Is it a Good Idea to Bring Home 2 Puppies from the Same Litter?

Let me start by saying that I do know people who have made this work.  I also know people who drive too fast and have never been in an accident. That doesn't make either of those things a good idea. 

I would advise against getting two puppies from the same litter.   Here are 10 reasons why:

1) Dogs are social animals. Young puppies form strong bonds with their siblings before they've meet you and your human family. Bringing your puppy home with its litter mate interferes with the bonding process which must occur between a dog and its human family. It's tough enough for a puppy to understand that you and your family are its new social group.   The presence of a littermate slows the process.  In fact, most litter mates exhibit a strong preference for the company of each other over the company of their human owners.

2) People tend to neglect socialization with other dogs when they have 2 puppies. Yet by the time the puppies are about 6 months old, the primary windows of socialization have closed. Two dogs who grow up together and are denied the experience of meeting lots of other friendly dogs of various ages, will only enjoy the company of one another. Many of them will become fearful or aggressive toward other dogs. 

3) Owning a puppy is a huge responsibility. It requires a lot of hard work to raise even ONE puppy properly. Raising 2 puppies is twice the work.  For starters, each puppy will require its own crate. Also, you will have  to find time for  2 training schedules, along with separate times for play, exercise and mental stimulation.

4) Housebreaking will take longer.  There will always be one puppy who starts to "get it" before the other one - then that one will regress when he or she smells indoor elimination by its litter mate. This cycle of regression can continue (and even switch from one puppy to the other) resulting in much more time needed for housebreaking. 

5) Learning each new obedience command requires a three phase process (instruction, correction, distraction). But when you have 2 puppies you're setting them up for failure by providing a huge distraction (each other) during training. As a result it takes a lot more time for each one to learn basic obedience commands and household manners.

6) The less confident puppy will "hide in the shadow" of the more confident puppy. Therefore the  less confident puppy will  grow up lacking in social skills and will often exhibit a variety of fear and confidence issues (for the entire life of the dog).

7) Most breeders are smart, dedicated and ethical. But there are some unscrupulous breeders out there who will tell a potential buyer that the last two members of the litter are "really attached to one another" and will lay a guilt trip on the buyer, sometimes even giving a discount to purchase them both together.  There is absolutely no merit in the idea that you're doing emotional harm to a puppy by separating it from its sibling. In fact, the opposite may be true.

8) In order for proper social development to occur, a puppy must LEARN TO BE ALONE.  This part of their training becomes extremely difficult when they always have a sibling nearby.

9) When the puppies reach adolescence, competition is intensified and fights can break out. Fights between litter mates are much more severe than fights between unrelated dogs.

10) In situations where the owner has  decided to re-home one of  their two puppies, each of the them began to form a much closer bond with its human owner, and made great strides in obedience training, confidence and sociability. This was most noticeable when the re-homing was done prior to 6 months of age, but I've seen it happen with older dogs and puppies as well.

In conclusion - there is no reason to bring home 2 puppies from the same litter and lots of reasons not to. But if you've already taken the plunge, follow the above tips (separate crates; separate time with each puppy for training and play; time for each puppy to meet and play with other dogs without the littermate present) in  order to increase your odds of success.  And be sure to provide appropriate control of resources and clear human leadership in the home to prevent fights as they get older.

One more suggestion: If you really have your heart set on owning two dogs from the same breeder, wait until the first dog reaches social maturity (about 18 months old for small and medium breeds, about 2 years old for large breeds, and 3 years old for giant breeds) then bring home a new 8 to 10 week old puppy (of a different sex).   It will still be important to provide everything I just mentioned for the proper development of the new puppy, but by waiting you'll be more likely to avoid "litter mate syndrome."

Grain-Free is Not Always Best

I feed my dogs a high quality all-natural dog food but it is NOT grain free.

The kibble is made with:
 
• High-quality protein from human grade chicken 
• Antioxidants including vitamins C & E
• Prebiotic fiber & probiotics
• A selection of nutritious vegetables
• Omega-3 fatty acids for healthy skin & a shiny coat
• Calcium & phosphorus for healthy teeth and strong bones
• Dietary fiber to help maintain a healthy digestive tract
• No artificial flavors or colors
• No corn, wheat or corn/wheat glutens

I have not yet embraced the grain-free dog food movement because a) I don't think that enough research has been done, and b) as an owner of large breed dogs I stick with the diet that my own puppies and dogs have done very well on over the years (avoiding large breed problems like bloat and panosteitis).

