnesses, vet bills, insurance costs—everything. It’s more than twice the initial cost, so you need to ensure you have enough money in your budget to handle all the costs each month while properly caring for each pup.
This is easy enough to prepare for, but it’s also an additional expense for decades, so it’s something you’ll have to deal with for quite some time.
4. Difficulty Training
| Seriousness: | Moderate |
| Likelihood: | High |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Challenging |
You might think that getting two puppies means twice the training. The truth is that it means even more than that. You need to ensure they’re both getting adequate training time, and there’s a good chance they’ll spend a good portion of that time trying to get back to the other puppy.
Not only will you need to train two dogs instead of one, but you’ll also need to train them for twice as long to get them to learn anything.
Getting multiple puppies does more than double your workload, and training highlights this just as much as anything else.
5. Problems Socializing
| Seriousness: | Moderate |
| Likelihood: | High |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Challenging |
Some people think getting two puppies together will make them great at socializing with other dogs or people. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The two puppies will focus all their energy on each other while growing up and won’t take the time to learn how to read or understand new dogs.
In fact, they’ll often grow fearful of other dogs and other people and never give them a chance. Getting two puppies at the same time can be detrimental to their socialization, and to do it properly, you need to ensure they’re spending time away from each other.
6. Aggression
| Seriousness: | High |
| Likelihood: | Moderate |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Challenging |
If you have a sibling, you know all about the love-hate relationship that spending so much time with someone can foster. There’s a good chance the two pups will love each other, but spending so much time together is going to lead to some fights.
And the problem is that once fights start, they’re more likely to happen again in the future. You’ll need special training to get this aggression under control, and it’s not likely to be an easy process once they start.
But without special training, the aggression can get out of control, and you’ll have two dogs that constantly fight when they’re near each other.
7. Aging Together
| Seriousness: | Moderate |
| Likelihood: | Inevitable |
| Difficulty to Fix: | Impossible |
It’s fun watching two puppies grow up and spend their lives together. But one thing people often overlook with this is not only do you have to deal with two dogs passing away around the same time, but you need to have a lot of money put back to deal with their vet bills.
Older dogs experience more health problems than younger ones, which means as your pups get older the vet bills for two dogs will start to skyrocket at the same time. This can get quite expensive, and sometimes, it can lead to neither dog getting all the care they need in their golden years.
Conclusion
If you can help it, it’s best to avoid getting two puppies at once. It requires a lot more work and it can be more challenging for both puppies to adjust to the world around them.
It’s usually better to wait a bit until one dog is a little bit older and can guide the younger puppy along. It might not be what you’re dreaming of, but it’s far easier and is usually a better option for the pups!
Featured Image Credit: Angyalosi Beata, Shutterstock
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Nicole has loved animals of all sizes her whole life so it's no wonder she has dedicated her career to helping them through what she loves best: learning, writing, and sharing knowledge with others. She’s the proud mom of two dogs, a cat, and a human. With a degree in Education and 15+ years of writing experience, Nicole wants to help pet parents and pets around the planet to live happy, safe, and healthy lives.
