# My Story with Littermates



## emcale (Jul 9, 2017)

I'd like to share my story so far with raising two littermates. I'll try to be concise.

Mac & Tasha are almost 2 years old. We've had them since they were 7 weeks old. It has been a difficult ride in many ways, and I'd like to share my experience and hopefully, this will help others. I am not a dog trainer, or dog expert. I am an everyday dog owner who learned the hard way.

*THE BEGINNING*: My husband really wanted a German Shepherd. We did our research and found a breeder, paid the deposit, and anxiously awaited our boy. The day before we were to go pick him up, my husband saw on the breeder's Facebook page that there was one female that had not been spoken for. "That's so sad!" my husband said. "Somebody will get her," I reassured him. My MIL (an avid animal lover, but not so much a great animal owner) saw the Facebook post as well and said, "If I give you money, would you like to purchase that last female, too? She looks so lonely." My husband turns to me and says, "Sweetie, what do you think?" Here is where I made my big mistake. I wasn't thinking. I didn't do my research on owning two dogs. I didn't even have a clue what it was like to own ONE dog. I was trusting my husband, who had more experience owning dogs than me. So dummy me, I just went with it. "Well, I guess if she's willing to help pay for the up-front costs, why not? Isn't owning two dogs the same as owning one dog?” Famous last words.

*THE TWO MONTHS OF Hades:* The first two months of owning two puppies were awful. I was living in purgatory. Potty training was a nightmare. The nights were sleepless. I had no time for myself. All I thought about were the puppies and their schedule. Everything was revolved around them. I stopped taking care of myself and gained 20 pounds. I wasn't working and all I had to do all day was be with these terrible, loud, obnoxious, biting, chewing, fighting puppies. I cried all the time. I wanted to rehome them. I begged my husband, "Please! Can we please rehome them? If not both, what about just one? Please. I'm miserable." Husband wouldn't hear of it. "They're family now. You wouldn't rehome your child if they were being difficult would you?" Then my ability to be a parent to children came into question. "If you can't handle dogs, how can you even hope to handle kids? Maybe we shouldn't even have kids." The arguments went basically like that. Only then did I read forums like this and articles that said basically the same thing. If you're inexperienced, don't raise two puppies of the same age. It was awful.

*THE YEAR AND A HALF OF Hades*: When they were 3 months old, we both got jobs in the city in which we were hoping to build a house. Obviously, we didn't have a house yet, so we had to move in with a family member... who had 2 dogs of her own at the time. That was Hades x2. 

Our room was tiny, no room for a crate, barely room for a full size bed for us and one dog bed for them. It was terrible trying to get our schedules to work where I could leave them safely while I was gone. The question of whether to separate them while I was gone during the afternoon came into question, even on this forum. Can I leave them together in the same room? Would they kill each other? Would they bond more with each other than with me? Is it safe to leave them with the roommate's dogs? Etc etc. Then it got worse. The roommate decided to get not one, but TWO puppies of her own. The house smelled of dog pee and poop for months because her puppies would have accidents that wouldn't get cleaned up for hours, sometimes days. I constantly had to avoid the accidents, and really supervise my dogs so they wouldn't have accidents inside too. Her females weren't spayed, so I had constantly watch my male around them when they were in heat so he didn't hump them. All the while, trying to go to a job in the afternoon, keep an exercise and training routine with my dogs, and keep my sanity. I have been very brief here with the horrors, but there are so many more stories.

*THE PRESENT:* I have gone through the lowest point in my life raising these dogs. It was really and truly the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I guess I should consider myself fortunate that so far this is the hardest thing. I contemplated suicide many times, and I've never done that before. I even (please forgive me) contemplated killing the dogs. Because I truly felt there was no other way out since I was forbidden to rehome them. It was truly awful. 

