# Sticky  I'd love to get two puppies at once!



## MaggieRoseLee

Please read these sites before making that decision...

Leerburg | Raising 2 pups at one time in a Family Setting

http://www.doglistener.co.uk/choosing/sibling-litter-puppies.shtml

Raising Siblings

Also more in ---> http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...67994-should-i-get-two-puppies-dogs-once.html

I know I have to have a 5 year split between my dogs in ages :wub:


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## Spain

Well, we got our puppies together. While it was hard sometimes, I loved it. We have two kids and each has there own puppy, they spend alot of time which each of theres puppy. My husband and I looked at it from the point of few as just having twins. They where able to keep themselves entertained when we could not.


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## carmspack

worst idea ever --- especially littermates. You will never appreciate them as unique individuals and you will always be battling with their tight involvement with each other . I don't sell my pups this way although I have people interested in one for the Mr and one for the Mrs . I even told my sister the same thing . 
If I hold on to two brothers , or two brothers go in to a program to get them ready for future serious work , they always have time lavished on them as if they were the one and the only dog . One dog in house. One in kennel. One dog for training , other one eating / sleeping. Not together . It is more than double the work if you want a good result. 
Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs


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## kiya

Spain said:


> *They where able to keep themselves entertained when we could not*.


Unfortunately this means they bonded with each other. I never realized how important individual training sessions were until I got this pup. She bonded with my older female. My pup is 20 months old and my female is about 7-1/2 yrs old. Thier playing together was much more exciting then when I want to train. I have to work extra hard with my pup.


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## selzer

I think it depends on the dogs. It can work out. But it can also cause problems. I think this does not have anything to do with lines or genetics. I think it is something you certainly could not determine by eight weeks in the litter. So it is a huge gamble every single time. 

I have raised several littermates, and left them together for up to fifteen months. None of them are more concerned with each other than me. But a pup that went to its home at 4 months and came back to me at six months, and then kept totally separated from the other dogs, due to a serious injury -- that dog is far more interested in dogs than people, at home or abroad. But it is true that it is more than double the work. Socialize the singly, potty training is a blast when you have two or even three that need to go out first thing in the morning, and than need constant supervision. Training is separate too. And passing out treats to three alligators at the same time -- I marvel that I still have my full complement of fingers.


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## LaRen616

Definitly not a good idea to have 2 puppies at one time. Been there, done that, never will again.

I raised 2 littermates at the same time and it was EXTREMELY difficult and I would never do it again, I was only working part time when I was raising them. 

One puppy caught on to tricks and training fast while the other one was slower and required more time and more training but because my time was split between them, the slower puppy didn't get the amount of training she should have gotten. 
I think it was unfair to split my time between them, they both deserved to have me all to themselves while they were puppies and they had to share me. 

They were very closely bonded to each other, I didn't exist while they were together. 

Puppies need one on one time for training, bonding and exercising. They need all of your attention while they are growing/maturing, If they do not get individual time then they will become very close to each other and choose each other over you. 

Puppies are also very expensive, shots, toys, spay/neuter and training.

Also, having 2 dogs close in age could mean that they pass away within months of each other which means double the heartbreak.


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## selzer

Double the geriatric vet bills.


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## paulag1955

I saw a family at PetSmart yesterday with two GSD pups and two children under the age of 10 and wow. Just wos. The pups looked to be three to four months old and totally wild. In fairness, the children looked rather wild, too, so it may be that chaos is their chosen lifestyle. But what I saw didn't make me think that having two puppies at the same time looked fun. At least not two big puppies.


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## kiya

selzer said:


> Double the geriatric vet bills.


Silly me I forgot about that, even with one being 9 and the other 7 is tuff.
The only thing I have to go to the vets for this week is meds/prescriptions.


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## Sunstreaked

Well, I now have a two puppy situation and could use all the advice I can get. 

Maggie, I will be reading those links above, and thanks! 

Some history:

Eva, our female, one year on 9/8/11, spayed.

Tory, a male, six months, will be neutered within 4-8 weeks. (He belongs to our daughter, who recently moved back home again.)

