Hi, new to the forum, having just finished reading The Happy Puppy. I wondered if anyone had any tips/advice on dealing with 2 puppies? I have 2 eight week olds, one boy one girl, (Lab x Border Collie) arriving in a week and welcome any advice - should they be crate trained separately, recall tips for 2, if crated together is it OK to leave them with food treats i.e. kongs or could this create aggression... It's not the first time I've had litter mates (I know some frown upon it!), we recently lost our 2 (brother & sister) after 15 years, so I understand the implications workload/cost etc but training thinking has changed slightly in the last 15 years and I haven't 'crated' before so I would welcome any guidance, as interested in prevention over cure
Hello! Welcome to the forum. I've never had littermates, so can't advise on that. just wanted to say hi.
Welcome to the forum from Hattie 8 years old and rescue Charlie 5 years. Never had littermates either but a few members have who will be along soon to help you out with your questions. So very sorry you lost your dogs recently, my thoughts are with you. Good luck with the pups. Helen x
Hi there and welcome. You will need to train your puppies separately, at least in the beginning, but we have members here who have littermates and you'll get plenty of good advice and support from them.
Hi and welcome to the forum. I have litter mates, 18 months old, Willow (black bitch) and Shadow (yellow dog). We didn't intend to have two; we brought Willow home at 8 weeks and then Shadow came to us at 14 weeks, so we had some time to start the basics with the one first, which definitely made things easier. I crated mine together, but they were only in their crate at night times, really. I work from home and basically didn't go out where I had to leave them alone for any length of time until they were six months! We decrated at six months, but left it up in the living room for quite some time afterwards. Ideally, I would say they're best crated separately, although I kept mine together. I think that you should do as much as you can to make them independent from one another. I take my two out separately very regularly (I aim for one walk a day separately) and they're more than happy now to be left by themselves while I take the other out for an hour. At first, this wasn't the case; I'd worked on separation with Willow and that went as you'd expect, but Shadow was a lot harder. Maybe because he was more used to company, having been with the other dogs for longer, or maybe just because that's his personality. As far as food is concerned, there was a little resource guarding with food when Shadow first came home. He had to learn not to pester Willow once he'd inhaled his food. This was easy enough, though - I fed them with a wall between them and stood there so that I could block him from getting to her. I gradually moved back (steeping forward if needed) and it took no time before he got the idea and only approached her bowl once she'd finished. Similarly with kongs - he used to try to steal them and she'd get grumpy, so I gave them at opposite ends of the room. Willow would go in the crate (which she always loved) and Shadow would go on a day bed. They still go to the same places now for their special treats, and for their raw meat which they have at lunch times. However, if one finishes first, there is no attempt to take the food from the other, and no defensiveness over it. For training, most of this I do separately. Positive reinforcement, only. However, stuff around the house or when we're out on joint walks, they take in turns. They have to learn the skill of settling while the other "works". To do this, I have a piece of vet bed to my side or behind me. This is where the non-working dog will sit or lie. To start with, I treat the pup for staying on the mat with the same frequency as the one that is being trained. Eventually, the frequency of treats for the watching dog can be reduced. In the very beginning, I tried having one in the crate, but they would get very frustrated and I found the mat worked far better for us. What sort of training are you planning on doing with them? We'd love to see pictures
Just wanted to say hi and welcome to the forum. No experience of having littermates, or even 2 dogs in the family at the same time. Probably a good idea to het plenty of sleep now before your puppies arrive home
Helen, Thank you, it's been really tough time losing Molly last Sept then Max just in January but must focus on the 15 wonderful years shared. Hoping to give the same to the new arrivals
Snowbunny thank you for the good advice. I have one crate at the moment as I was thinking sharing was good initially then perhaps getting a bigger crate with a divide so together but with their own space. Planning on using the crate mainly at night, fortunately I work mostly from home so the crate will be used when I have to pop out. I have a playpen set up in the house for some control at playtime! I'm setting up a playpen in the garden too, for night toilet - don't want to be hunting under the bushes at 3am then was thinking can use the pen to spend time 'working' with one while the other 'chills'. I like your mat idea. Once they've had their jabs I was planning on joining a local club for socialising, but one dog at a time - week on week off idea. This I'm hoping will give them some independence and work on separation. The profile pic is of them a couple of weeks ago
Hello and welcome. I can't give you any advice about litter mates because my two are neither related nor the same age. Just a thought, though: an advantage of crating separately is that if one is ill or recovering from surgery it will be important for it to have crate rest alone. If they are used to separate crates this would be less of a problem. I hope all goes well with your new puppies. More photos, please, when they've arrived!
Hi and welcome to the forum from Fred (23 months), Annie (15 weeks) and me. Lots of good advice on the forum which I am sure will help you and your new friends.
Welcome to you! I love having two dogs and I need to walk and train mine separately 90% of the time (one is a guide dog pup and must spend a lot of time where dogs are not allowed) But I couldn't imagine having two pups! Good luck and good fun to you! (Are they the pups in the photo?) I go the 'prevention' route with every pup. I believe that the things they played with as small pupsters keep their special value and it makes training them not to touch them later on very difficult. I keep all shoes in high cupboards, the washing area behind a baby gate, remotes out of pup reach etc. I have a puppy pen for small pups (up to 5 months old then they are de-crated) and a crate for crate training (in case of vets etc). Tatze still sleeps in her crate (she prefers it) and the pups sleep in a safe place with nothing chewable - except nylabones - available ... and I use bitter apple on skirting boards, walls, mats etc until they are out of the chewy stage. . .
Hi Boogie, thanks for the tips. Yes it's the pup's in the pic! I'd post a couple more pics but can't see how to! Looking on tech help screenshot I seem to be missing the option upload file - between post reply & more options.
Uploading photos is a little Moe confusing now that we have the option to become 'Forum supporters' ahich allows us to, upload photo direct from phones etc. At the moment you will Ned to copy ad past a link from hosting sites like Imbue, Flickr, Photobucket. More details can be found here http://thelabradorforum.com/forums/technical-help.18/
Well the monsters have landed! Ssshhh whisper, excellent first 2 nights they've slept through!! I came down to let them out but sound'o so I crept back upstairs - nothing but clean in the morning They obviously haven't read the Happy Puppy book as the garden holds no bounds so much for staying by my side So far so good except the howling at times during the day after time in the garden, play & train, when we're back in the pen, play & train over, STILL not tired and they can see me but I'm not interacting with them, but the ignore slowly seems to be catching on. Hopefully some pics here http://s1108.photobucket.com/user/Milly_Monty16/library/First Days home
The photos are GREAT....specially the one with their legs up in the air as they sleep!! They are both beautiful!!! Good luck....seems as though you hit the jackpot with both of them sleeping through the night. Will keep fingers crossed that it continues this way.
