YNP #024: How to Raise Two Puppies at the Same Time

Your New Puppy: Dog Training and Dog Behavior Lessons to Help You Turn Your New Puppy into a Well-Behaved Dog

Debbie Cilento: Dog Trainer | Dog Behavior Consultant | Owner of Playtime Paws | Belly Rub Specialist

Kids & Family, How To, Pets & Animals, Education

4.8 • 917 Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2019

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The thought of raising two puppies together can create a lot of warm, fuzzy, and fun images. They will keep each other company, entertain each other, exercise each other, and create perfect Instagram moments of snuggling together in their bed.

We go into it aware that it will take more work. Of course, it makes sense, there are two puppies instead of one. What we don’t realize until we get them home is that it doesn’t take twice the work, it takes THREE times the work as raising one puppy.

When a client asks me: “How to do I train two dogs at the same time?” My answer is: “You don’t.” Not until you train each one separately so they understand what you are asking. Then you can bring them together and train them as a pack. That is where three times the work comes in.

AND it doesn’t stop at skills training. There are many activities you will need to do with your puppies both separately and together.

There are also many reasons for this which I talk about within the episode.

Litter-mate syndrome
You need to have a relationship and bond with each dog on their own and with both dogs as a pack.
Prevent separation anxiety from each other by giving them time apart.
Teach them to have the confidence to deal with any environment with and without their sibling there.

This is A LOT of work to train and prevent behavior problems. Enough that most dog trainers recommend that you don’t ever get two dogs from the same litter. It can be done, if you are prepared for it.

If you already have two puppies or if you are set on getting two, I give you some examples on how to tackle all of this work .

If you are still thinking about getting two puppies, I give you the advice I usually give my clients who really want two dogs.

Enjoy!

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to your new puppies podcast. Starting you and your dog off on the right paw. Here's your
0:16.8	host Debbie Salento. Hello and today we're going to talk.
0:25.0	Hello and welcome to episode 24 of your new puppies podcast. I'm Debbie and today we're going to talk
0:35.0	about what it takes to raise two puppies at the same time. Getting two puppies
0:40.4	can be a very appealing idea. We usually think about how they'll play together,
0:46.5	they'll keep each other company, they'll exercise each other, and when it comes down to
0:51.9	it, there is nothing more adorable than two puppies curled up napping together.
0:58.0	We understand that it's going to take more work. I mean, it's obvious there's two puppies, there's going to be more work involved definitely double the expenses but what we don't
1:06.9	realize is that it doesn't take twice the work to raise two puppies it takes three times the work to raise two puppies. It takes three times the work and that's because you need to spend time with, train and bond with each puppy separately and then you need to train, bond, and spend time with the puppies
1:27.0	together as a pack.
1:29.4	And there's a few reasons for this.
1:31.7	The first one that usually comes up is Littermate
1:34.0	syndrome and that's where two puppies from the same litter can bond so
1:39.5	thoroughly with each other that they don't bond with their humans and they don't interact
1:45.3	with the world around them in the right way.
1:48.2	And to raise a puppy to become a well-behaved dog, you need that bond with each one of them to be able to train your
1:56.8	puppy, to train them and tell them what to do.
2:00.3	If they're so bonded with each other that they don't really bond with you and they don't really care about you,
2:05.2	then you're going to have two puppies that are really hard to train and do not listen to you.
2:10.7	So that's why it's really important to spend time with each puppy
2:15.0	separately developing that bond. You also need to do formal training with them
2:19.8	separately. When teaching them something new, teaching two puppies at the same time is
	...

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