Both are GSD mixes and both have known the other since Tory was 9 weeks old. 

Both are crate trained.

Eva has completed 2 sets of classes, Tory has gone through puppy class. 

Right now there are no real issues, but I believe in trying to ward off problems. 

Advice please?


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## carmspack

the situation is different because the dogs were not raised together . Each one had the time and distance to develop as an individual .
Why not continue with your daughter having responsibilty for "her" dog , and you with yours . 
Once your daughter has been home again for a while and the dog is working well for her then you can increase the friend time the two littermates have with each other . 
She has to demonstrate that the dog responds to her and that the dog understands that she is still the one to "report" to . This makes it easier for the dog , not having to switch loyalty , that the daughter is the constant , even though the home has switched. When she moves away again the dog will be able to move with her more easily.

Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs


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## Castlemaid

I was going to suggest the same as Carmen - you each take on responsibility for your puppy - puppies are separated by crating, or baby gates in different parts of the house. Allow one or two play sessions a day together, but this should not be instead of one-on-one training, bonding, playing exercising with their owners. 

I got Gryff at six months - for the first six months in my house, spent a lot of one-on-one time with him, taking him out on his own for exercise, excursions, and training, leaving poor Keeta home alone (she was a good sport about it  ). 

Then gradually allowing longer time together. After a year, I did not bother to separate them anymore at all, both are very responsive - they could be playing together, and I call one of them, and they break it off and come right away - that is when you know that they have not over-bonded to the other dog.


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## selzer

My suggestion is to continue training sessions. Each pup in a different class.


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## Germanshepherdlova

Brutus was 12 months old, when we got Oso who was between 6-8 months old (rescue so not certain of exact age). Brutus who was alone with us for his first year is into us, and will only play with Oso if no human is willing to spend time with him. Oso on the other hand prefers to play with Brutus over us humans, again we aren't sure of his background but it does seem that he must have been entertained by other dogs and not his owner for the most part. They were both puppies at the same time, but hadn't been raised together until later, so it does make a difference, I think.


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## Sunstreaked

Carmen, you brought up a good point I hadn't thought of. We three adults (DH, DD, and I) know Tory is her dog, but reinforcing it WITH the dogs is excellent advice and we'll be sure to do that more. We do it some, but it's a really valid point that her dog doesn't bond with us over her. 

Lucia, they do get that crate time separate, with play sessions in-between. We also walk them separately several times a day. 

Selzer, I believe we will both be continuing classes and we will not be in the same class - that's another good point I hadn't considered. 

Germanshepherdlova, thanks for the input. These two will be apart at some point in the future, just not sure when. 

Thanks everyone! Keep the suggestions coming!


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## wolfman

Two puppies? Oh wow! talk about liking challenges..:laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## Sunstreaked

wolfman said:


> Two puppies? Oh wow! talk about liking challenges..:laugh::laugh::laugh:




ROFL! Don't have a choice! Love the daughter, puppy is adorable, just gotta DO it! :crazy:


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## saraja87

We have two puppies at home now and it's definitely a handful! My husband and I are currently bunking with my family while we save up like crazy. With us we have our long coated GSD Milou who just turned 6 months old and our two kitties. About a month or so after we got our pup, my mom lost her sheltie and adopted a 10 month old sheltie boy. The two of them turn into absolute terrors when they're playing together so we try to seriously limit their time together.

Milou is crated in our bedroom while Tintin is crated in my mom's room. They eat at the same time and play together in the backyard every time we let them out to pee. They also attend obedience class together but my husband and I work with Milou in one area and my mom works with Tintin alone in another. I walk Milou alone every morning and my husband walks her alone most afternoons. We usually walk them together in the evening. 

Milou is brilliant, very devoted to us, loves to cuddle and is very responsive. She is absolutely higher up in the pack order than Tintin but recognizes both my husband and I as being in charge. Tintin is bright, very food motivated and listens if you have food but not if you don't. We try to spend as much time with Milou as possible and she usually has one of us with her at all times but I don't think my mom spends enough time with Tintin who has separation anxiety. 

I've been going through the links but does anyone have any other suggestions?


