I’ve read lots of really helpful info on this forum. You all sound so nice! I’d really love some advice with my 2 sibling pups (12 weeks). I can feel you all raise your eyebrows. I know, how silly was I?! All was going so well. Sleeping through with the odd accident. Day 6 and they have found their feet and become difficult and have caused me many tears. I’ve had the “what have I done” and “they’ll have to go” moments. Am I the only silly person to get 2 pups? Is there any hope that things will improve? Should I let them play fight (like they do all the time, sometimes quite aggressively)? I’ve tried to crate them but they are terrified of it. They are in a pen with 2 crates inside. I hope they’ll go in the crates on their own but they just drag bedding out and sleep in the pen. I understand I need to separate them but they will not crate separately. They bite, bark, play fight and basically never sit still. I’m so close to giving up. Please tell me this is do-able.
Double the fun! They will settle into a routine, don't panic and definitely don't give up. I wouldn't worry about crates I'd just let them sleep in beds together in their pen. I'm no expert but I also wouldn't stress about separating them, they're going to always live together... I would work really with hard on a routine with plenty of outdoor time and training all treat based both in your garden and out for walk, though watch your 5 mins for every month of life limits. Work through a socialisation programme so they have experience of all sorts of different things. I don't think your mad at all, you'll have two fabulous companions to be proud of. Good luck.
Having two pups is a massive challenge, but can be done if you have time to dedicate to them. There are quite a few old threads on here about it, if you search. The key is about training them separately, get them out and about separately or else they focus on each other and never you.
Thank you both so much. Brought a tear to my eye that there is light at the end of the tunnel! All I’m getting from friends and family is “why the heck did you get them!”. Yes I’ll keep going. I’ve arranged some one to one training, expensive but I so want this to work. I’ll try anything. It’s early days. Could just do with some sleep! Feeling a bit like PND when I had my son! Think I just need to chill.
You do need to give them one on one time with yourself, so they are going to need to learn to be on their own. You should be training them separately to avoid 'littlermate syndrome'
How are you doing? Have you started your training? Hope all is going well and that your puppies are settling nicely with you.
Thanks for asking Fenella. It’s been ok thanks. We have struggles but my son is amazing at training them them the basics (sit, paw, stay etc) The actual trainer isn’t coming until August so we just keep trying things on the internet and on this forum. It really has changed our life which is a little unsettling at times. I crave just sitting and watching the tv in peace in an evening but this seems to be the perfect time for them to have a zoomies/scrapping session! Have to watch them like hawks, chewing and scratching everything! I did have another “can we do this?” moment this morning. But we’ll keep going. Hoping it gets better. They are beautiful and when calm, they are a delight! It could be a lot worse. They are sleeping from 10pm to 6am so that’s a huge improvement. I’ll keep you posted. ♀️
The sleeping is an enormous and positive step forwards. Our puppy is 5.5 months old now and hasn't had those crazy evening sessions for sometime. So you have Kongs - stuffed and frozen are super useful to give yourself half an hour to go and have a bath, wash your hair etc. We also give frozen carrots though they're gone in a flash but I think it helps with teething. I'm sure teething is the root of a lot of upset and bitey behaviour. Nero is nearly through that now and his biting is pretty minimal. So pleased your son is proving to be a good trainer, that must be so nice to see and super helpful. Good luck, keep going, things will get easier. Keep us posted.
