Anyone got sibling cockerpoos?

[shadowchancesassy]

We've brought our puppy's home today (brother and sister) they are 10 weeks old. Anyone else got siblings?

Research littermate syndrome. Terrible idea.

Hang on:
2 from one litter
cockerpoos
”brought”

this is like top trumps on things that wind up mners

Haha I was sceptical about asking as I know how brutal mn can be. But my dog trainer walks cockerpoos brothers and said they are great together.

My SIL has sibling cockapoos( brothers). Not littermates but siblings. One rapes the other one constantly despite being castrated . Have fun!

Yeah massively unwise, if you'd done your research.

Our sister cockerpoos are just over 10 years old. Personalities are chalk and cheese. Originally one was mine and one was now DH so they didn't live together for the first 6 months.

Love them both to bits and DH's dog loves me best and my dog favours DH. They love to "sing" and will join in certain songs. We are often seen driving around with two dogs howling melodically along with the radio.

Brought is correct.

@annonymousse 😂 that's so funny but cute.

@KateyCuckoo I used to have yorkie littermates and they got on perfectly. Time will tell I suppose.

@illiterato 😬

A good breeder won't sell sibling dogs to the same person due to litter mate syndrome.

I've just been reading up on littermate syndrome. I don't think ours will have problems. We have 3 other dogs, they will be separated and walked separately.

All the litter mates I know are hugely dysfunctional and cannot lead normal lives. They’ve all been brought up as separate dogs. They’re still horrific (aggression, anxiety, severe behavioural problems). I know many more who have been rehomed I help run a dog training club so have easy access to examples!

Please reconsider your decision.

Brought is correct in that sentence. Read it again.

Siblings isn’t something I would EVER recommend. I’ve seen many clients have terrible problems and imo it isn’t the kindest choice for the dogs
That said, some people can make it work. It’s an enormous work load, as they to be kept separate a lot, both at home and out and about.
both puppies will need separate walks,training,time mooching round the house etc etc and not be allowed to rough house together. Plus all this done without your other 3 dogs too, In effect you need to break their bond and make their humans the most important thing in their lives and let them learn to be comfortable in their own skins without the backup of each other
As others have said,good luck! I’ve seen many more clients who don’t pull it off than do……..

I raised littermates, 18 years ago when I knew a lot less about dogs than I do now.
Two sisters from an unwanted litter.
It was a really bad idea. They were lovely dogs but never friends and even in old age played mind games with each other.
With hindsight it was unfair on both dogs.

I don’t even know where to start

.

And agree with pps that no 'breeder' would sell you littermates as it's well known to be a disaster.
You don't ever hear of a breeder holding on to littermates for themself, do you?

Have you considered how you'll stop them from mating?

If you have 3 dogs already, you clearly know 'dogs' which is great. If you've not had litter mates previously, please do take it seriously. It's not impossible for it to work well but it will take a LOT of time, work and worry. Please engage a GOOD behaviorist to work with you over the next couple of years. This is not a quick fix, but it can be done.

Littermates take a lot more effort

But I know households which have made it work.

Don't underestimate all the extra you need to do

My dad and step brothers have brother and sister Tibetan Terriers, they're a year old now and have lived separately, but still can't be in the same room together as they play extremely roughly, but fine with other dogs.

You just have to look at sibling pairs in rescue, who love each other to the point they literally can never be apart and are extremely intolerant of other dogs. Or single puppies who have been signed over to rescue as they've been naively bought as a sibling pair from a dodgy breeder and have tried to kill each other.

Litter mate syndrome is no laughing matter and you're going to have your work cut out to avoid them developing serious behavioural issues.

You can do everything "right" with litter-mates and still end up with issues.

It's not just about raising them and training them separately while they're puppies, it's about the fact that some siblings raised together (or in the same home) develop such severe rivalry that they can't stand to be in the same room as each other without fighting.

And we're not talking about the odd scrap, we're talking about aggression to the point that they will injure or even kill each other.

Personally I don't see any real benefit in raising siblings - it's more than twice the work for potentially none of the reward of multiple dogs as you could end up in a situation where one has to be re-homed.

My last dog was a littermate hand in to the RSPCA at 6 months as she’d started fighting with her sister and a child got in the middle.

We had 16 good years with her and she had no issues as a result as the owners recognised the problem and did the right thing. She was bombproof with other dogs.

I'm curious - does this mean you met through your dogs or just a super strange coincidence?!

I have a friend that has ‘sibling’ dogs from the same mother and father albeit two separate litters a couple of years apart - they adore each other. I also had two sibling Labradors from a rescue - rescued them at 8 years old - also adored each other. And you may find that they get on fine, or they might not and suffer sibling syndrome. But the far worse issue is, no decent breeder would have allowed you to do this so: what else don’t you know about the dogs?