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## Mcap

We just did it! Here are brothers Milo and Rocco, long coats.

_ *** Pic removed by Mod due to oversized (was 1023 x 615) *** _


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## Falkosmom

Years ago I took in a male stray GSD puppy and a couple months later found another male GSD puppy about the same age. Raised them both together, never had a problem with them until they turned two, then it was crate and rotate. Both dogs were very biddable and bonded very nicely to me.

Down the road I bought a brother and sister GSD. Never had any problems with them either that were related to raising two pups together. They never really did bond with me, but they never really bonded with each other either. These two just did not seem to have bonding in them.

Now I always let my adults help raise my pups. Although most feel that this could be problematic, all my pups bonded nicely with me except for the aforementioned two, but those two were another story.


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## Nigel

I guess we must have been very lucky. We got litter mates 2 years ago, Tuke and Zoey. Just to let you know, Tuke is a girl. We have had none of the problems mentioned in this thread. They have been absolutely fantastic dogs. They were separated during training and sometimes during exercise, other than that they were together. Zoey is a Velcro dog big time, while Tuke is a great kid dog, when the kids head out back, she's usually right behind them. Zoey prefers to stay close to my wife and I. I'm guessing it's their polar opposite personalities that has made this work out so easily.


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## Nikitta

Wow I didn't think about this. When i got Jasira, my old guy Dizan, who was 14 was still here. He tolerated her but didn't really want to play. He was slowing down and rested a lot. He passed away in September last year. Jas was about 3-4 months old at the time. I had asked Elaine , my breeder to keep an eye out for another puppy for me. I was going to get another girl until I read from you guys that 2 girls was a bad idea so I asked her to find me a male puppy not related to Jas. ( I have no plans to breed but the option is there if i change my mind; but I don't believe in breeding a female until they are at least 3 years old anyway.) Do you think Jas at 1 and Xerx at 4 months are to close in age? Not that I'd get rid of one or the other. My dogs are my dogs for life. I should add they get along good but I don't let them together a lot because my trainer friend told me that as little as Xerx was at the time Jas could break his back; so be careful.


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## DTS

We had a couple in our novice OB class that had 2 female dobermans from the same litter. They each trained their own dog, but they were about 8-10 months and both had alpha personalities. They ended up getting into some pretty serious fights trying to establish dominace that required a lot of stitches on one of the dogs back and throat and an ear almost getting torn off. They missed more than half of the classes due to fight injuries. They even tried to fight during class and they always had their shock collars on. I'm not quite sure what happened to them as they quit coming to class.


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## shepherdmom

carmspack said:


> worst idea ever --- especially littermates. You will never appreciate them as unique individuals and you will always be battling with their tight involvement with each other.


Everyone has their own opinion on this but I found with my two boys we did appreciate their uniqueness. They had completely different personalitites. We had other dogs too and they bonded with them and with us as much as with each other. Buddy was heartbroken when we lost his brother but he was also heartbroken when we lost Xena the year before and she was not his littermate. He was also depressed because both daughters are out of the house going to college. Not only is the new puppy helping this but one of the daughters is home for summer break so Buddy is a happy camper once again. Raising two puppies from the same litter is not for everyone but it can be done successfully and I'm glad we did.


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## Nigel

Tuke and Zoey have had a few fights, but they have been mostly noise and they will break it off once we get after them. Any injuries they have gotten have come from playing, Tuke use to go after Zoeys ears. Zoey also had her eye scratched & she had it retracted, that freaked us out. Our vet sent us right to an eye specialist (I didn't know dogs had eye doctors) and we were assured that it was minor and that dogs have the ability to retract the eye, pretty weird looking though.


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## Nigel

Also I had to laugh at Selzer's Alligator comment. Daisy our 14 old lab will still try to take your hand off. Thank god she can still see & we can toss her treats.
Tuke and Zoey are extremely gentle taking food.


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## Hercules

I don't get why everyone is hating the whole two puppies at once. I have to puppies and they're 4 days apart, they have both bonded together and have bonded with us really well, they understand that they can play but when we call them, game time is over and they need to hurry their little butts over to receive their commands.


