Hi, I have a female dog, 5 years old. Would two puppies from the same litter be too much work along with my other older dog, or is it doable? The older one has a lovely gentle nature but maybe two would be too much even for her? Would they each need separate walks to begin with and separate training sessions? Just wondering how intensive it would be and if anyone has any experience of taking on two at the same time?
While it is possible, most folks recommend against getting two pups, especially from the same litter, at the same time, because they tend to bond with each other so much that they pay less attention to their owners.
Hi Ngt From what I understand it can create all sorts of behaviour issues known as litter mate syndrome. It's considered that bad most breeders will not sell two pups to one person. Found a previous post about it that has some interesting information on. https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/puppies-new-aggression-between-litter-mates.25806/
Thank you both for your replies. I had read somewhere that if you have two litter mates they would need separate training/walking etc and I wondered if anyone had managed it successfully and if it was as tiring as it sounds. I think it sounds too risky and as if the pups in general would be happier to be homed separately with families able to fully commit to their training.
I know two people that had two litter mates. One had her kitchen destroyed and they were certainly double trouble. The other ended up giving one back. I also think it would be unfair on your other dog to bring two pups into the house.
It depends on your situation. I usually keep 2 puppies at a time, but there are two of us and we train, walk, socialise them separately. Bare in mind that as well as needing separate walks, they will also each need to be walked separately for your older dog until they are a fair bit older so it will be 3 walks twice a day as well as 2/3 sets of training sessions. For a pet home I would suggest that this would be rather demanding.
