There is a lot of info out there on whether to get 1 or 2 young dogs and I am not looking to get into that debate. To be clear we have two dogs who are both about a year old and are happy. One of the things I would hear and not understand was that two young dogs would bond with each other than with stock and not do their job. The work around to this and better option was to get one dog first so it bonds with the stock and then get another dog after a few years. The thing I never fully understood was what keeps the second dog (puppy) from bonding more with the first dog (adult dog) than the stock. Can anyone explain to me how that works or is it a case of the premise / work around not being true? I would assume the amount of bonding would vary on the dogs, stock, and situation. I am not even sure if the level of bonding matters as long as there is enough for everyone to do their roles.
top of page
bottom of page
Hi! Thank you for joining us here. I have written three blog posts that speak to aspects of your question, having to do with the choice of one dog or two, when to get the second dog, and what LGD bonding to livestock can look like. I am going to add them to the forum; please check them out. There are other posts I have written that deal with parts of this question, although less on-point. I'll add them soon. I hope this gives you food for thought. Please let me know if you'd like to hear more from me. When Kim has the time I'm sure she will comment.