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## DollBaby

I've had both littermates, and pups close in age. I've never had a problem. They grew up to be fine dogs


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## GsdLoverr729

Generally the issues are:
Puppies bonding to each other rather than the owner
Owners not having enough time to offer each (it's THREE times the work to have two pups)
Littermate syndrome
Same-sex issues with sexual maturity if it's two sisters
Double/triple the cost in vet bills and food
Most reputable breeders won't sell littermates, or two pups to one person at the same time like this, so most pairs are gotten from BYB's
Inexperienced owners getting two GSD pups at the same time without making sure they can handle a single landshark first


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## tacticalseries

Distract one while the other goes on a walk ,vice versa. My my 6mnth old black and tan GSD she sleeps in my bed and now we have an 8 week old black & silver sable who wants to sleep where Mieka sleeps but we say no she has an alternative that she's been excepting , sleeping in my sons room. So at night mieka had here space and Millie has hers . Give them more often there own private time away from eachother. Should help for a while. And bones can easily start fights. So when givin a bone do it privately with each dog in separate areas.

Good luck









Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## spazzydots

*Kira and Calli*

I have two female littermates and have no run into issues
I just updated their thread, so feel free to look in the general forum if you want more info. 

I definitely got told not to do it from many people in this forum. 
But it worked for me, although not promising it would work for anyone else. 

I put a ton (and that is under selling it) of time into working with both of them.


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## selzer

Just want to mention that Spazzydots pups are not GSDs, they are GSD/Anatolian Shepherd crosses, which may make a difference. Also they were spayed young, which won't make a difference after there are problems, but removing the hormones and heat cycles may eliminate issues before they ever got a chance. And STILL it was a lot of work. 

I know that having female littermates is doable, as I have done it a couple of times, but the best advice for most people is "Don't."


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## spazzydots

Selzer, Kira and Calli ended up being spayed at 9 months old. 
So not too young (since I believe last I posted I was planning on at 6 months), I found a vet that I really liked and she kept watching their bone growth, and gave me the okay for spaying. So not sure if 9 months is "young" for spaying. But they definitely did not go into heat. 

But they are GSD and Anatolian mixes. So could have made a difference. 

And definitely a lot of work. 
Not a choice to be made lightly that is for sure!


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## selzer

Spazzydots. I have had several sets of GSD littermates. Babs and Jenna, Bear and Dolly, Heidi, Whitney, and Tori, Milla and Ninja, and currently Hannah, Hepzibah, and Hermione. 

I really haven't had any problems with them being together up through a year old. Hannah and Hermione turned one in March and are sharing a kennel. Babs and Jenna were together for 15 months, Milla and Ninja for a year. Heidi and Whitney for over a year, while Tori was the odd ball out -- three's a crowd and they will gang up on a third -- ask Ender. 

Sexual Maturity happens at different ages. I was able to leave Hepsi in with Jenna through her heat cycle and until those babies were 8 weeks along. Hepsi was almost 11 months old when Jenna had the litter. But, a lot of bitches are not safe together when there is a heat cycle. Jenna was Hepzibah's dam, but that really isn't an indicator because Arwen was Jenna's dam, and when she was pregnant she attacked Jenna, but left Babsy alone. 

Bitches are interesting because it is not always the same thing that makes them tick. But they can be more tempramental when the heat cycle strikes, so it is just best to separate them. 

Jenna was seven and Hepsi almost one, and Hepsi was in there riding her, and Jenna was letting her. What a couple of nuts. 

Spaying early -- prior to the bitch going into heat, not early in the sense of being too young to be spayed, just removes one of the dimensions. 

I was just pointing that out because it could make a difference as this thread is specifically here to discourage people from getting in over their heads with littermates. 

I have kennels and can separate all of my girls all the time if that is necessary and have no qualms about that. Most people just have pets that they want to all live together harmoniously like the ideal happy family. And the idea of crate/rotate, kenneling them separately, having one dog in while you eat dinner and another dog in while you are watching a movie or fiddling around on your computer, would be totally awful to many people.


