# Small Litter



## Alrod (Aug 4, 2012)

This may fall under the "Stupid Question" category.

I was waiting on a litter of pups to be born and had pick of the first male. It turns out to be a litter of only two females. The girls are huge! My question is; are there any downsides to a small litter? What impact if any, is there socially for example. Do these small litter dogs turn out any better or worse than if they came from a larger litter? I am asking because it is just the two pups with no other experience than with themselves.

I of course have the option of picking from a different litter in the near future, but if there are advantages to picking from a smaller litter, I may consider one of these two females. Thoughts?


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## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

I don't think puppies are any different from large or small litters.

I've read breeders threads on here many time where some have 1 or 2 and some have big litters.

Now...you say the dog is suppose to have two girls?????? I'm a little confused there. I didn't know they could tell the sex of unborn pups?

As far as picking between girls and boys....most recommend letting the breeder pick out the pup for your lifestyle...doesn't matter if it's a girl or boy.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

I'm not a breeder, I never will be, and I've not even been around breeding. But I _do_ know that a singleton pup can have issues such as bite inhibition, and perhaps other social issues. I've heard that it's very important to get singleton pups out there to visit other pups around the same age so that they can learn some of these life lessons. So in that sense, I would say (based on my very limited experience) that YES- small litter size can be a correlation to behavioral issues down the line if not addressed properly.


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## Alrod (Aug 4, 2012)

jetscarbie said:


> Now...you say the dog is suppose to have two girls?????? I'm a little confused there. I didn't know they could tell the sex of unborn pups?


I can see where you could draw that conclusion. I was waiting on a litter. Had the pick of the first male. Once the litter arrived, it turned out to be two females. No males at all. I hope that clears things up.


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## guddu (Mar 14, 2012)

If possible, wait for a bigger litter. Two puppies are too few and suboptimal for their intra pup interactions to develop. If the pups are already large, that could be a harbinger of problems to come due to overnutrition. Again this is all mostly speculation...I would pass.


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