Getting two dogs at the same time seems like a great idea. Dogs are social animals, and a dog who will be alone all day can easily turn to destructive behavior or become anxious. Two puppies can entertain each other and keep each other company. So, what’s the problem with bringing home two puppies at once?
Professional trainers like myself recommend against getting bringing home two puppies. While this sounds like a good plan in theory, in practice it often causes quite a bit of heartache and trouble.
In addition to the problems one might expect with bringing home siblings such as double food and vet costs and double the potty training work, we need to focus on how the puppies will develop. Puppies’ brains continue developing until they hit sexual maturity (and even a bit beyond that), and there’s some convincing research out there that bringing two puppies home at the same time prevents one of the puppies from reaching his or her full potential.
Luckily for us, this topic has been researched extensively by someone who knows all about creating behaviorally sound puppies: guide dog organizations. One of the biggest problems that guide dog organizations run into is that puppy raisers are hard to come by. Puppy raisers are families who agree to raise future guide dog puppies, socializing them and teaching them basic obedience. This isn’t an easy job, and the emotional impact of giving up their puppies after a year of bonding and hard work means that many families are reluctant to repeat the experience.
In order to maximize the use of their volunteer puppy raisers, one guide dog organization decided to try an experiment. Willing homes were given not one, but two puppies to raise, thereby doubling the number of puppies the guide dog organization could work with. Puppies born to these organizations are tested before being placed and are tracked throughout their growth and development. What the organization found was startling. Placing two puppies in the same household always caused one puppy to become temperamentally unsuitable for work, even when both puppies started off as perfect candidates.
When two puppies are placed together, they learn to rely on each other. One of the puppies always becomes shy, even when both puppies started off as bold and outgoing. This is a huge problem, since it means that the shy puppy never reaches his or her potential. In fact, this was such a major issue that the guide dog experiment was quickly halted, and to this day guide dog organizations only place one puppy at a time in puppy raisers’ homes, even when the homes are highly experienced.
In addition to one puppy becoming shy, there are other behavioral implications for two puppies who are adopted at the same time. Oftentimes even the “bold” puppy turns out to be quite nervous and uncertain when separated from his or her littermate. Furthermore, the puppies frequently become incredibly co-dependent, exhibiting heartbreaking anxiety when separated from one another. They often fail to bond to their human family as strongly as they otherwise would, or sometimes at all. At social maturity, these puppies may begin fighting with one another, sometimes quite severely.
Even puppies who are not related can exhibit littermate syndrome when placed together. Professional trainers recommend against getting two puppies within six months of one another, because the risks are just too high. This doesn’t even take into consideration the other practical considerations, such as the increased costs of vet care, food, supplies, and training; the extra work of training and caring for two dogs; or the time requirements of two active puppies.
Can littermate syndrome be prevented? Theoretically, yes, however it’s so difficult as to be nearly impossible in practice. Remember, even experienced guide dog puppy raisers aren’t expected to be able to prevent this issue from developing. At a bare minimum, the two puppies would need to be crated and cared for separately, including separate walks, training classes, and playtime with their owners. The puppies need to have more one-on-one time with their new owners than they have with each other, effectively doubling the work and negating any of the possible benefits (i.e. companionship) that they were adopted together for in the first place.
The bottom line is that puppies do best when brought home separately. If you want multiple dogs, consider purchasing or adopting adult dogs who are already done developing instead.
Great article – can you provide a link or citation to the guide dog study? I’d love to read it.
Thanks for your feedback!
I haven’t been able to find the actual study online, although that’s not to say it’s not available. I first learned about it in Clarence Pfaffenberger’s 1963 book, The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior. If you do find a link, please let us know by posting it here!
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Nice article–very interesting about the guide dogs. I was a little surprised that one of the dogs was always ruined, but then again, they’re holding the dogs to a much higher standard in those programs. Anecdotally, (my dogs are litter mates) we’ve actually had relative success with ours. We don’t have the co-dependency issues described. Both have been trained, were crated and walked separately when younger, and function just fine independent of the other. I took one out with me for 6 weeks to trainer school; the other came with me a year later for a week at another trainer seminar. Regarding socialization, I think having two dogs definitely makes the owner lazier about socializing them outside of their mate, so what I do see with mine is some uncertainty in large groups of strange dogs. They are interested and friendly one-on-one. They have nice enough temperaments that they’re not aggressive or anxious, but definitely not social butterflies. Since many households want to keep multiple dogs, it’s important to stress to not acquire them at the same time to exacerbate the potential for “littermate syndrome;” if you DO do this, take measures to care for each dog individually (it’s MORE than twice the work); and if you do everything “right” and obtain dogs at different times know what signs to look for that one or both of your dogs are developing co-dependency and know what measures to take to reverse it sooner rather than later.