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## spazzydots

No worries! Not taking offense to it. 
Just wasn't certain what you meant by "young"
It makes sense now, and I agree it is not for everyone. 

And I work with two foster based rescue so I agree with informing people about anything and everything ahead of time. (and we spay EVERY dog before they are adopted out, this could be very young, or after they have had litters of puppies. But we are pulling from multiple very high kill shelters in the south, so we just know its easier for us to spay and adopt out, than to expect people to get their own dogs spayed, because we get dogs constantly dropped off while in labor!)
People get over their head with just one dog all the time! 

People frequently lack common sense, and make spur of the moment decisions! 
They expect dogs to just be wonderful dogs with no training. 

In my opinion make sure before getting even just one dog, you have the time to handle and properly train them. Especially in the first two years. 
Or don't be pissed and blame the dog when they misbehave or act out!


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## ThisGuy82

I raised a puppy once, and after having him for 2 months, we decided to rescue a dog. While the dog was about 16 months old, he came with his own problems and it made raising our first dog (the younger one) very difficult. After 2 months we decided to re-home the rescue (which was wrong for us to have put him in such a situation). 

It was sadly, the best for all parties involved.

When you get a puppy, raise that puppy. Once your puppy is an adult, and you want a second dog, go ahead and increase your pack size... But if you don't have a relationship established with the existing pack members, new pack members won't get what they deserve.


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## ThisGuy82

spazzydots said:


> I have two female littermates and have no run into issues
> I just updated their thread, so feel free to look in the general forum if you want more info.
> 
> I definitely got told not to do it from many people in this forum.
> But it worked for me, although not promising it would work for anyone else.
> 
> I put a ton (and that is under selling it) of time into working with both of them.


Your points are moot.

Being the exception to the rule does not mean you need to pass that experience on as the standard or as an option. In all likelihood, you did things right on many levels that most dog owners will never address.


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## shepherdmom

MaggieRoseLee said:


> Please read these sites before making that decision...
> 
> Leerburg | Raising 2 pups at one time in a Family Setting
> 
> http://www.doglistener.co.uk/choosing/sibling-litter-puppies.shtml
> 
> Raising Siblings
> 
> I know I have to have a 5 year split between my dogs in ages :wub:



These links are broken. Since this is a sticky I wonder if we could get some updated links on littermate syndrom and experts who think that two are bad.  Thanks


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## MaggieRoseLee

shepherdmom said:


> These links are broken. Since this is a sticky I wonder if we could get some updated links on littermate syndrom and experts who think that two are bad.  Thanks


 I fixed one of the broken ones and removed the other. Thanks for bringing up the problem so I could fix it!


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## mct765

A quick question after reading this thread. I have a year and half old female GSD, she is a well trained house dog at this point and I am beginning agility training with her. I've been looking into getting a male puppy and was curious what people thought about this. I hadnt had any thoughts about this till I read this thread.


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## readaboutdogs

These are good points. When I was younger we usually only had one dog at a time. When I got cody(gsd) we did have a 12 year old dog that got along well with him. My daughter had gotten Clippper, Cody's litter mate. They were raised in separate homes till Clipper was a little over a year old. She used to bring him over all the time and they were always glad to see each other. Then she moved out of state and Clipper came to his forever home with me and Cody. I think they got along so well was because previously they had been raised separate. They were best buddies here. I think about getting 2 puppies, I miss my gsds and how they were, but this article does make me rethink it! I have Hooch the little pittbull, and though I REALLY want another gsd or collie I think he is best as an only dog, at least for now. It's only been 7 months that he has been the only dog here with me. I also "worry" if I wait till I retire in a few years that getting a couple pups would all mean geriatric dogs when I'm getting up there too!


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## Castlemaid

mct765 said:


> A quick question after reading this thread. I have a year and half old female GSD, she is a well trained house dog at this point and I am beginning agility training with her. I've been looking into getting a male puppy and was curious what people thought about this. I hadnt had any thoughts about this till I read this thread.


I think there is enough of an age difference here that it could work - but personally I would wait until your female is older. 

When you get your new pup, whether you decide to get one now or later, you will still have to work with him to prevent him from bonding too much with the older girl. One-on-one training and play, separated for most of the day, etc. 