But somehow, here I sit 2 years later, wondering how on earth I made it. Mac & Tasha are great. They are very bonded to me, as well as to my husband, more so than to each other. They have basic obedience training (all training done only by me). They know tricks and different commands, they don't have potty accidents, they don't chew or bite anything they aren't supposed to. They're learning how to walk on leash better and to not bark so much at strangers. They love to lay their head on my stomach or leg and follow me around while I do chores. They sit beside me while I work on my computer, and are comforted by their routine. 

And by golly, that is all me! I taught them everything they know. I set a routine for them so they know when to be calm and when it's time to play. I have to toot my own horn a little bit because of the low points I went through to get to this place. And to think my ability to be a mother to children was questioned. 

*THE TAKE AWAY:* Everybody should do research before owning a dog. EVERYONE! Even if you just have one dog. Because it's not easy if you want to do it right. It's very hard and takes a lot of sacrifice and work. You have to learn to understand their patterns and their cues, and because they aren't human, that's really hard to do! You have to learn a whole other species' way of thinking and behavior. And it is compounded when you have two of them. 

I'm truly humbled if you made it all the way through this post. I really needed to pour my heart out today because I'm so grateful I've made it this far. I hope everyone has a blessed day!


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## Oasiskw (Dec 13, 2018)

Holy smokes, congratulations. You walked through fire and came out the other side. I consider myself a moderately experianced dog owner. I have had dogs and raised puppies my whole life, I also professionally trained arabian horses for 18 years and I wouldn't take on 2 pups at once. Especially a working breed like a GSD. Your hubby should be ashamed for putting you through that. Children are no comparison to a bitey land shark..My daughter didnt leave tooth and nail marks all over me for the first 6-8 weeks she was home.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Thanks for sharing your tale of caution. One pup is a handful. Two littermates.....I've "heard" that it's much worse. I hope some other people learn from your story. 


BTW throwing the partner out would have come to mind had I been in this saga...


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

You know the old saying -What doesn't kill you will make you stronger.You're the proofShow this to hubby.


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## Judy Untamed (Oct 26, 2018)

Wow! Your story is even more hard core than most people who try to take on two pups at once. I sure wouldn't have made it through living so long under those conditions in that temporary home. I hope that's well and truly behind you! 

One big take-a-way for everyone considering taking on a puppy (or two) is that if you tough it out and persevere through those first really difficult months, and work hard to shape the dog you want to have....suddenly, you'll find yourself a couple years later with beautiful dogs that will give you many years of joy. It'll be worth all the effort!


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## MrGSD (Dec 7, 2018)

That is quite the story! When's the movie coming out  I will admit you had me on the edge of my seat for a bit. Glad it worked out so well!


The first couple months, while appearing hopeless and challenging, are what memories are made of. I actually enjoy those early times as they grow up so quick. I've raised 3 from 8 weeks old and fingers crossed...#4 might be in my hands soon.


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

Thanks for that cautionary tale. You need to write more. I loved reading your post. I almost did the same thing both times I got my pups. The first time, I was going to get a pup and my sister was going to get one too from the same litter. And I knew I was going to raise both because my sister was going to leave for overseas for work. In the end we settled on 1 and I almost returned him after the first week. He was my first pup and I didn't realize how much work raising a pup would be. The 2nd and current pup (which is a high energy high drive working line) that I bought a year ago....same thing. Both males in the litter were available and I was so tempted to get both. I'm glad I didn't because this pup has been more than a handful. More than the previous pup. Every day, I was literally saying to myself, "what did I get myself into?" He's calmed down a lot since then but he still has his moments.


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## emcale (Jul 9, 2017)

Thank you all for reading and responding! And for sharing your stories and giving encouragement and "pats on the back." It means a lot to me.

Hubby and I had a really hard relationship for several months during this, but we are on solid ground now. That is... until he tries this stunt again, and then I'm kicking him to the curb, @middleofnowhere 

I never thought dogs could change my life. But Mac & Tasha have done just that. Have a great weekend, everyone!


