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?

THIS

Awful idea with any breed, possibly more so with nutcases like cockerpoos. Dreadfully irresponsible of the breeder, but sadly not surprising.

Two females are usually the worst combination of littermates.

I didn’t know about littermate syndrome when I got a pup and recommended my friend got one from same litter. Thought we could walk them
together.
ha! My dog nearly killed hers. It was awful. Both are part cocker.

you are nuts to have done this. Even more nuts that the breeder allowed it.

Slight tangent @shadowchancesassy but you now have 5 dogs? Wow, that’s a lot! Are they all house dogs ie. Are some working dogs and you keep them outside?

I can’t imagine ever getting a seat in my house with 5 dogs (2 dogs here!)

My BiL and SiL had brother and sister cockerpoos from same litter very successfully they've just died at 13 but were very happy together. Both neutered, obviously.

Ive never had siblings. Can you allocate a dog to each person? So each dog is fed by a different person, walked separately, played with separately etc?

@Pushpull we were already in a relationship but weren't living together at that point. Lol.

I was ready to get a puppy having lost my previous dog 2 years before. His dog had just died so he just came with me to keep me company when I chose my puppy and fell in love with them so he bought one too.

The breeder was reluctant to sell two together but as we didn't live together she relented. She was very explicit we would need to walk them separately and get the bond with each individual puppy before letting them mix. We have never had any problems with littermate syndrome. They seem to love each other but both cope with separation too

I had littermates years ago, before littermate syndrome was being talked about. Huge mistake. They were obsessed with each other which meant they had to be together at all times, but also had a love-hate relationship and one bullied the other - in subtle ways, but it was only when the bully died aged 12 and the victim lived another four years that we realised. He absolutely blossomed as an only dog and we felt awful that he’d not had that experience from the start as in hindsight, even though they were devoted to each other, both would have been much happier dogs (and better pets) alone.

We know so much more about littermate syndrome now that good breeders won’t rehome too. The fact that this is a cockerpoo litter is a huge red flag too. So many puppy farmers (and they’re so good at disguising the fact) churn out cockerpoos and of course they’d be just as happy to sell you two.

Thanks everyone, we've separated them into different crates, play with the separately feed them separately etc when they are old enough they will be walked separately too we are a family of 6 with 4 of those being adults so plenty of us to never have to walk them together. Like I said we have 3 other dogs so they will be well socialised and know how to play acceptable with other dogs. The circumstances of how we got to get them is extremely outing so can't go into details about that. Hopefully things will be ok 🤞🏼

Very best of luck OP.
if you can stomach it, the very best chance of it working would be to do a 5-6 week isolation programme. Effectively this would be to break their bond sufficiently for them to transition to thinking of each other as just another dog rather than a litter mate. Then reintroduce gradually.
Very much NOT for the faint hearted as you would need to rotate them so that they didn’t have ANY sort of interaction during this time (ie fully separate at all times as if they lived without each other at all) but would be considerably easier than trying to fix an issue later on

@Undisclosedlocation yeah we've pretty much been doing that my daughters have been taking them to each of their rooms and then bringing one down at a time to toilet/eat/play. I'm home all time time so it's not a problem for me to rotate them at all. Plus I get to have cuddles and bond with each of them.

@Undisclosedlocation forgot to say thank you 😊

No worries. You’re doing all the right stuff…..enjoy the mayhem!😁

I have Cavapoo littermates, male and female. One was my daughter's and the other ours, when we got them she lived with her then partner but used to come to ours most days when they would spend time together. She then moved back home and her dog came with her aged around 18 months. They adore each other, sleep curled up together and play with each other when out on the fields. But unless you've got a rescue dog you're hated on MN! Especially if you own a poodle cross 🙄

Same here. I got a cavapoo and my friend got her sister as puppies. We cannot put them together as they despise each other but are both fine with other unrelated dogs. It’s actually quite shocking to see how much they hate each other. Can anyone explain what the reason is? (We still won’t put them together, I’m just curious as to why)

@alloutofcareunits same with mine and my mums yorkies. They were best friends had no problems at all.

Male and female are probably a better option, I know someone who bought two male litter mates (poodles) one had to be rehomed, they fought so much they would have fought to the death.

Male and female siblings are generally less likely to fight, though they’ll generally still have one that is definitely dominant. Two female littermates are the worst permutation and no good breeder would allow any littermates to be homes together - but there aren’t enough good breeders and they probably won’t be selling cockerpoos.

Just came across my old post when I was searching for something so thought I would give an update.

They are two this month and everything has been spot on with them. They've never fought, are fine with feeding and I've never had a problem walking them together.

A neighbour has 2 male cockerpoos same litter, one is lovely, one is aggressive. Unfortunately he wasn't aware of littermate syndrome. It rarely works out successfully.

Thanks for the update! Glad it worked out sounds like you did all the right things.

Do you still have 5 dogs? God the amount of poo picking up alone 🤪

@AMuser yes still have them all. Cleaning the yard up every morning and night is fun lol.

I luckily managed to find a food that they all agree with and doesn't give them bad belly's so that's a plus 👍🏼

Great to hear this. I have two labradors (brothers). They're 18 months old and get on so well. Never ever had any issues with them x