I have two husky pups. I am acutely aware of the dangers of raising two litter mates at once.

It was not my intention to get both, but now that I have them, I could not possibly imagine giving either of them up.

They are both wonderful and sweet and my little babies. Here is the situation.

I had originaly brought only one home, but when my little females male litter mate became ill a few weeks later I could not let him die. I had to bring him home and take him to the vet.

The story behind this is a long one, but I will give a little background. I bought my little girl from a friend and local Alaska musher. The musher attitude is that if the dog is meant to be a part of the team and survive it will do so on its own. Without help from anyone, including a vet. I convinced my friend to let me bring the little boy home when I found out he was sick. I told her that if he ended up needing surgery or anything, I would pay for it, but then he would become my dog.

Well, he ended up having a bacterial infection in his intestions and a mere 10 days of antibiotics and $80 in vet costs, I found myself with a second husky pup.

They are wonderful and beautiful and both very smart. However, I need some serious help with the training to make sure I end up with great adult dogs.

So far I have no issues with socializing, biting, agression, dominance, etc.. They are crate trained, know their sits, stays, come, wait for food, "ok" release command, are in the process of learning down, and listen well when on an extenable lead or are in the house with us.

There is a slight bit of a pack within a pack situation. When outside not on a leash, they listen for the most part, but can tend to listen to each other before listening to us.

They are better when we are away from our yard in an unfamiliar place. However, when at home, if I let them out without a leash, about 50% of the time they take off. They don't go far, just a bit far for my comfort.

They come back if they hear us coming for them and usually meet us halfway, but if I sit near the house and call, I am totally ignored.

I have read many books and other resources on how to train them to listen to me first, each other second. I just have some things I would like clarified about what I have read.

Everything says keep them separated all the time. This is a bit unrealistic for us in the house situation we are in. It would mean having them in their kennels away from us all the time. We want them to bond with us. Putting them in a kennel all the time seems cruel.

Right now they are curled up with our older dog on a dog blanket across the room sleeping soundly. Is this bad that I let them do this? I do plan to start taking each separately on walks for one on one training.

When I do this I question what to do with the other pup. We have a very large dog run in the back yard that I could put the other one in, or should I kennel the other one while I am gone. Do you think this will create some separation anxiety since they are always either with us or each other?

Any suggestions you have to help me ensure the proper training for them would be extremely helpful!
Thank you very much!

Jen, I hope you have had a chance to read another post regarding rasising 2 pups. Since you already have your pups, here is my advice. Rehome 1 of them. Do it sooner before you get too attached to it. I read also, that you have an older dog, so that re-inforces my advice. Please be responsible and do it in the best interest of those pups & your other dog.

If you simply refuse to do that and keep them, here is the other option. What Ed says to do is exactly right! It is not cruel by any means, it is being a responsible caretaker of your dogs. Cruel is letting them run wild, attacking each other (which will happen) and not giving them any discipline or excercise.

I am currently fostering my dogs littermate until I find him a good home, which I hope is asap. Let me give you a brief description of our daily routine. They are both crated, in the morning I get up, let my dog out of her crate, take her outside to relieve herself. I then, put her back in her crate, get the male out, take him outside to relieve himself then back into his crate he goes. I prepare their meals and take one out at a time making them sit before I put their bowl down. They go back in their crate and I go to work.

My wife comes home for lunch and does exactly the same. After they eliminate, she leaves the male outside and keeps the female inside the house on leash. After done with her lunch, she crates the dogs again and she goes to work.

I get home from work, change my clothes then take both dogs outside ON LEASH, to run a bit, before I take them on their 60-75 min run/walk. When we get back home, I give them water, then put them back in their crates. A couple hours later, I prepare their meals, then take them out 1 at a time to feed them. They go outside together supervised for 15-20 mins, then back in their crate to start all over again the next day.

In between them being crated, I take one out at a time and do some short obedience sessions with each one. They are NEVER together unsupervised. It's nice to see you are practicing NILIF with your pups, but you can already see they are bonded closer to each other and will never bond with you in the same way.

If you don't plan on keeping your dogs like this or similar FOR LIFE, stick to 1 dog.

How old are the pups now? Is there anyway you would be willing to find one a great home?

I have two GSD pups (and four adult dogs) also, only mine are kept seperate and I have a kennel operation that allows me to do this....I work with my dogs daily. It is a challenge, but this is what I do so I have the ability to do it properly.

While I know it is difficult to seperate them, I would do this as much as you can in order to create a good strong handler/dog bond and try to break the "doggie" bond they have with each other.
You need to be prepared when they get older and start to have rank issues and they may in fact include the older dog on this also.

When they are together, you need to be there as a pack leader and not let them get away with ANYTHING. When you are not there, they need to be crated or kenneled seperate. It is not cruel at all, and contrary to popular belief, dogs do not need playmates.

Sounds like you are on the right track as far as keeping them on lead and having crates.

