Puppy Siblings

[EliNHunter]

Hi, Board! Have a question... someone I work with just got two lab puppies -- male and female out of the same litter. He's having a lot of trouble because they just play ferociously the whole time and are now vyying for dominance. And they have separation anxiety -- from EACH OTHER. If one gets taken out to go potty, the other one is FREAKING OUT until he sees his/her sibling again. I've always heard it's not a good idea to get two pups out of the same litter -- that the puppy should learn things from an older dog. Does anyone know of any books about this or have any advice? Thanks...

Edited to add: He's also having trouble potty training because they're just into themselves and their rough play and don't pay attention.

 

[Renee750il]

Whoa! He's got his hands full!

He may have to work on actually separating them for short periods and working on training them separately. They need to learn to depend on their human family and bond with their human family.

If there's another human in his household it will be easier. They can rotate splitting time with each pup and working with it, keeping it distracted from missing the littermate. If not, it will be best to try to get out of earshot so the pup he's working with won't be so distracted.

 

[joce]

We had two at the same time. I always heard it was good for them! Of course they didn't freak out when being away form eachother, thank god! Seperate puppy classes and training time would probally help a lot. We had one that never went in the house once, and the other took forever to train.

 

[Kelly blackwell]

Hi ELInHunter ..littermates raised together can develop a condition called ''canine symbiosis'' in a nutshell they are are each only half of a whole.they begin taking cues from one another instead of humans.and are unable to function as a whole without the other dog present. some dogs are more prone to this condition namely the needy type.its crucial they are crated and trained seperately.in some cases it can progress in to an even more difficult dynamic such as ''cain and able ''syndrome

 

[bubbatd]

The pup also choose who is the Alpha between them....so the owner is never the Alpha and they don't listen to him/her. I sold two puppy together (before I knew better) and after 2 years, one had to go to another member of the family. If you want to raise two pups together, buy from 2 different breeders.

 

[EliNHunter]

Hi ELInHunter ..littermates raised together can develop a condition called ''canine symbiosis'' in a nutshell they are are each only half of a whole.they begin taking cues from one another instead of humans.and are unable to function as a whole without the other dog present. some dogs are more prone to this condition namely the needy type.its crucial they are crated and trained seperately.in some cases it can progress in to an even more difficult dynamic such as ''cain and able ''syndrome

Thanks, Kelly. I've passed this information on to my co-worker with the problem. Very informative...