When I got Gryffon, Keeta was five years old. For the first year that I had him, I mostly did a lot of one-on-one time with him to make sure that he looked to me more than her. He adores her, and looks up to her, and now they spend a lot of time together, but when I call him he drops everything and comes running, and when we go training he doesn't even so much as glance at other dogs - and I credit the time we spent together, just the two of us, for that kind of handler focus.


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## arctic

To bump an old thread, I wonder if a GSD puppy could actually bond strongly to a friendly kitten she grows up with?


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## scarfish

arctic said:


> To bump an old thread, I wonder if a GSD puppy could actually bond strongly to a friendly kitten she grows up with?


i have a 6 month GSD, a 9 month old kitten and a 1.5 year old GSD all raised together, all complete best friends.


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## arctic

scarfish said:


> i have a 6 month GSD, a 9 month old kitten and a 1.5 year old GSD all raised together, all complete best friends.


Wow! How does your GSD actually interact with the kitten? I don't even know how a GSD would "play" with a kitten/cat...


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## scarfish

i dunno. all different ways. sometimes they rough house but never hurt the cat. sometimes they groom the cat. sometimes they all just sleep by each other. sometimes the kitten bolts into the room and smacks a dog in the face and bolts away to get the dogs to chase her and i have to yell no to them. we don't let the dogs chase the cat but she loves it. sometimes the cat hides under furniture and plays peek a boo by shooting her paws out and dogs love that game.


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## arctic

scarfish said:


> i dunno. all different ways. sometimes they rough house but never hurt the cat. sometimes they groom the cat. sometimes they all just sleep by each other. sometimes the kitten bolts into the room and smacks a dog in the face and bolts away to get the dogs to chase her and i have to yell no to them. we don't let the dogs chase the cat but she loves it. sometimes the cat hides under furniture and plays peek a boo by shooting her paws out and dogs love that game.



What kind of cat do you have, and do you find cats to be a "rewarding" pet to have? I have to admit -- I wouldn't get a cat if getting a second puppy, which is my preference, did not entail so many problems and time commitment.

But maybe I'm just biased against cats because I love dogs.


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## scarfish

arctic said:


> What kind of cat do you have, and do you find cats to be a "rewarding" pet to have? I have to admit -- I wouldn't get a cat if getting a second puppy, which is my preference, did not entail so many problems and time commitment.
> 
> But maybe I'm just biased against cats because I love dogs.


a black cat. i could give or take the cats. i'd prolly just rather have the dogs. i have aother 10 year old mean, hates all animals cat that has her own bedroom. still though, these three are all best buds.


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## DizzySnowFire

scarfish said:


> a black cat. i could give or take the cats. i'd prolly just rather have the dogs. i have aother 10 year old mean, hates all animals cat that has her own bedroom. still though, these three are all best buds.


Sorry to bump the thread but I have a question for you since you have experience.
My dog is well a bit afraid of cats because had a bad experience with one. However I've been thinking about get a kitten(or two) but I wonder how that would effect my dog? Would it make her equally as scared or make her see that cats aren't so bad when they like dogs?
Another option is to adopt a bonded pair(mother and daughter duo) who are well socialized with dogs(specially GSDs) from a rescue. How would that effect my dog?
I don't want her to be scared in her own home(even though she is a bit right now but changing that!) or have her worry so much about a cat possibly attack her.


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## MaggieRoseLee

Updated links


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## Mr. B.

MaggieRoseLee said:


> Please read these sites before making that decision...
> 
> Leerburg | Raising 2 pups at one time in a Family Setting
> 
> Sibling Dogs: The Worst Of Both Worlds
> 
> Raising Siblings
> 
> Also more in ---> Should I get TWO puppies/dogs at once?
> 
> I know I have to have a 5 year split between my dogs in ages :wub:


I got 2 at once. The two i have are brothers and they act like it too. I think its great they are close to 9 months old now. They close to each other. They are inside dogs and we don't never have any real issue other than hiding things like my wife's house slippers. But i don't mind. It all depends on your patience and their personality.


