Single Pup Litters

[rainbowsmiley]

I heard someone talking the other saying that raising a puppy that had no littermates is harder that raising a pup who did. Is this true? And If so are there any developmental problems the puppy would have because it didn't have any littermates?

Edited October 6, 2008 by rainbowsmiley

[Dogsfevr]

all our sole pups survived perfectly well with no issues at all.

I think for some being a sole pup is apain because they have to put a little more effort in where the sole pup is great fun & the things you come up with to amuse them is endless.Our sole pups have the best natures too

[Gretel]

I've just had one singleton. Cherish was born 7 months ago and is such a lovely girl! I gave her soft toys to snuggle with in the whelping box and I had her out of the whelping box and with me at a younger age than I have done with litters. No problems at all. She was even easy to wean which surprised me. I do think she thinks she has two mums - a four legged one and me

[Crest_Fallen]

My mum once adopted a corgi who was a singleton (same parents as her other corgi). She was quite miserable in her personality to put it mildly although she did enjoy the company of the other corgi (despite the same socialisation from the time she was adopted - obedience classes and daily walks). Her full sister from a previous litter was nothing like her temperament.

I know of a breeder who had a singleton when my goldie was little and she appreciated me bringing my puppy over to 'teach' the other the things they normally learn when they have littermates.

[Bilbo Baggins]

I have had a few singletons and they definetly get human spoilt. Noone to compete with. All my other dogs help raise the pups so lots of dog socialization apart from mum. The matriah is very accepting of pups and plays with them well.

It may just have been the personality of that dog.

[ellz]

I wouldn't say they are harder to rear, it's just that the human part of the equation has to put more of themselves (and their time) into it to ensure that the puppy gets proper socialisation and not all humans are up to the task.

[Erny]

Agree with Ellz. Puppies learn a huge amount during their developmental period with their littermates. Being a singleton can lead to a dog who has no knowledge of the right way to play or generally interact with and around other dogs. It might for the best part be overcome by a lot of work from the human who would need to arrange for their pup to socialise even far more than what we already need to do now with pups from litters.

I have seen some reasonably well balanced 'singletons' .... although there has usually been something evident that sets them apart from those who have had the experience of litter mates. I have also seen some dogs who are really messed up by the lack of this experience. I think genetics would form a basis for how well or not the singleton pup would develop (socially speaking), but much of the work is required by the human.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Erny

[puggy_puggy]

My girl puggy was a singleton. She was fed with an eyedropped because her mother actually rejected her. So yes she was a lot of work for her breeder. She had soft toys to act as litter mates and was socalised with the older dogs from an early age and has turned out just fine.

[nedsur]

One of my boys was a singleton (the boy in my signature & avatar) and he has the best temperment. A very outgoing A.D.D. dog. Loves to be the centre of attention and has never shown any lack of personality or timidness. Plenty of other dogs to teach him how to play as he got older though. They take a little extra effort, but definitely worth all the attention! :wink:

[Monah]

Agree with Ellz. Puppies learn a huge amount during their developmental period with their littermates. Being a singleton can lead to a dog who has no knowledge of the right way to play or generally interact with and around other dogs. It might for the best part be overcome by a lot of work from the human who would need to arrange for their pup to socialise even far more than what we already need to do now with pups from litters.

I have seen some reasonably well balanced 'singletons' .... although there has usually been something evident that sets them apart from those who have had the experience of litter mates. I have also seen some dogs who are really messed up by the lack of this experience. I think genetics would form a basis for how well or not the singleton pup would develop (socially speaking), but much of the work is required by the human.

Have to agree here with Erny.

[Jed]

I've had a few singleton litters. The oldest is now 10. Perfectly normal. The 3 year old one, ditto, and the 1 year old one also is fine. the 3 year old is a boxer, which is unusual in itself - older sire, only 2 in the litter, one had a cleft palate. I don't believe there is any difference between him and other pups from "full" litters.

However, they are left with the mother for longer than a larger litter, I play with them, as I play with all the pups, and from the time they are steady on their feet, they are introduced to a gentle, but playful, companion. From about 7 weeks, apart from normal socialisation, they play with all the dogs who will play with them, and the mothers usually play with them too. When (and if) I take the mother away, I provide another companion, or if that is not possible, ensure that they have as much time socialing with other dogs as possible.

