By Heidi Clayton
One mistake I sometimes see new puppy owners make is adopting siblings. While this may seem like a fun idea, would be newby puppy owners should know that in most cases, adopting littermates is a bad idea. Here’s the serious considerations you need to mull over.
Housebreaking two puppies, feeding two puppies and training two puppies is a ton of work. Consider the following when thinking of getting two puppies at once:
I don’t know any decent breeders who will let you take littermates. While there are no current studies that address what is called “littermate syndrome,” even breeders who are quite capable of raising littermates know the difficulties of doing so.
Littermate syndrome may or may not be real, but what is commonly seen is there is a bully amongst the siblings, which can lead to real problems. And there is zero guarantee that as they grow they will continue to get along.
One of the biggest reasons I hear people use to justify getting littermates is that the puppies will keep each other company and they will learn from each other. Never assume that one puppy is going to teach another puppy anything of value. It is always the opposite.
When someone says a pair of puppies is bonded, you should see a giant red flag. Puppies that are already hyper-bonded to each other and showing signs of separation anxiety should not be left to stay together so they can only function in the presence of the other. The goal is for the puppies to bond with you, the human.
Since we speak a totally different language than dogs, having to devote the time to bonding with two puppies who already value their relationship with the other more than you, is a massive undertaking. Done incorrectly and you will have two puppies that struggle to settle or have full-blown separation anxiety.
Before committing to two puppies, think if you can give them everything they need. Most of my clients have limited time to train one puppy while also getting on with the regular business of life. Consider these questions:
Do you have the space at home to crate them in separate rooms so they don’t develop separation anxiety?
Can you devote enough time to play with each puppy separately? That includes walking them and socializing them out in the world apart from each other and not always being together.
The bottomline is, when adopting or getting littermates you are doing them a huge disservice if you let them have each other all the time. If you can’t devote the time to working with each puppy every single day, separately and away from the other, I highly recommend that you avoid getting in over your head.
Several of my clients adopted two littermates because each of their children wanted their own puppy. Think long and hard about caving to this request as every single family that did this really struggled.
Not that they don’t love their puppies, but the good intentions of the parents to instill lessons in the children regarding taking care of a puppy got lost in the daily grind of sports, activities and homework. All of the parents ended up being the sole caregivers to the littermates and were simply overwhelmed.
In hindsight, a better plan is getting one puppy and dividing up chores and responsibilities for care and training.