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## WNGD

3 year old thread. As with many of these issues, it's not that it can't be done successfully, it's that it's not recommended under normal circumstances for a variety of reasons


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## selzer

Mr. B. said:


> I got 2 at once. The two i have are brothers and they act like it too. I think its great they are close to 9 months old now. They close to each other. They are inside dogs and we don't never have any real issue other than hiding things like my wife's house slippers. But i don't mind. It all depends on your patience and their personality.


LOL! I had 5 boys together until they were 9 months old, then I started pairing them. They mostly went to new homes around 10 months old. At 9 months old, your boys have not reached sexual maturity yet. I am not saying it cannot work, I've raised Babs and Jenna, Heidi, Whitney, and Tori, Nikki and Nina, Milla and Ninja, and I have one pair of littermates out there, Tyson and Zeus who were out of my O-litter, so they are 5 or 6 years old. And their owner has done a great job with them. It does depend on patience and personality. It depends on a lot more than that though. It depends on your experience. Experience is not raising two puppies for 7 months. 

Yeah, it is an experience, I am sure. For instance, house training two pups is twice the fun. But the real problems with raising littermates is not the easy stuff. The problems with having littermates is that each individual pup does not gain the confidence that going from dam and littermates to their new home. So they feed on each other, they rely on each other, they will be the same age and possibly the same power (this depends), if they are close in power, they will fight most likely, and often one will need to be rehomed. If they are not, than the stronger (temperament) pup will often constantly bully the softer pup. And even if it is totally subtle, the weaker pup is likely to never reach its potential because it is always in the shadow of the stronger pup. And it grows that position. 

And if you get them both neutered, or the weaker pup neutered, maybe that works fine for a number of years. Maybe not. Because it is often the neutered dogs in the dog park that cause the most problems. So that's even a crap shoot. But then as they age, you have to older dogs, double the geriatric vet bills (if you're lucky). And then when they go, they often follow each other. Milla and Ninja went within 3 weeks of each other. But then Babs was almost 14 and Jenna almost 13. And Heidi was over 13, Tori almost 10, and Whitney was between 4 and 5. I think the longer they are together, the more likely they are to die around the same time, given nothing like an accident happens to one of them. So a 4 year old that is hit by a car is unlikely to kill the other dog, unless they were chasing each other. But when an 11 year old dog succumbs to something, the other dog often sickens and dies close behind. And that is double the grief, and often leaves folks with a major hole with no dog left behind to kind of temper the pain. 

Most of your Lierberg type sites will tell you to separate them completely and work each separately so that both can reach their potential. Sometimes one adult takes care of the one and the other the other, for as long as that works. I think you have to do triple the training. You have to train each dog individually, usually having them both in separate classes. And then you should spend at least as much time as you do individually, training and socializing them together, if you are planning on having them a part of normal family life. Like, going on walks, vacations, etc, together. Because, a dog will act on its own differently than it might when its littermate is present. For instance. The weaker dog might actually be fine if a 5 year old runs up and throws its arms around and hugs the dog if it is on its own. If the other dog is present, the weaker dog might bite in that situation, or the opposite, unless from the beginning, you socialize them and train them individually, and as a pair. 

I don't have this problem because I have a bunch of dogs and no way do I take them everywhere together, in fact, I find it much more reasonable to manage one dog at a time when in public. Just easier for me. I can leave 11 dogs at home as easy as 10. Doesn't matter for me. For the people who have a pair of pups, leaving one behind instills guilt in the owners. So they want to bring them both. Sometimes, when a dog is raised with a littermate, they have a lot of trouble being left alone, and have separation anxiety. So if one dog needs a surgery, and is suddenly not at home for a day, the other dog is losing its mind. Even with you right there. And bring dog A back home, and dog B is then jumping all over him because it is so happy to see him. And fights may ensue at this point because the one is suddenly way more vulnerable and knows it, so to protect itself it growls or lashes out. 

There is just so many things to kind of figure out and prepare for, some of which won't happen, but even so, we get dogs to enhance our lives. And we should think long and hard before we set up a situation that might make for a lot more work, a lot more consideration in every situation.


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