Here is an excellent post by Linda Arndt (The Great Dane Lady) on the topic of grain-free dog food:

Things to Ponder About Grain Free Diets by Linda Arndt

I get many emails asking my opinion of the new grain-free diets on the market.
The growing holistic pet food industry has much competition these days, so they are looking for ways to reinvent the wheel and here you have it, the new grain-free diets!

What the Public Wants

After all, if “the public wants grain-free diets, certainly they know what is best for their pets – right? Wrong”. Just because the public wants it, is not a good enough reason to manufacture it. Just because it is a grain-free diet, does not mean it is appropriate for your dog’s individual situation.

Propagation of Myths

Thanks to knee-jerk reactions and the propagation of nutritional myths on the internet, grains in pet foods have a bad reputation. Grains are carbohydrates and carbohydrates are not necessarily bad. Just because it is a grain-free diet does not mean there are no carbohydrates in the grain-free food. Instead they substitute potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams and tapioca, as other carb sources yet tapioca is a questionable ingredient for pets. More feed trials are needed on these foods.

So when people think they are using a grain-free diet, it still has carbohydrates in it and in many cases potato carbohydrates are worse for allergies, systemic yeast infections, diabetic and cancer diets – worse than quality whole ground grains used in the proper proportion.

Not a Black and White Issue

My point here is this, like most things in life, this grainless diet topic is not a black and white issue. There are many things we need to consider before using a grain-free diet for our pet’s current health situation.

More Research is Needed

Most grain-free diets have not been around long enough to see how they will do in 3-4 generations. And feed trials, if actually done, are very limited. 

No Grain-Free for Puppies

I do not recommend grain free diets for weaning or growth in any breed and especially for large and giant breeds. Actually, I do not recommend a grain free diet be fed as the “total diet” to any healthy breed. I even have reservations about them used totally as a cancer diet due to the high calcium levels. They are really meant for very specific uses and often for short term use – each animal’s situation would have to be considered before I could ever recommend a total grainless diet to my puppy buyers.

It is IMPOSSIBLE regulate growth patterns on raw or grain fee diets in order to avoid developmental orthopedic diseases such as; HOD, Knuckling Over/Bowing (Carpel Flexural Deformity) OCD, and Pano.

So Are Grains Good or Bad?

There is some notion out there in cyberspace that grains are bad, when in fact grains are only bad when they were used as the basis for commercial foods, in other words grain is listed first on the label - now that’s bad. In super premium and holistic lines, grains are used as carbohydrate components, not as protein and not as filler, and that is good thing. Plus the quality of grains used in holistic and super premium lines is grade#1 Human Grade or Organic. This means low gluten components in the grains.

• fractionated (not ground whole)
• when they are not human grade or organic
• when they are the basis for commercial dog foods (grain listed first instead of meat protein based).

Grain Bashing

The biggest grain bashing problem was started by a West Coast dog food company years ago, and it had to do with corn and allergies. The fact is Human Grade #1 corn is one of the best natural sources of coat and skin conditioners like Omega 6, and it is low in gluten. It has an overall digestibility is 90% and carbohydrate digestibility is 99%.

Research

In 2005 one of the most respected holistic dog food companies decided to pull the corn from their foods only because they had pressure from consumers to do so. This decision to remove the corn was not based in any kind of research, but just because they bowed to public pressure. They removed the corn and now had a “grain-less” holistic food which is what the public clamored for in a pet food.

Grain-Free is Not Always Best

After test feeding the diet over a long period of time they witnessed several changes in the dogs energy levels, coat and body weight. All were negative effects. The dogs had significant weight loss, it took much more food to maintain the dogs weight, coats became brittle and the dog’s energy levels plummeted, real working dogs were lacking in endurance. After seeing this results over many months of feed trial research, they decided to put the Grade 1# whole corn back into their holistic diet – as a carbohydrate source, and after thousands of bags were sold not one allergy was reported.

Diabetic Dogs and Grain-Free Food

I have found in dealing with dogs that are diabetic or have cancer, that when we totally remove the grain from the diet, their energy level plummets. So using a very high quality, high protein/fat diet with some component of whole grain is actual a good thing. Remember if it is ground whole, the fiber is intact – if there is natural fiber present, the grain does not convert to sugar in a flash, it burns slow and steady and sustains energy levels and appetites.

Quality Grains with a Protein Base

The key is the diet should NOT be grain based, but instead should be based in protein from quality meat sources.

Grain Can Help Brain Function and Athletic Performance Nature made all muscle and brain function (99%) using glucose and oxygen. Carbohydrates, such as grains, are stored in the liver as glycogen, this is then released as glucose in the blood as the body requires it.