Adding a third dog - Page 1

 I have two GSDs, a male and a female, both six years old. They get along well, and my female is the boss! I do obedience and agility and the end of their careers will be within two years. I'm thinking of starting to train a new dog, and I have a choice of a puppy with great breeding, or a two year old rescue with a great temperament. Any advice on how to make this impossible choice?

I just added a third dog that I wasn't planning on.   I had my heart set on a puppy out of the sister of my current bitch, was making plans for him this year.   Then I fostered a male for a local rescue group, and after 6 months realized that he was such a good fit with my current two (15 yr male, 3 yr female) that I couldn't rehome him and break up the pack!  He's got a lovely temperament and is an easy third dog, although he's not a great training prospect and he's very byb type,nothing I ever would have picked out for myself if I were shopping.   That's ok because my female keeps me busy at this point. So much for plans!  Now I won't get the puppy I wanted until after my old boy is no longer around, which could be a while.. he's in good shape!  

Heather

I have two rescue dogs and they are wonderful, so I will always encourage people to rescue over buying a puppy, but getting the right rescue dog is very important.  If the rescue gets a long well with your two dogs and he has the working abilites that you are looking for, then I say get the rescue! Do you have the option of fostering the rescue to find out if he is a good match?  That's what I did with my second dog.  Good luck and thank you for considering a rescue :)

I would take the puppy!  You never know if adult dogs are going to get along,  they are usually more acceptable of a puppy.  Plus you get to raise the puppy from scratch.  Don't get me wrong, I have 2 resuce german shepherds, but the rescues may have issues you don't know about, or issues may come up when you add him/her to your pack.  It could all go well and everything would be fine, but the likelyhood of it working out with a puppy is much higher especially if you have plans for this dog as you do.  The resuce you never really know for sure what you are getting or how it would  do out with other people or dogs in an agility situation?

You don't necessarily know what you're getting with a puppy either. Surprises and dissapointments happen all the time.  

 Thanks to all who have replied. The rescue has been with a friend of mine since last Oct. She has trained him through CGC and the first Therapy dog titles. He gets along with all the dogs at her house. I saw him work in a beginner class and he was the star. 

The puppy will be gorgeous, and should have a great temperament and drive if he takes after his parents. I know nothing is for sure, but I believe in genetics. 

To those with more experience than I, are my dogs more likely to get along with a pup or an older dog? My girl can be possessive of our attention and occasionally will grrr at my boy, but she has not done more than that. (She gets corrected for that behavior!)

Thanks for your experience.

Yes,  that is true you don't know for sure what you're getting with a puppy either, but there is a much better chance you can mold that puppy into what you what than an adult dog.  Also, as I mentioned before you dogs are much more likely to be more excepting of the puppy than an adult dog.  I'm not saying there is no chance the rescue would work out perfectly fine, I'm saying chances are much greater with the puppy.  Is there anyway to have the rescue at your house for a trial period and see how it goes?  Are you up for starting over with a puppy or are you looking to just startr working on agility with the adult?  Do you have the time to potty train a puppy?    These are questions I'd be asking myself.

Yes, as far as a puppy goes, having parents with good genes is a good beginning, but again, no guarantee. I've been down that road of dissapointment. I got a working line GSD pup years ago and both parents were titled SCH 3, with good hips and elbows throughout the pedigree. I got the pup at 3 months of age and at 4 months he x-rayed dysplastic- both hips and one elbow. So much for genetics... One of his littermates was also severely dysplastic - diagnosed at 6 months of age. 

As for the rescue, he sounds fantastic. Since you do agility with your other two dogs and obviously enjoy it, I have two questions. Does he have good hips and elbows and does he have what it takes to be an agility dog?  

As to whether your dogs would get along better with a pup or older dog, is something that I don't have a lot of experience with, so somone who has had a lot of experience in that area should answer that for you. I usually end up with adult dogs and I've never had any problems introducing a new dog, but I've always carefully chosen the dog (no dominant or aggressive dogs or dogs that resource guard) and I've taken a lot time with the introduction, such as walking the dogs together for a while at first and then slowly allowing more contact and interaction. Have you introduced your two dogs to the rescue dog in a neutral environment?  That would be a good start.