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

holy cow, the move in with the family who already had 2 dogs is quite the task. We've had our son and his wife and their 2 dogs here and we have an external "dog gym". Even with that the crate and rotate routine was getting more and more frustrating. (If they ever do have to spend more than a couple of weeks here we'll work on building a pack of 4 so we might be able to reduce that crate and rotate). 
Even now, with 2 adult dogs, when I see someone post that a loving GSD needs a home I tell myself "2 is my limit!" 

I agree that you should write more stories. I am so glad that you shared! I hope that you and your sweetheart become closer over time, too and see how strong you have become.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Contemplating suicide or killing puppies over having two of them is a new one for me. 

Living in a room where people let dogs poop and pee and do not clean it up for maybe days, for a year and a half, when you have two adults working, is something else too. 

No wonder you were contemplating suicide when the guy you intend to have children with is ok with living in those conditions. 

There is some mental illness going on here. Two puppies at the same time did not cause it. They may have contributed to a distressing situation. But having NO dogs yourselves, living in a room too small to keep a crate in, with people who do not train or clean up after their dogs for 18 months, it would have still been intolerable, and every day would have increased the levels of depression, hopelessness, etc. 

Two pups at once is definitely not for everyone. I've raised littermates, usually pairs, sometimes trios. Everyone is different, but they generally dispel for me suicidal feelings and improve my general health. 

It's losing them that feeds the negative thoughts and feelings for me. Babs and Jenna were my first set of littermates. Babsy is now 13 and a half, and I lost Jenna in June. That was bad, but within weeks I lost Ninja and Milla, 10 year old littermates out of Babs. Heidi is one of a trio I raised. She is 12.5 and is losing her back end. But I lost Whit at 4 years and Tori at 9, so the trio was broken up years ago. But she is going, and Babs is going, and then in October they told me my 3 year old is dying. That is when I considered taking all my heart medicine, when I go to take her in and put her down. Yeah, that is a plan. And I have the means to carry it out. 

Well, the good news is that I have been working on the depression for about a year now, and thankfully I have some pretty good people working with me. And I have Ramona who will be 3 in March. And Tinny who will be one, and Uzzi who's seven or eight months old, and Kaiah who is 3 months old. And, I have to be there for Quinnie. And for Babs and for Heidi. No one is going to take them to the vet for that last visit but me. So my initial gut-reaction of going with Quinnie when it is her time is not happening. I love that little bitch so much, but I am not going to harm myself because she is passing. 

If you are seriously have thoughts of suicide because of the stress in your life, and yes having dogs can increase our stress, I strongly urge you to invest some time and money in your health and get some counseling. And, I have added a bit of my story because it is not so uncommon to have the thoughts or to get some benefit from therapy or even medication for depression. 

Good luck to you and hug those dogs every day.


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## Synne (Mar 17, 2018)

I am so glad you felt comfortable enough to share your story with all of us. You have been through an incredibly trying time, mentally, physically and emotionally and through it all, you persevered. That is a pretty amazing feat and I want to thank you for having the courage and strength to not take drastic, life-ending action on the obvious overwhelmingness of it all. I don't think there are many of us here that would've come out the other side as you did. May you get back what you put in tenfold <3 
You conveyed your story so well it left me emotional, you should definitely write and share more. You are so strong! and perhaps a little stubborn too...haha! Lots of hugs to you and your pups!


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## emcale (Jul 9, 2017)

@selzer - Wow! You are an amazing person for raising that many dogs. I truly think it takes a special person to care properly for a dog, and you are definitely one of them! Your comment about mental health is true. I'm sorry for your struggles with depression. You are a really strong person, and I'm so glad you are getting better. 

I probably did, at one point, need to see someone for help for my own mental health. It really scared me for a while. But I was able to come through it without that. I got a very small taste of what some people go through every day with their thoughts, and it is terrifying. 

