Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Adopted brother and sister mongrel pups @ about 3months. Well, while bored and surfing the internet I found out what we did was a terrible idea and that most dog rescues will not allow littermates to go to the same household due to all sorts of behavior problems, harder to train, owners can never be alpha because dogs are more bonded to each other etc. Dogs should absolutely not share a crate.
The reality: the pups were hard to house-train mainly because we could never reward them for relieving themselves outside because they wouldn't do it in our presence to be rewarded. Finally at almost a year they simply decided all on their own they would rather do their business outdoors and accidents are now very rare. All we did in terms of training was let them out maybe a half hour after a meal or if they woke us up at night needing to go.
At maybe 4-5 months the dogs got too big to share a crate so we put the crate away. Totally of their own preference George sleeps in the bedroom, Grace sleeps in my wife's closet or in the bathroom.
They both fought the leash stubbornly digging in their heels. Then one day out of nowhere they decided that while they did not exactly welcome my putting leashes on them, if leashed they would go wherever the leashes went without any pulling at all.
Are they bonded to each other? Yes they certainly are, but that is fine. I don't want to play with them ALL the time. When I go out on the deck and holler "PUPPIES!!!" They coming running to me -- ALWAYS -- typically one up the steps at one end of the deck and the other from the other end. So they are able to cruise our 1 1/2 acres independently. George used to wait for Grace before he would go in the house but he doesn't do this any more.
Grace likes to get on my lap when I am in my recliner -- all 37 lbs!
There is all sorts of advice from the "experts" about special measures and training that will be essential if you insist on owning littermates. We followed little or none of it.
Adopted brother and sister mongrel pups @ about 3months.
Sorry to hear it didn't work out but frankly this is the FIRST time I've heard any caution against the practice.
Among our group I've known of at least FIVE sets al of which are great dogs.
Don I worked in Rescue for many years and when good homes became available, adopting out siblings/young littermates together was done with great success. I think there are far too many "experts" online now. I'm so glad your pups are together and I appreciate you putting the effort into training them and making the adoption a success! Many good wishes for many happy years ahead for all of you : )
Also, I love that when you call for them you just say "Puppies!" I wish I had thought of that when I had a houseful Now I only have two but I've always called my pups in by their individual names. Your way is much better!
My family adopted pairs of Scottie littermates twice. They were trainable and got along just fine. If we hadn't known something about how to raise and manage Scotty personalities I suspect that would have made more of a difference than the fact that they happened to come out of the same womb at the same time.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57750
We adopted a brother and sister Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, but they were almost 6 months old, and already house broken and leash trained. We only wanted one, but the owner wanted to keep them together so we took them both, and had no problems.
Sorry to hear it didn't work out but frankly this is the FIRST time I've heard any caution against the practice.
Among our group I've known of at least FIVE sets al of which are great dogs.
Read the post. It DID work out great despite all I read about it being such a horrible idea.
Don I worked in Rescue for many years and when good homes became available, adopting out siblings/young littermates together was done with great success. I think there are far too many "experts" online now. I'm so glad your pups are together and I appreciate you putting the effort into training them and making the adoption a success! Many good wishes for many happy years ahead for all of you : )
Also, I love that when you call for them you just say "Puppies!" I wish I had thought of that when I had a houseful Now I only have two but I've always called my pups in by their individual names. Your way is much better!
They respond to that literally 100% They are not really puppies any more, but in a way they still are to me. The Rescue where you worked was more enlightened than all too many.
Also, I love that when you call for them you just say "Puppies!" I wish I had thought of that when I had a houseful Now I only have two but I've always called my pups in by their individual names. Your way is much better!
I've done that with my dogs for awhile..."Puppies!" and "Babies!" always seemed to work!
Although, to be fair, I think it's tone too. LOL!! I could probably call them "Jerkfaces!" with the same excitement and my critters would still run to see what I want! ROFL
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Now I only have two but I've always called my pups in by their individual names. Your way is much better!
My family adopted pairs of Scottie littermates twice. They were trainable and got along just fine. If we hadn't known something about how to raise and manage Scotty personalities I suspect that would have made more of a difference than the fact that they happened to come out of the same womb at the same time.
