Sibling Puppies

[EliNHunter]

Hi, everyone:

Someone I work with did what I've always heard to be a no-no... got two lab puppies out of the same litter. A male and a female. I've always heard you should have more age spread from one dog to the next when getting a puppy. The puppy can learn from the older dog and the pecking order is already established. Anyway, they are vying for dominence and are just a couple of complete terrors. And they're very needy for each other. If one gets taken out, the other one just absolutely freaks out until they see each other again. They're also not very good about being potty trained because all they do is play with each other and not pay attention.

Do any of you know of a book about raising sibling puppies? Or have advice? Thanks...

 

[chell78]

I dont think getting two pups from the same litter is a problem, they have already decided who is the dominant one from the day they were born, They can be terrors no matter what age they are, two definatly mean double trouble, just means more hard work to train them both together (bit like having twins i guess), One of my clients has two dogs which are from the same litter, he bought them to us for puppy preschool and was very keen to learn everything, the dogs are very well behaved.

 

[Tanner]

I agree with the above post, puppies are a handful whether you have one or two! They are alot of work, but sometimes I wish we'd gotten two from Tanner's litter for company. If they can get them on the same sort of schedule (lol, if that's possible!) then things should get better. I know with Tanner, he took a while to train, was up all hours of the night and into everything, so I feel for them totally! But eventually the sleepless nights and puddles on the floor will get fewer and far between!

 

[EliNHunter]

Good news! My friend has started doing "seperate things" with the siblings and it's already had a positive affect. I guess the female doesn't have much of an issue away from the male (imagine that!) but the male is getting into his own without the constant contact. And the male has better bladder control anyway. The female has to go all the time -- she's much smaller than him, too. But they are getting better already, so hopefully don't have any long-term issues with their sibling socialistic behavior. Looks good...

 

[chell78]

thats good news