Interestingly, I think the same can often be observed in HUMAN siblings. Seems like when one is more outgoing and assertive, the other is more laid back or introverted. It’s almost as if a balance is being maintained (this is certainly the case with my sister–we’re very different), and in a typical household (whether it’s humans or dogs) this can often function to make things more peaceable. In fact, owners are commonly counseled to obtain their second dog to be compatible with their first dog and this may amount to a dog of lower energy or one that has a more submissive or tolerant disposition so they don’t “rock the boat.” Whereas if both dogs had outgoing, dominant, or gregarious temperaments, it’s more likely to create friction.
I find it maddening that people often get 2 puppies from a breeder having NO IDEA of what they are getting themselves into. The breeder says nothing and sometimes gives them a “discount” for buying 2 pups!
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I adopted siblings (boy and girl) and was never told that this was a bad idea. I noticed that the girl who was naturally submissive listens better than the boy who is more energetic. I just started crating them separately just recently and they are not listening to me much at all.
This is new to me so I am having a LOAD of new stuff going on. I am not getting rid of either so if anyone has any other ideas I am all ears.
I’d like more help with this, too! Any suggestions?
Thank you thank you thank you, were we just about ready to go forward with a brother sister combination…. read this and now we will do it quite differently by getting one dog than maybe in a year or two a second…..
I rescued litter mates because I had mistakenly been encouraged to do so by the rescue organization that did not know better. (The two female litter mates were owner surrenders from the same family so the rescue mistakenly assumed they were bonded.) After spending four years and more than $10,000 on professional trainers trying to prevent (and break up) severe fights that sometimes resulted in injuries to me, I worked with the rescue to find a new home for one of the dogs. The two dogs have blossomed away from one another. Even though it was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make, all three of our lives have been immeasurably improved. I was able to adopt a second dog (a male) that is much younger than my female and I now have two dogs who absolutely love one another. I wish more breeders and rescue organizations knew about this. While it CAN work to bring two puppies home at once, it is not worth the risk. AT ALL.
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I recently adopted a brother and sister after being encouraged by the rescue group to do so. They told me that it would be preferable for them to be homed together. The puppies are now five months old and I am seeing the negative behavior associated with littermate syndrome (which I obviously knew nothing about). One is becoming more dominant and the submissive puppy is beginning to display some agression in growling when he doesn’t want to be touched. I have three little girls that would be heartbroken to lose one of their pups, so I’m just not sure what to do! We do have an older dog who is very obviously the alpha in our home, but they are starting to challenge her a bit and I’m also concerned about her safety as she is thirteen and her health is failing. I feel very discouraged at this point.
Kristy, I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. What a frustrating situation! I’m so glad to hear that you’re seriously considering the safety and happiness of your senior dog as you try to make the best decision for everyone.
If you’re not already working with a trainer in your area, I would highly recommend that you find someone to help you. You can find a list of qualified trainers at http://www.ccpdt.org. In the meantime, keeping the two pups separate as much as possible and working one-on-one with each of them on handling and socialization is very important.
You’ve got a tough situation, and I know you’re doing the best you can. Good luck!
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Hello Kristy,
I am so sorry to hear this!
We adopted 2 Kelpie X Puppies last year in August. They are siblings, boy and girl. After I read all these horrifying stories about two pups, or two siblings at the same time. I was very close to give one of them away. But I had great support of my husband. We started to separate them for only probably 30 to 60 min once a week and trained them separate as well. But not this often. I have to say we have a very big block ( over 4000 sqm). And they play a lot. They sleep together outside at night, sometimes on the same cushion. I even feed them at the same time. They have no separation anxiety. Even when the puppies were sterilised and were separated all day.
I started with one of the puppies an agility class, but we are doing the obedience class with both of the puppies at the same time. But I have to agree, that it’s probably better to do it only with one at a time.
I am glad that we kept both of them, as they make me happy every day, we have so much fun. They are listening when we go for a walk without a leash and are never aggressive at each other. They are very focused on us, specially on me and follow me everywhere.
Probably it depends on the breed, that some sort of dogs are easier to raise together. Or it’s better when they have lots of space and don’t have to stay in a small backyard.
I hope I gave you back some positive feelings about raising two pups.
