Advice On 2 Puppy's

[BigDaz]

Thanks for the replies, there seems to be a wide variety of opinions and\or experiences and we are still unsure which way we will go, its very distressing.

[BrunoBella]

It is a very hard decision to make

It seems to depend on your previous experience with dogs. Have you had any? That should help you to decide.

I trust the advice of Cosmola and MarkS who are both professional dog people. Do you have access to a Dog behaviourist? If you tell us where you are someone can find you one who can do an assesment and help make this decision for you.

Good luck

BP

-----edited for extra paras

Edited December 27, 2007 by BellasPerson

[BigDaz]

We are located in Pascoe Vale, Melbourne.

Can that sort of assessment be made at this age, they are 9 weeks.

I havent owned a dog since I was a kid, but if people that havent owned dogs never owned dogs there would be no domesticated dogs. Having said that, I realise we have probably gone in a bit harder than most.

The original idea between having 2 was to try to reduce the seperation anxiety while we are at work, but then this has backfired as this will mean they are alone for 9 hours a day.

I think I mentioned in the original post that we did ask if it would cause any issues having 2 bitches.

Edit: Spelling

Edited December 27, 2007 by BigDaz

[BrunoBella]

As you soon learn on this forum, there is nearly one person with every different viewpoint! Whoever sold you the pups may never have had problems with two bitches together.

There's no problem with not having owned a dog before, I'm only on my second as well. Just the advice is different.

You can make all this happen successfully if you are prepared to learn quickly before any problems are encountered. In my opinion, private training is the quickest.

If you really want this to work, you will make it happen.

I dont' know any behaviourists in your area but someone else will.

[Cosmolo]

Daz, contact Four Paws K9 Training- kelpie-i on this forum as she services your area and would be a behaviourist myself and others could recommend. We do service your area ourselves occasionally but likely to be more expensive than kelpie-i as we are further away. Let me know if they are unable to help though and we can work something out.

[Rusky]

here is a good article on raising siblings

http://www.caninedevelopment.com/Sibling.htm

[BigDaz]

Thanks for the article.

It is looking like the best thing to do would be to give one of them up.

Is it cruel to leave one home alone for 8 hours a day, would it be best to give both of them up?

This hurts so much, but I want to do what is best for the puppies not what is best for us.

Because we do work and have fairly small house I don't think it is feasible we can do everything suggested in the article, along with future fighting issues there may be, I don't think we have much choice.

[BrunoBella]

Good on you for looking at this on behalf of the dogs and not yourself .

I think it's fine to leave a dog at home for 8 hours at a time as long as you provide quality time when you are there. Many people do this without problems. You could get a second dog when the pup is older if you wanted a companion. If the puppy gets lonely after she has settled in, you could adopt a 2 yo male rescue to keep your pup company. There are many options for this its just the two girls together that people have had issues with.

You are obviously caring people so I believe you would make very good doggy owners.

[Cosmolo]

I wouldn't give one of the pups up without a professional assessment first- i have seen many people who thought there pups were not compatible at a young age and with good leadership and training skills, they never had any problems. People do have some bitches together with no problems as well, just as people have issues between some males and females. The individual dogs and situation needs to be looked at and i would strongly advise getting a professional opinon before you make such a difficult decision.

[sas]

Ditto. I wouldn't be giving one of them up quite yet. If you're prepared to work with a behaviourist and trainer throughout their lives and really work hard on your leadership you may just be fine.

Many Breeders run same sexes together.

[Andisa]

It's been said before, why not set up runs side by side that way they won't hurt each other while they are not being supervised and they will still be next to each other.

I will be building my yards soon too. I just wish I dug the hole when the ground was nice and soft.....

[peaceful]

Why dont you get one pup of each sex??

Then they have company while you are away from home and they should get along no problems.

Opposite sex dogs get along better than same sex dogs too as a general rule especially for novice dog owners.

[Deegan]

We got a Bullmastiff puppy male & a british x Frenchie puppy female within two days of each other at the age of 8 weeks old (both are now just over two years) we found they constantly wanted to rough & tumble....how we got around this was two crate them seperately for calm time & before popping them in their crates we each would give them long slow calming pats before nap time's, also gave them ice cubes to lick when playing which kept each pup busy.

We took them to puppy school sessions seperately & made sure each pup had one on one time with us without the other pup , all in all we had been told that it would be a nightmare raising two pups together but we kept a positive mind & enjoyed their puppyhood, we would do it again in a heartbeat.

We also have a female british Bulldog (both our girls are speyed) & the three dogs all get along apart from the very odd grumble, I think the key is to be the pack leader & have zero tolerence for fighting.

Congratulations & best of luck to you.

Edited to say: Our fur kids are crated when at home by themselves.

Edited January 6, 2008 by Deegan

[Zhara]

Well I have found this interesting!

2 puppies from the same litter! On a positive they have company, but will learn to rely on each other too much. You will not be able to achieve a human/dog bond with either of them, at least not what you would get if you had one on it's own. They will be more interested in doggie habits than devoting themselves to a human.

Glad to hear you will have them desexed, as when they start coming into season you will have a dominance problem.

They will need time out on their own, should be able to lock them away from the children so they (the dogs) can get peace and quiet. They will need individual attention, and training away from each other, because all they will want to do is get to each other to play!

You probabely should have got 2 dogs 6 months apart. That way you could establish a bond with at least one before the other came along. The second dog will not be the same as the first because again it would have more of an alliance with the other dog. Again the individual attention is required.

One last thing if one has genetic flaws such as bad hips, eye problems etc, you are in for double the trouble!

Many people have had siblings and raised them and lived with them, it is possible. Alot depends on your diligence and ability to recognise problems and solve them.

I hope you have a very rewarding experience with your puppies and as they go on to become adults, it can be done!

Zhara