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The doghouse

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Original poster

Adopting two puppies from the same litter?

56 replies

AtrociousCircumstance · 28/01/2020 23:44

Has anyone had any experience of this? We are getting one puppy but his sibling is also beautiful...however I’ve read about ‘littermate syndrome’ which makes two puppies reared together harder to train, less likely to bond with you.

Would be grateful for any insight!

OP posts:
WorkingItOutAsIGo · 28/01/2020 23:51

Whatever you do, don’t do it.

A8674 · 28/01/2020 23:53

Didn’t work for us. Training was very difficult, the dogs paid attention to each other rather than to what they were supposed to do.

Original poster
AtrociousCircumstance · 29/01/2020 00:03

Thanks for your thoughts - seemed so appealing at first but looks like it won’t be an intelligent choice!

Would be interested to know if anyone has had any positive experiences of it at all, though Smile

OP posts:
Costacoffeeplease · 29/01/2020 00:05

No, don’t do it, you already know it’s a bad idea

VetOnCall · 29/01/2020 00:12

You'll always get some anecdote of someone who did it and it turned out ok, but it's not recommended unless you're a very experienced dog owner/trainer with a lot of time to devote to individual walks and training. Even with that behavioural issues can still develop as the dogs mature.

I would also be wary of a breeder who will sell two puppies to the same home, particularly with novice owners.

momoftwo76 · 29/01/2020 00:12

We did it and they are best of friends

Adopting two puppies from the same litter?
Scattyhattie · 29/01/2020 00:55

I had racing greyhound littermates so while the litter had spent much more time together than pet pups they'd not always shared a kennel, they had a sweet bond but weren't reliant on each other.

While i would consider another adult pair I'd avoid taking on 2 puppies, they need such lot of input anyway without having to do extra separate training & walks with increased risk of problems developing, which can then be harder to manage.

Plus going through life stages together so teens will be extra hard and old age. I lost one of my pair fairly young but have had friends with multiple oldies with their extra needs and higher costs plus chance of losing them close together.

ilovepixie · 29/01/2020 01:11

A friend of mine did it. Was only going to get one bitch puppy but fell in love with 2 of them and took them both. It worked out ok for her.

fivedogstofeed · 29/01/2020 06:58

I wouldn't do it, and I have 13 yr old littermates. They coexist together, but they're not friends.
There's nothing cute about two puppies together, after about ten minutes!

adaline · 29/01/2020 07:00

Any breeder willing to sell you two pups from the same litter is one to be avoided imo.

It's an awful idea, both for you and the puppies and anyone who cares about their pups welfare wouldn't do it.

Roselilly36 · 29/01/2020 07:01

Don’t do it.

BiteyShark · 29/01/2020 07:01

Would be interested to know if anyone has had any positive experiences of it at all, though

There will always be positive but the questions you need to be asking is can you devote yourself to individual training until they are adults and that is way beyond the puppy months as we are talking through the adolescent period? Can you afford behaviourists if this goes wrong? How would you feel about rehoming one of them if this goes wrong?

Is this your first puppy?

Pippinsqueak · 29/01/2020 07:05

We had litter mate jack russells when I was younger, it was awful, they were so hard to train, always fighting for first place when going out for walks, doing what they wanted to do, hard to toilet train but saying that it was sweet to see them curled up together at night ( definitely not a reason to get a litter mate though)

Booboostwo · 29/01/2020 07:55

They will need separate walks, socialization and training so that they develop into well balanced, confident dogs. This in itself doubles the work needed for a puppy and, ideally, requires two people, or one person who can devote all her time to the dogs.

They will face training problems because they are together, e.g. they will give each other confidence so running away is much more of an issue as they won't be scared to be far away from you.

While they may get on as puppies, they may start to fight as adolescents. If they are different sexes, you'll have to be very careful one does not get the other pregnant.

Whynosnowyet · 29/01/2020 07:59

We had 2 dpuppies - different breeds - def wouldn't have gotten 2 the same litter. Never heard good things....

Original poster
AtrociousCircumstance · 29/01/2020 08:42

Pretty conclusive! Thanks everyone!

OP posts:
Sarahlou63 · 29/01/2020 08:45

We had two brothers from the same litter - now 7 and still best of pals so we did it again with some abandoned puppies, this time brother and sister; again no problem. Sadly sister got run over several years ago Sad

TimetohittheroadJack · 29/01/2020 08:50

I have two litter mates. No problems, the two of them are inseparable and never fight. They are small toy dogs so in general not the most intelligent breed. They aren’t really great and sitting or giving paws. They have acceptable recall but I wouldn’t trust them off the lead in busy areas so probably they are not the best trained.

TimetohittheroadJack · 29/01/2020 08:52

The only (semi) intelligent thing they ever have done was when one got her head stuck in the fence out of sight in a relatives garden the other came up to me howling and pulling my jacket for me to come.

adaline · 29/01/2020 09:10

No problems, the two of them are inseparable and never fight.

They aren’t really great and sitting or giving paws. They have acceptable recall but I wouldn’t trust them off the lead in busy areas so probably they are not the best trained.

So you have had problems then! Just because they get on, doesn't mean it's worked...they have poor recall and poor commands, which means they're not properly trained at all.

loveliesbleeding1 · 29/01/2020 09:54

Training one pup is exhausting, two must be an absolute nightmare!

JKScot4 · 29/01/2020 09:56

Best of luck, just get into a good routine of exercise and training, they look fab 🐶🐶

MsChatterbox · 29/01/2020 10:01

My mum did it. It's been a very stressful year. She is self employed and has pretty much dedicated her life to training them. I still don't enjoy their company and I love dogs!

flickeringout · 29/01/2020 10:17

I once went to pick a puppy from a litter, kc registered breeder. Amongst the puppies one didn't have the distinguishing feature of this breed and I asked what would happen to him. The breeder said he was worthless to him and would probably be put down so offered me a buy one get one free deal!! Of course I took it. Two Rhodesian Ridgeback litter brothers ! To be honest it was very hard to train them and there were some difficult moments but they were such good company for each other, never fought etc I actually think overall it was better to have the 2. They brought out the best in each other.

BreastedBoobilyToTheStairs · 29/01/2020 10:59

The breeder said he was worthless to him and would probably be put down so offered me a buy one get one free deal!!

Sounds like a great, really respectable breeder Hmm

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