The following issue about puppy training came up on our discussion forum. The major issue to recognize is that: Most people get two puppies because they’re worried about one dog being lonely. So they buy two puppies so that they’ll keep each other company.
And while this logic sounds good from a human perspective, it is often fraught with problems.
What happens is that the two pups end up spending the vast majority of their time bonding to each other… rather than to humans. And this ends up making dogs that are more difficult to train and dogs that tend to have separation anxiety when separated from each other.
If you’re going to get two dogs, the best way is to get separate kennel runs and to make sure that for the first year of the dog’s life, the primary interaction that each dog has is with you, rather than with the other dog.
After the first year, the major imprinting will be done.
As for the best time to adopt: 8 weeks. The critical stage (when a small amount of exposure will have a lasting affect on the dog’s life) for bonding with humans is from 8 to 10 weeks. But adopting the dog at 7 1/2 weeks won’t be a big problem. During the 8 to 10 week period, the dog should have no contact with other dogs and only be handled by humans.
-Adam