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Ask A Vet: Is It Bad To Raise Littermates Together?

| July 14, 2016

Some people say that littermates cannot be trained and raised together. I say that raising two pups of close age might make the owner/trainer’s job a little harder, but certainly can be done. Dogs are descended from pack dwelling wolves, so many people choose to have more than one dog. If you work away from home and have long hours, your dog might be more entertained if he had a canine brother or sister to pass the day with.

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Image Source: Lisa L Wiedmeier Via Flickr

Knowing how dogs work (and how people work to some degree), I think that it is very possible to successfully raise siblings. You will have to be willing to take time with each dog on his own to set behavior expectations and rewards. Remember, training requires patience and breaking down the goal into multiple small steps. You, as a single handler, will not be able to as effectively train both dogs in a session together. You will need to make time to set training goals for each dog as if he was your only student because dogs have different aptitudes and learning speeds and styles.

If you want to adopt littermates, please feel free to do so, just be sure that you consider your own schedule and resources. Will you have time for two separate training times? Make sure you have a safe spot for the one not being trained to wait without distracting the lesson. Perhaps crate training is the first place to start!

 

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