Thank you for sharing your story and I highly sympathize with your loss of Haley. My Bella will be 5 this year and if I lost her, I would be distraught. You are right to question keeping 2 litter mates. I have never had two puppies at the same time for long, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but from what I’ve read, it’s really hard to have two puppies because they tend to bond together rather than with you. I’ve heard it is possible, but what you have to take into consideration is that it won’t be as if you have two dogs that you do the same things with at the same time. You will need to spend individual time with them to train them and get them to bond with YOU. You’ll also find that two dogs will have very different personalities and may need different kinds of training. You are already thinking of all of those issues, so I’ll just confirm some of your thoughts.

Actually, I don’t have litter mate puppies, but I have had 2 – 3 Weimaraners for the past 9 years and their ages have been different so often needed different kinds of attention. Also, I do have a problem with Ellie and her daughter Bella tending towards aggression towards other dogs because they’ve bonded so much together. It’s been a struggle for me. Even when you work at home (I do as well) finding the time to give two WEIMARANERS individual attention is not easy! I could easily spend 4 hours a day if I did all they actually could benefit from! I think it’s nice to have two dogs, but I don’t think it’s necessary for their happiness. My first Weim, Bran was perfectly happy being the center of our universe for 10 years and wasn’t too keen having a new puppy in the house! I think now I try to get a new puppy whenever the oldest is starting to get on in years so that the younger will have a companion when the older one passes. Plus, the younger will have time to grow and learn obedience and help train the new kid on the block when you get a new puppy. As far as dominance, there will always be one dog that is dominant. It can actually be more difficult to have two females than a male and a female. Of course that also depends on if you are going to spay them. Spaying will take care of a lot of the dominance issues between them and if you aren’t looking to becoming a responsible breeder, it’s best to spay or neuter. I have two intact females and it hasn’t always been easy. They went through a challenging phase although they worked it out pretty quickly. The daughter is definitely the alpha.

I don’t know that I’ve added anything to what you are already thinking, but I know it helps just to talk things out.

Thank you for your time,
Leyna Shaffer

Karen Sandvold

30. Oct, 2010
If the sireof Casar von Gaiberg was indeed a dobe, might other genetic traits that differ between Weimaraner and Dobe also show up inthe DNA? I am thinking of the differences in head shape, ear set, temperament, etc. The tan markings were present in the Weimaraner long before the appearance of Casar von Gaiberg , so the tan markings do not have a place in this discussion, but surely there were other differences between the two breeds. Even the shape of the feet is different between Weimaraners and Dobes. In all these past years, the only difference that has ever been discussed (to the best of my knowledge) is coat color. It is really unfortunate that back in the middle of the last century there was so little knowledge available regarding DNA. At this point, the two colors have been blended so thoroughly that tracing back through DNA is nearly impossible, and so many American Weimaraners have crosssed the Atlantic Ocean that the breed has become a blended mixture even in Germany (and other European countries) that makes tracing the DNA nearly impossible.

The questions regarding the pureness of any breed registerable with AKC will be scientifically untraceable, because so little checking was done in the last century, and what it all boils down to is simply a matter of “if the dog is registered with AKC it is therefore pure bred”. It’s like putting the cart before the horse, but that’s what has to be accepted as the final authority.since it’s nearly impossible to check beyondthat point. We can possibly define pure bred in the future by creating a DNA profile for evey breed and saying that any dog that doesn’t fit that profile is not pure bred and therefore not registerable, but it would be almost impossible to do this by going backwards,

Just My Humble Opinion

Karen Sandvold

The questions regarding the pureness of any breed registerable with AKC will be scientifically untraceable, because so little checking was done in the last century, and what it all boils down to is simply a matter of “if the dog is registered with AKC it is therefore pure bred”. It’s like putting the cart before the horse, but that’s what has to be accepted as the final authority.since it’s nearly impossible to check beyondthat point. We can possibly define pure bred in the future by creating a DNA profile for evey breed and saying that any dog that doesn’t fit that profile is not pure bred and therefore not registerable, but it would be almost impossible to do this by going backwards,

Just My Humble Opinion