# Raising Multiple Puppies?



## Vierka

To tell you the truth I don't have experience with raising 2 from the same littler. However I believe those who say that it might be tough - even though from what I have seen they do learn from each other a bit (the good and the bad habits) but there would be more work in my opinion. More happiness and more work at the same time...


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## gold'nchocolate

*Raising multiple puppies:*

:wavey: I would also be interested in hearing any answers on this question. I was considering getting two puppies from the same litter when I'm ready to get another GR. I got Sasha at 10 wks. old when my chocolate lab ,Hershey, was 13 mo. old. It worked out really good but Hershey is now almost 11yrs. old and I thought I could get the puppy stuff over with all at the same time if I got them at the same time. I was just talking to Sasha's breeder and she said it would be difficult but it can be done. I'm not afraid of the physical part of two puppies but I wouldn't like it if they didn't bond to me just because they are littermates. My other concern about two puppies who have always been together is how well they deal with the loss of the other one if something should happen to one of them. Hershey and Sasha were good friends and played really well together but they were not overly dependent on each other.
:thanks: ahead of time for all your help. :wave:


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## goldensonly

Hello Singer!

While I have not raised two pups who were littermates, I have raised 4 "puppies" for the past 2 years. Meaning I've had 4 pups under the age of 2 yrs old. My male turned 2 in March, so "officially" he's no longer considered a puppy.  

I now have 3 females, each just months between their ages, and I do have to say, if the proper care isn't received they will most definately bond with each other and leave you completely out of the equation. Gretchen will be 2 in October, Hannah will be 1 in July and Heather will be 1 in October...that's how close in age they are! 

I'm not sure about "doing everything separately", but yes, there will be times when you have to be one-on-one with just you and one pup...and if one does happen to be more liked than the other, they will sense that.

My daughter has littermate Airedale Terriers. They are 4 years old now, both females. Both VERY good dogs, but it has taken her almost the entire 4 years of constant training to try and severe the "littermate" tie and have these girls function, one-without-the-other. I think if you were to ask her, she would say NEVER EVER AGAIN would she get littermates. I have heard of much success though if you gets pups the same age...FROM DIFFERENT LITTERS! The dominance issue isn't such an issue at all.!!!


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## Boogity

We have two little tigers. A female and a male. They are not litter-mates but were born only a few days apart. They are about 14 weeks old now and they are a hand-full.

We intended to breed them so we searched bloodlines to make sure we had the proper separation of genealogy. Since we have studied breeding to learn more about it we have decided to have both of our little lovers "fixed". We feel that it would be very irresponsible for complete novices (my wife and myself) to pump out puppies without the correct training and facilities for breeding. Also the rescues and animal shelters are full of wonderful, adoptable dogs.

We have had many dogs in the past but never two tiny ones at the same time. Take your typical trials and tribulations of one puppy and multiply it by 10. They seem to encourage one another to get into trouble. When you tend to one's needs the other gets into something. When you praise one for a good deed the bad one takes a bow.

We're into our second week of puppy kindergarten and it's almost impossible to train one while the other is present. Sometimes it seems that the command "sit" means "tackle" or "come" means "eat the bushes".

Do I sound like I'm complaining? Not at all! I love having two little bundles of joy under foot. They are sooooooo sweet and loving. Sure we get upset, sure we get frustrated. But it's worth all of it. We simply have to adjust our methods of training and all will be good. In fact we see 100% improvement in just 6 weeks.

Go for two. You'll be glad you did.


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## goldencity

I' ve had 2 pups from the same litter and 2 the same age from diff. litters as well as 1 goldie on his own.

I can't say I had a problem with the pups not bonding with us, both sets of girls have been [and still are] wonderfull loving pets. The training thing can be a bit awkward, you need 2 people to go to a puppy class, or go to 2 classes or crate one pup while you work with the other. I would not like to have trained 2 pups on my own, Steve and I worked together and my daughter went to class with me.
At home you need to seperate the pups when training so they dont distract each other.

Luckily the dominance thing has not been an issue, of each pair one has been much more submissive than the other- you could ask the breeder to choose 2 pups where 1 is the boss and the other is more submissive.

The older pair were litter sisters, we still have Penny but Lucy died of cancer Dec.2002. Penny missed Lucy and went very much down hill, she seemed to have no interest in life at all This all changed when we got Millie and Daisy shes still going strong ! I'm sure she helped to teach them manners!

Personally, I would always have 2 dogs. I know the training is a bit more awkward but if you plan for this its OK. Now its just as easy to walk one dog as three! My dogs are never lonley, they dont destroy the house, they have never chewed furniture ect I can go out and leave them while I go out and know they wont get bored, they are so differant in personality its fun- millie is really bossy she likes to race about and play while Daisy is much more laid back.

Hope all this helps, Sarah


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## Charliemaggie

We brought home a boy from a litter and housetrained him with no trouble. We thought we could get another pup from the same litter with that same wonderful Golden personality Charlie had, but no. His littermate sister was just the opposite to him in personality. She was very independent and not very affectionate. When we tried to houetrain her, she thought we were being mean to her. Sadly, we were so unhappy with her that we took her back to the breeder. She did get a good home, and we kept Charlie. 

It was kind of hard having littermates in the house because Charlie was smitten with his sister and wanted to do whatever she did, including pottying in the house even though he was housetrained.

It's a lot of work and a lot of fun--if you have the time to raise littermates.

Cheryl


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