The "taking off" will only get worse if you continue to let them run together. Time spent alone in their seperate areas is good for them. They will not become anxiety dogs if you do this.

I would start the daily seperate walks now.

I am raising 2 pups from the same litter. I keep them seperated 100% other than a little unavoidable barking at eachother thru the kennel run when one of them is out and the other is in, but I distract him and get him interested in me.

I will keep them seperated till they are 10-12 months old. After that, if they get along, I have no problem letting them be together.

I had two ten-week-old littermates before I found this Board. By the time I finished reading that I shouldn’t be raising two, they were 3 months old, and there was absolutely no way I could have gotten rid of one then.

Would I do it again – no. It was, and is, a tremendous amount of work. AND I don’t have working dogs with high prey, food or toy drives. However, even with family pets, obedience is a must. It now becomes a double must. Each dog has to be trained separately, and then reinforced (and sometimes retrained!) when they are together.

I know for working and sport dogs, training never stops. In my case, however, I am happy with solid obedience and I think I’ve reached the point where I will stop, simply because I can’t. I’m at the limit as far as controlling what they do 24/7. All of my time is spent making sure they maintain the level of obedience I have chosen. I would love to be able to do more – be it formal movements, tricks, etc. – but there is simply no more time left. If I took chunks of time out to learn new exercises, that would be time lost in supervising already learned basics.

This is so because I choose to live with 2 dogs who interact with each other and us. My dogs are not separated except when crated during the day while we work. Plus the fact is, I’m not an experienced trainer, so I don’t know how to do much more than I already am.

Simply stated, raising two obedient dogs without separating them can be done; teaching them to perform at peak levels and/or achieve their utmost potential is a whole new ball game. Only the owner can determine which is fair.

Let the slams begin.

I like this post Jan. No slams from me.

Sounds like you worked hard and have two obedient dogs to show for it. GREAT job!!

I don't think anyone will say anything negative because you wrote your post to share what you learned about having two pups.

To me I just wouldnt like to risk that the dogs bond too strongly with eachother. But that is my choice and I am sure people have good results doing it differently. I need my dogs primary focus to be on ME. I kept my other 2 seperated when Lyka was a pup, now they are best friends, but if I leave the room they both go and see where I'm going rather than messing with eachother. I want their concern to be me, not the other dog, even though I let them interact if they get along

I am sure 2 littermates can be raised properly together, but I also believe the dogs temprement come into it alot. Some dogs naturally take to other dogs far more strongly than people, other dogs are the opposite. It all depends.

 Quote: mike j schoonbrood

... but if I leave the room they both go and see where I'm going rather than messing with each other. I want their concern to be me, not the other dog...

Not to get in a debate because I think your point about temperment (and I will add breed, drive, sex, etc.) does mean a lot, but my boys will follow me around simply because they know they can't "mess with each other" in the house, and that makes me far more interesting.

Outside - yes, they do carry on quite a bit together, but when I've had enough or it's time to go for a walk or get brushed or whatever, I blow the whistle and they come running because they know I mean business.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can control them playfully all day long if necessary (and that's all that matters to me), but if I had to control them for a long time together in a formal setting or for formal training, that would be, for me, next to impossible.

Back to that old 'what do you want your dogs to do' thing.

Thank you all for your helpful advice. I want to let you know that I will absolutely not give one away to a new home. They are doing just fine with us and with each other. They are training quite well and listening to me and my husband very well.

They are crated most of the time when we are not around except for a few hours between my lunch and my husband coming home from work. I let them in the pen out back to get some exercise and play at that time. When I am home they are usually asleep, one at my feet and the other on the dog blanket. We use all of the alpha dog techniques to make sure they understand we are boss over them. They get that pretty well too.

The older dog has no problem telling them who is boss between the three and they treat her very respectfully. So far no problems there.

They will both be spayed and neutered here soon, so that should also help. I know that I have been told I am making a huge mistake and have been warned of all the horrible things that happen when two pups are being raised together, but so far I have not seen any of those traits save the running off from time to time. Which of course is easily remidied when they are kept on leash around the house.

Perhaps it is a different world up here in AK where we often raise an entire litter of pups together to become a dog team. I have been getting some amazing advice from local mushers on how to treat and raise my pups and so far things are going smoothly.

I am new to this and just want to make sure I am doing things right. Sounds like I am, if I am not having the problems people keep saying I should be.

Thanks,
Jen

 Quote: Jen Albee

... There is a slight bit of a pack within a pack situation. When outside not on a leash, they listen for the most part, but can tend to listen to each other before listening to us. .... when at home, if I let them out without a leash, about 50% of the time they take off. They don't go far, just a bit far for my comfort. .... They come back if they hear us coming for them and usually meet us halfway, but if I sit near the house and call, I am totally ignored. ...

To me, these represent the beginnings of problems, maybe calling for individual obedience work.

JMO.