Let's Talk About Littermate Syndrome
Homemade Puppies, LLC strives to be your trusted source for not only connecting with your new fur-baby, but also answering the dog related questions you may have to enhance your experience with your dog/puppy. Each week our in house dog expert, Katie, answers your puppy and dog questions. Submit your canine questions to info@homemadepuppies.com.
As always puppies advertised on Homemade Puppies are always 100% raised in-home by responsible family breeders...never raised outside or in a barn, etc. No Puppy Mills, ever. We promise. www.homemadepuppies.com
Here is this week's blog from Katie!
What could be better than one puppy? Two puppies, right?! This, however is not always the case, especially when adopting two puppies from the same litter. Although it doesn't happen between all siblings, over-bonding can occur, and this commonplace occurrence is termed "Littermate Syndrome". So is adopting two puppies from the same litter possible?
Littermate syndrome, or the over-bonding between litter mates, generally occurs after 8-10 weeks old, usually around 3-6 months or sometimes older.
Siblings become very dependent on each other and often become very distressed when separated. Separation anxiety is not the only problem.
Many littermates will begin to fight with each other, especially as they enter adolescence and adulthood. No one really knows why the fighting happens. Perhaps it's competitiveness, a desire to get the best resources such as sleeping space, food, toys, etc. Or it could be due to lack of social skills. Often, when people adopt litter mates they assume that since the puppies have each other to play with they don't need interaction with other dogs. This leads to puppies who don't develop appropriate play behavior and aren't equipped to read other dogs body language. They are often overly fearful when meeting new dogs, especially when separated from their littermate. It can lead to fearfulness of other people and places when they are separate from each other also. They become so dependent on each other that they shut down or have extreme distress when by themselves.
Another challenge with adopting littermates is adequately training two puppies at the same time. It's more than twice the work. Now, not only do you have one puppy to train, you have two. Have you ever tried to train two dogs at one time in the same space? It splits your attention and focus, you have two dogs trying to earn rewards while competing with each other. It's not a conducive learning environment for the dogs and it makes your job twice as hard.
So what can you do to prevent littermate syndrome if you already have two puppies?
First and foremost, get them used to time apart. Separate sleeping areas, separate training sessions, separate walks, etc. If your puppies are already closely bonded, it might take small incremental steps to get them comfortable with being apart. The more you can work with the puppies separately the less of an issue you should have. Associate being separated with good things, treats, toys, playtime, etc.
Separation training should take place daily. Homes that have other dogs besides the littermates, often see less of an occurrence of littermate syndrome. This is probably due to the fact that the puppies get interaction with other dogs besides each other and the other dogs of the home help naturally create separation.
Many people have successfully raised littermates and not had any problems. But my best advice, don't get littermates from the same litter. Especially not same sex littermates as that is shown to increase the likelihood of aggression occurring. Even waiting 6 months to get another puppy is preferable to getting littermates. Puppies from the same parents but different litters generally don't experience littermate syndrome. Littermates can be successfully raised together, but it takes a monumental effort on the part of the owner. Please be aware of that fact before adopting littermates.
Do you have a question for Katie? Submit your question(s) to info@homemadepuppies.com.
Don't forget to catch Katie's blog from last week: https://www.homemadepuppies.com/flea-prevention