Dogs, for me, did cause more stress than they did happiness, but I think we're getting to a point where the stress is subsiding and the happiness is taking the forefront. Hope everything goes well for you, selzer!
@Synne - Thank you for your kind response! It means more to me than you'll ever know to hear your encouraging words. And yes, you pinned me pretty well. I am quite stubborn


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

emcale said:


> @selzer - Wow! You are an amazing person for raising that many dogs. I truly think it takes a special person to care properly for a dog, and you are definitely one of them! Your comment about mental health is true. I'm sorry for your struggles with depression. You are a really strong person, and I'm so glad you are getting better.
> 
> I probably did, at one point, need to see someone for help for my own mental health. It really scared me for a while. But I was able to come through it without that. I got a very small taste of what some people go through every day with their thoughts, and it is terrifying.
> 
> ...


My first GSD I made a mess of. I was working full time, and going to school full time, and got the wrong kind of dog from the wrong place, and picked him because he was the only one that would come out from beneath the car where they were raised. Needless to say that was a mess and a half. I had him for seven years, and he taught me a huge amount. 

If I started out with littermates, that might have went very badly too. But I had Arwen, who was the opposite extreme as Frodo, and she taught me tons too. And then there was Dubya before I went with raising two pups at once. I wasn't exactly an expert, and before they were raised, they were less than a year when I added Rushie, and then when they were a year and 10 days, I added a litter, and I decided to keep Heidi right off. Whitney seemed a bit shy and I decided I was the best place for her as well. And then after 6 weeks or so, my brother gave me Tori back, and I kept her for the rest of her life. So I went from having 2 dogs, to having eight young dogs within a year or so. When Babs was just under 3 (like three days less than three years), she had a litter, and I got Milla and Ninja from that, and I have never had less than 10 dogs since then. 

From the volume of young dogs and the number of dog classes I was taking everywhere, and I started showing in obedience and Rally at the same time, and I started to really learn how to manage dogs. 

I think I have some success because I respect them as the animals they are. I don't have unrealistic expectations for them. They lift my mood and help with depression, but I think if we get a dog with that in mind, it can actually backfire. It works for me -- except for the dying crap, that sucks, but it is part of the package. It works for a lot of folks. But there is no guaranty that it will work that way. For some folks it is an added being to be responsible for, to take care of, to feel guilty for not doing this or that or what have you with. 

If the folks here got a nickel for every time someone comes on with an adolescent dog, feeling terribly guilty, wanting to rehome because they just do not have the time and energy to meet the pup's needs, well, we could probably open a bank account. 

We get dogs for so many reasons. Companionship, and find that now we have to get home to the dog and lose time with friends after work and such, so the companionship the dog gives up is somewhat canceled by the loss of human-friend-time. Then we discover dog training classes and play dates and we start building up friends with dogs, so it rebounds. Protection -- yeah, and we find we have a scaredy cat of a dog-pup that we have to be Hercules for the first couple of years, and wonder if this dog could scare away a mouse. (GSDs happen to be bottom of the barrel when it comes to scaring away rodents or catching them and killing them for that matter, mine have gone so far as to try and mother them -- NO, BABS! YOU CANNOT RAISE A HAIRLESS BABY MOUSE!!!) To teach the kids in our lives responsibility and to raise them with dogs, only to get a dog that is not good with kids, or whatever.


When you have a group of dogs, you can have that agility hopeful who is naturally good at the agile stuff and not a dog that would do better in the obedience ring, but we want to do agility. Or flyball, herding, whatever. We can assess the dog's strengths and drives and temperament and choose something that the dog is good at, not necessarily what we want or need.


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## dojoson41 (Oct 14, 2018)

*littermates*

Glad you got through it. Having dogs/shepherds all my life I thought I could handle it and was once going to get two male littermates. The breeder said since I work and was single with no help said NOPE-DONT DO IT- you don’t need that hassle. Even if I have the land, one puppy at a time until they are older. Glad I listened.The most I had at a time was 3 males, 1 shepherd, 1 pit-bull boxer beagle mix pound puppy and 1 who knows what it was -10 week old growling monster (that tried to bite my nose off when I picked him up). It was dumped off down the dirt road one cold night that I almost ran over coming home from work and they all lived happily together until it was their time.


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## Nikka Khrystyne (May 14, 2018)

I am currently raising littermates, Odin and Layla, who are 10 months old. 

