# Advice for raising littermates?



## Pittsburgh Pups (Jun 16, 2010)

Two weeks ago, my SO and I adopted two 8 week-old puppies, a boy and a girl Shiba Inu/Wheaten Terrier mix (unusual, I know!). Despite all of the crazy amounts of reading we did on raising puppies, we didn't really encounter any warnings about the difficulties in raising littermates until AFTER we brought them home. Never did we consider that getting a brother and sister would be anything other than wonderful for the two of them, particularly considering our 9-5 jobs keep us out of the house most days.

Try Googling "raising littermates" or "littermate syndrome" and you'll read all kinds of dire warnings about how they may be difficult to train, how they'll bond with each other instead of you, their emotional growth will be stunted, they'll be aggressive, etc. Several sites advised a person to either "re-home" one of the puppies or raise them almost totally separately for the first year. 

Suffice it to say, reading this was quite upsetting to us.

My question is, are the dangers of littermate syndrome really so dire? Or are they being blown out of proportion? I feel like we may be stressing out over a problem where there isn't one. The puppies (Sam and Pepper) are doing very well so far. We have them in separate crates at night, and we're sure to spend some time with them individually every day. We've also been feeding them in separate rooms. 

Are we doing enough? Any advice from others who've raised littermates?

Thanks!


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## RedyreRottweilers (Dec 17, 2006)

No, it's not blown out of proportion.

You will need to have them separated except for play times by the time they are 12 weeks. They need to sleep separate, eat separate, and have separate training time.

As a breeder if/when I keep 2 puppies from a litter, I will generally send one to spend a couple of months with a different breeder friend when the pups are about 12-14 weeks old.

Then when the littermate comes back they are just 2 puppies.

Even with separating them, housetraining, socialization, obedience training, and feeding, vet care, grooming, walking 2 puppies at once is a pretty tall job for most people.

What do you think these puppies are going to do all day while you are at work?


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## bfoster (Feb 9, 2009)

I had two littermate miniature schnauzers for 15 years. It was a lot of fun and I can't honestly say that I had any problems with socialization at all.
There were kids around- I had another dog and well --I have since read about all the problems with littermates but I didn't have any.
I take it back- the only problem I had was when one died at the age of 15 the other one followed a few months later. Was it because they were closely bonded or because they were 15? I was heartbroken over the double loss and I do try to spread them out a little bit now age wise.
Give them individual attention and enjoy!


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## Pittsburgh Pups (Jun 16, 2010)

Thanks for the responses.

RedyreRottweilers, when you say "have them separated" are you suggesting we keep them just physically separated or in different parts of the house entirely? We keep them in their individual crates in the bedroom, for instance, but they can still hear each other. We could keep them in separate pens in the basement during the day, but again, they'll still be able to hear each other. For how long should we do this?

As for what we expect them to do while we're at work? Play with each other, play with their toys, sleep... what else could we expect?


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## terpfan29 (May 20, 2010)

My girlfriend who's living at home now while going to grad school just got two sisters a few months ago (see here for pics: http://www.dogforums.com/2-general-dog-forum/78242-help-identifying-puppies-breed.html).

Once they got them I had started to google littermates and found the bad stories and got super concerned. After informing her and her parents about this, they are aware and make sure to give each puppy individual attention. They are crated separately as well. They do play together a fair bit and roughhouse/play fight with one another but its usually stopped fairly quickly. Other than that there arent any real problems with socializing with other dogs. They love other dogs and other people and are excited to greet my gf/ her family/I. 

Just keep up with the separate crating, devote lots of attention to each individually as well as together, and I'd think training separately would be a good idea. It's been a lot of work, but they are so cute. I keep saying I want her to allow one to give birth before getting spayed so I can have my own lol. 

Best of luck!


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

Do lots of seperate activities with each pup. Take them one at a time out for walks, out to socialize. Take them to two different puppy classes, different trips to the vet. Seperate training sessions, seperate potty breaks. I personally would want to crate them in seperate rooms at least for awhile, that way if one ever has to be at the vet or something the other doesn't freak out because its the only one in the room.


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