Wish you the best
Conny
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When we adopted a pair of sisters several years ago, there was no mention of litter mate syndrome, but we’ve also not experienced any of the more alarming outcomes suggested above.
Thelma and Louise (miniature Schnauzer mutts) have been and are with at least one of us all day. The “big” sister of the two is the quieter of the pair but also the one that leads the “hunt” when they’re running around the yard and pastures of our farm. The do commonly run side-by-side on some chases and get along extremely well – they are both well-bonded to my wife and I and seem adjusted enough – they don’t always sleep on the same bed nor worry about where the other is in the house.
Perhaps we’re just extremely lucky – I’m SURE it’s not because we took any extra precautions or that we’re “dog whisperers.” It may be that they adjusted a little better owing to other resident dogs (we’ve had between 4-6 at any one time over the years). As we’re also starting to creep toward retirement, I doubt we’ll try another pair at once – especially after reading the above article and comments. Thanks to all participated.
I just adopted a year and a half old female from a shelter where I chose to leave her sister behind. I actually surrendered the pair to the shelter last year after finding them as puppies that someone had dropped off at the local landfill. I couldn’t keep dogs at the time because I was doing alot of traveling, but they were in bad shape so I nursed them back to health for a few months and took them to the shelter where I knew they would at least be fed and have a roof over their head. When I had both sisters one was deffinatly dominating over the other and was jealous of any attention she would get pushing her way in front or pushing the other to the ground. Also when I would take them to the beach she would attack the other one rough housing way too hard so she would never get any peace. But they were very close and have never been seperated till now. The worker at the shelter made me feel extremely guilty for not taking both. Telling me they are inseparable and they sleep together every night. She also told me they werent displaying any of the signs I discribed there. So here I sit feeling horrible and unsure if I should go back for the other. I’ve only had the one home for a day, but she never wants to leave my side and follows me everywhere. Any advice would be appreciated. thank you
Hi April,
First of all, thank you for adopting a needy dog, and for caring for the puppies when they needed it most. The world needs more wonderful people like you!
Having worked with lots of pair-bonded dogs in shelter and rescue settings, I can say that you probably did the right thing. Generally we found that it was a big adjustment at first when we would separate two dogs, but in the long run it was better for both of them. I’m so sorry that the rescue worker made you feel guilty – that must have been really tough! Enjoy your new little girl, and thanks for all you did to help her and her sister have a good life.
– Sara
Interesting article. I never thought about the working dog aspect of littermate syndrome. I learned about this when we decided to adopt siblings from the same litter. I got a lot of negative judgment, but no support for why people felt this way. Today, we have three dogs, but two are the littermates we adopted 3 years ago and they’re happy, healthy, and well socialized. The reason for this is because of the backlash we received, I made a point of educating myself on dog behavior and training. We worked with a private trainer and she taught us some amazing ways to work with our dogs. We also take all of our dogs to training 1x a year for a fun outing.
Our dogs didn’t bond solely to each other. We did things like take them on separate walks, have separate play sessions, and I even fed them from my hand (still do sometimes). What did happen was that our dogs bonded more to me than my boyfriend; something we expected.
Despite our success with our dogs (who are not working or service dogs), I would never recommend adopting littermates to anyone, simply because the amount of work that went into getting through that first year was astounding. I don’t think many people have it in them and I’ve heard horror stories of dogs ending up in a shelter, because someone over committed.
Thanks for sharing this POV
Kimberly, Keep the Tail Wagging
We first heard these warnings several weeks after bringing home two eight week old Boxers. Too late.
We did place them in separate puppy classes mid-way through the first class. They have usually walked separately from the very beginning, and when together usually have two adults. There have been exceptions, as when we were traveling and I had the pups while my wife was in a meeting. Some training has been impossible when they are together–much of what we practiced in puppy classes. Some things are easier when they are together, however. They are crated separately, and have been since their second week with us. In their nine months with us, they have slept outside their crates four nights–two at our cabin in the woods, and two when they had slight illness requiring ferquent trips outside.
I worry that one is not mature (they are eleven months now). But, I’m not sure which one. We thought that we were crazy when we got two, but it forced us to not be lazy in training. As I, unlike my wife, had never raised a puppy before, there was a lot to learn. Last fall, puppies were my focus day and night. They remain so today, although some balance is returning to my life.
The pet stores might post these warnings. But, I must say that having made our decision, we are abiding by it. We will do the best that we can with these puppies. I am proud of how they interact with other dogs at the dog park, and at the puppy sitter.