Differences people have noticed in singletons may just be individual differences - in any litter, there is the rough one, the noisy one, the gentle one, the sooky one, and so on --- and they grow up exactly as they were as pups, although their behaviour is modified by age and training.

I believe if singleton pups are reared as normally as possible, they will reach the same potential they would have reached if they had been part of a litter of 5 or 6.

However, if they are reared very differently from the way a larger litter is reared, there are going to be differences. Socialisation is important, and so is learning new things in company.

[Erny]

Differences people have noticed in singletons may just be individual differences - in any litter, there is the rough one, the noisy one, the gentle one, the sooky one, and so on --- and they grow up exactly as they were as pups, although their behaviour is modified by age and training.

Yes, that's possible Jed. Although I suppose with singleton puppies there is no 'bench mark' to compare them with (ie other pups within the litter) to be able to fully identify whether it is simply an 'individualism' or not. But then, if they weren't singleton pups we wouldn't be having this conversation, I expect.

However, one of the single litter dogs who most clearly springs to my mind is owned by a trainer/friend of mine. She has done so much with him and he's come a mile - he'd be about 4 years old now, I guess. When I first met him though he was very unusual in his reaction to other dogs' aggression or growling. It was something needed to see rather than have described because it was the overall 'picture' that gave you that full sense of how unusual his response was, but is was as though he had absolutely no idea what aggression was nor how to deal with it. There was no displacement behaviour from him, no fear, no boldness .... just a 'pause' in time where he'd stop and appear very puzzled and clueless as to what he should do, or if he should do anything at all.

I agree that singleton pups can grow into well-balanced and seemingly 'normal' dogs, but as you yourself have attested, that is often because of the substitutions you've managed to expose your singleton pups to by way of the best compensation available. Sometimes there are 'differences' which may not reveal themselves until the dog is exposed to something that whilst would be 'normal' to a full litter puppy, might be a new/novel experience to an older singleton pup.

ETA: Disclaimer - I admit that of the many many dogs I have seen and worked with, a very very small minority (down to only a few or so) have been singleton pups. Further, there could have been singleton pups that I have seen but not known them as being singletons.

Edited October 16, 2008 by Erny

[Miranda]

I've had one singleton litter and the puppy grew up to be perfectly normal. However I did have 10+ dogs at the time, if a puppy lived in a single dog household and just had its mother it may need a little more work. The only things I noticed were that his mother had to be restrained from licking him when he was first born (probably because she only had one to clean) and he did get rather fat from having uninterrupted access to the milk bar. Other than that he was no different to any of the other puppies I have had.

[brigitta]

We have had our new pup for three weeks now and he was a single litter puppy. He's been fantastic though. He's happy to play on his own (which is great as I take him to work all day) and is quite independant.

However he also loves other dogs and plays like mad with them. He isn't agressive and seems to have reallly good social skills. He has now met 9 other dogs and he's only had a problem with one of them (silly dog tried to bite him and then bit the instructor at puppy school....not smart!).

I don't think there's any probs with single litter pups at all. Our little terror is as healthy as a horse and very affectionate.

Hope that helps.

[Patters]

Singletons are very common in my breed. So ditto all the above information. They have grown up very well adjusted, almost undistinguable from others who had siblings. The difference I have noticed is that they bond a little stronger to the human - so you make sure you address any "separation anxiety " issues immediately. And prevention is always better than cure in this case.

It is much easier for me now Aunty Nina is around. She has always been a successful pseudo-sibling from even before she was a mum.

I also have a girl, who was one of four, and since I got her , she has had food and toy aggression. Maybe she had to fight for what she wanted. Her aggressian is not bad, but I don't ignore it either. I am working with her on it and will continue 'til it is no longer an issue.

[helen]

There are some great links if you do a web search like this one http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/littersize.pdf - I know someone who had a singleton litter with a breed that can be quite people shy, this pup though was very outgoing with people

[wind in the trees]

A breeder once told me he thought singletons were very robust. Not sure how it transferred to personalities, but his singletons always had the most personality.