Yes it was a lot of work in the beginning and especially now that they’re in their “testing” phase. 

These guys make me feel SO much better about life and fill it with so much joy. But it really is a challenge at times. Especially living in a condo, which means a lot of time spent taking them to parks. 

I honestly could not see my life without them! And I don’t think I would do anything differently as far as not getting one or the other. 

I would for sure trained harder, but they aren’t bad dogs and are good dogs overall. 

Just having two different personalities in the dogs is a the hardest cause you have to make sure each of their needs are being met. 

Overall my only mistake I feel like I could have done way better was socializing them with kids. They aren’t mean to kids they just are too big and don’t realize they are huge and like to chase kids which scares most kids. And Layla is still a little reserved around dogs, but that’s a lot of personality too. 

I am going to start some advance obedience training with a trainer to work on heel and recall. Also their engagement on walks could use some more work. They’ve been not paying attention too me latley. 

When they turn 2 we plan on putting them into personal protection training. 

It’s a lot of hard work that I had time to prepare for and I believe in the end it’s going to pay off.

Alrrsdy they’re are such great dogs. The most well behaved in the neighborhood and at our community dog park.


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## KaliandBear (Oct 24, 2020)

emcale said:


> I'd like to share my story so far with raising two littermates. I'll try to be concise.
> 
> Mac & Tasha are almost 2 years old. We've had them since they were 7 weeks old. It has been a difficult ride in many ways, and I'd like to share my experience and hopefully, this will help others. I am not a dog trainer, or dog expert. I am an everyday dog owner who learned the hard way.
> 
> ...





Nikka Khrystyne said:


> I am currently raising littermates, Odin and Layla, who are 10 months old.
> 
> Yes it was a lot of work in the beginning and especially now that they’re in their “testing” phase.
> 
> ...


Thank you for sharing this! I am 4 months into our two puppy journey and also a month postpartum with baby number 2. This gives me hope because this has been some of the hardest challenges I have ever faced. I also thought I was losing my mind but your candid description of your experience shows me I am NOT ALONE and that this IS ACTUALLY HARDER. 

Also, from experience I would have 5 babies back to back at home with no anesthesia before I would have even one puppy EVER AGAIN (my 2 were already born this way so I know.) so you can easily do motherhood! No sweat!


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

Getting a puppy is challenging enough, especially a working breed if you have no prior experience or underestimate the time and discipline required to develop a good citizen out what is generally a mid-high drive breed.

Getting that puppy when you already have a dog in the house, adds another level of complexity entirely and managing the early interactions and ongoing relationship as your GSD matures comes with its own special intricacies. They are not just natural best buddies from day one and stay that way.

But bringing in two litter mates and especially two females if you're that unlucky is a whole new host of hades. Yes they can bond more closely to each other, yes, house training becomes that much more difficult, yes they can enter rebellious stages at the same time, yes training becomes infinitely more challenging as they find each other so much more entertaining than the human trying to make them do unnatural things like come and sit on command. Single GSD pups often bring inexperienced owners to tears, never mind two...

Kudos to you for walking through the fire and coming out the other side relatively unscathed and all the better for it. 

German Shepherds are not for everyone and personally, I wouldn't recommend one for a new or inexperienced owner. But they're not for everyone who already has one either and this website is full of over whelmed people who grossly underestimate particularly the time required to train and exercise these beautiful dogs. The problem is that most people only see the beautiful.


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

KaliandBear said:


> Thank you for sharing this! I am 4 months into our two puppy journey and also a month postpartum with baby number 2. This gives me hope because this has been some of the hardest challenges I have ever faced. I also thought I was losing my mind but your candid description of your experience shows me I am NOT ALONE and that this IS ACTUALLY HARDER.
> 
> Also, from experience I would have 5 babies back to back at home with no anesthesia before I would have even one puppy EVER AGAIN (my 2 were already born this way so I know.) so you can easily do motherhood! No sweat!


OP was last seen on the site 6 months ago btw ....


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