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I made the mistake of getting two puppies without doing my research first... everywhere I go online I read that i made a HUGE mistake... to make it worse... they are both male from the same litter.... i really would like to make it work as my family and I have become really attached to both dogs and would hate to have to choose to keep only one. i would like some honest opinions or suggestions on how i can make it work.... i want whats best for my family and the pups... im still on the fence so i need your advice so i know what side of the fence to stand on... Thanks
I would suggest though I am no expert, the first step would be to get both of them fixed. Second step, you will have to work EXTRA hard at being THE pack leader. your dogs will have to see YOU as the leader, so they will feel no need to dominate each other. What kind of dogs are there? What all steps have you taken to disciplining the dogs or exercising them?
I can relate I rescued 2 siblings (male and female) from a litter - they had become orphan and belong to a shelter that euthanizes so I could not leave one behind. While I have been told the same thing I agree that having them fixed is one step to help and I have been told the work is harder trying to get EACH of them to see themselves as members of my pack vs. my belonging to "theirs". I just began the courses and have to tell you that they are responding to the no touch no sound no eye contact more than i anicipated as they are just turning 8 wks old. I wish you well and if you can get your human family to participate I think you will be sharing a lot of knowledge with the rest of us :-)...
my Dogs are Labs...... mainly i need some help figuring out Exactly what to do.... i read online that you need to keep the pups in seperate crates, but what next? I cant keep them in there all day. when they need to poop or play, do i let one out at a time? i understand the individual training part. i understand that but i am lost in regards to the steps in-between..... I wake up at 6am spend 30 minutes with the pups then go to work... i dont get back till 6pm, so what do i do with them between those hours??
Yes. Keep the dogs in separate crates, they each need their own space. It's their own den/cave/comfort zone. As far as play.. you are the pack leader, you set the tone on how much play is too much and how rough is too rough. For example, if you've seen a mother dog snap or growl at one of her own puppies for getting out of line, or rough-housing too much when the others are trying to sleep. You are now the mother dog, you have to "snap/growl" when enough is enough or when one of the dogs is mis-behaving. When you are discplining one dog, your other dog can not help. Your other dog needs to sit down and give you your space to discipline. They can be let out at the same time, and play at the same time, but they do have to be CONSTANTLY supervised when they are playing. Stop them if they are getting too rough or getting carried away.
I have two dogs. Both under the age of 10 months, now.. my situation is a little different as my oldest dog is 10 months, and my youngest is 3 months, so they are not the same age, but the principals remain the same. If my youngest is playing too much, he gets disciplined. If my 10 month old is being a bully she gets disciplined. If my 3 month old is trying to play while my 10 month is trying to sleep... he gets disciplined. You understand? Feeding time is also important. Both dogs have to sit, calmly, before getting fed. Excited dogs can cause a frenzy when it comes to eating. Excited dogs can also escalate into aggression or food guarding. Both my dogs are pitbulls, and my 10 month old had problems with food guarding when i first brought home my 3 month old male pit. Because I wasn't steping in to show my 3 month old his boundaries, she was taking it upon herself to show him if he got to close. We have since stopped her feeling like she needs to step in. They both eat happily out of their bowls with no problems. Anyway.. I got side tracked... I dunno if this what you are looking for? Can you give any specific situations that you are looking for answers? Or does this help?
yes. all this helps so dont worry about getting side tracked...... as bad as websites make it seem to raise two dogs i need all the help and info i need.... i just want suggestions on what my day should look like.... let me tell you what i have set so far and i need help filling the holes. when i wake up i am going to take each dog for a walk at a time. then do some brief training, (sit, come, down) then feed them. but whats next. do i leave them outside while i am at work? leave them in thier crates? when i get home i can reapeat the same thing. take them for a walk then train then feed.
well, for one, Cesar always suggests walking the dogs together. Helps them bond and bond with you AND see you as a pack leader. But if they still are not very good on a leash, I understand needing to take them one at a time, but as soon as you are able, I would walk together... it is SOOO important! As far as training them, that is something that you might have to do separately until they do get commands down. Trying to teach two puppies to sit for one treat gets a little hard! So far your mornings sound like they should.... now when it comes to leaving them in the house or in the backyard... I do work an 8-5 job, but I do live right down the street from my work, so I am able to go home at least twice a day to let my dogs out and stretch... I am of the option of keeping them indoors until they are bigger. As puppies, they need protection from the outside elements and probably aren't ready to be outside on their own just yet. I know it seems a little hard to leave dogs in a crate for a long time, but when they are puppies, they will spend MOST of their time in "cave/den" with their mothers/littermates. Make sure that the crates are nice and enjoyable for them. Toys, treats, blankets, towels. I even would even through a towel into the dryer so it would warm up and put it in with my puppy before I would leave for work. He has about 3-4 stuffed animals (which help to make him not feel so lonely.. it subsitutes for the littermates that he would be cuddling), and I hide treats in the folds of towels. When you get home, take the dogs out, on walks...... exercise, discipline, affection is what Cesar says. Don't make a big deal about putting them in the crate or getting them out. When you get home, no touch, no talk, no eye contact... don't make it this BIG excitable thing. Just open the door, let them out, take them directly outside to use the restroom, and these proceed with your routine.. walk, commands, food. etc...
Does this help? :)
Oh it is ok to just let the puppies play. After you've done the exercise and the discpline, just make sure you watch over them constantly! My dogs are NOT allowed free-rein of the house in anyway shape or form. They go where I go, they play where I'm watching tv, they are not allowed to roam around free. I went and bought baby gates to put in the doorways or hallways of places where I did not want my dogs to go. Or if I watching TV, and I don't want my dogs to wonder far... I put the gate up.. so they have to stay in the area where I am.. so if something is getting out of hand... I'm there within arms length to get everything back under control.
this all helps.... with so much info out there telling me that my pups should not be allowed to be with each other for the first year... i was so confused. i couldnt figure out how i was suppossed to feed them and allow them access to their crates if i wasnt allowed to let them be together. but this all helps. what about feeding dogs in the crates? is that a good idea?
I fed my dogs in their crates. They each have their own crate, and for the first few weeks I did feed them in there. It is very important that the dogs relate their crates to something good... what could be better than food!? :) So yes i did feed them in there, but same principal... dogs have to be calm. After a few weeks, once they got a little older, I started feeding them outside their crate, and still hiding some food/treats in the folds of blankets or towels so they would still associate the crate with something good.
Below is a picture of my male pit Tigger at 6 weeks old (he is 3 months now)... but he loves is crate. He still does... he will sleep in there while taking naps during the day and has no problem loading up when its time for me to go to work in the morning.
HI and thanks for the input - I have been reading along too and appreciate all of the suggestions. Currently Bailey (top) and Cream (bottom) have been kept together and I have baby gates set up so they have space to walk and stretch while I am gone and an area for the bathroom. I did have some questions about this vs. an actual crate though.
How large should the crate be because I have read some articles that say only big enough to stand up and turn around so is there no need to have an area with newspaper for them to potty? Also, should I place them in two separate locations in the house or can they be kept side by side in the same room?
I did have a question about feeding time because I have Bailey sitting when finished and tends to be more calm while waiting for his food however Cream is all over the place so should I prepare their food away from them and then just take one at a time to feed and practice the commands?
Thanks in advance for any additional guidance that I may get :-)
he's adorable :-)
WOW! Do you have some cuties!!!!!!!! Very very cute babies! :)
I am no expert, the opinions that I give are from my own experience. As far as a crate goes, the articles that you have read are correct. The crate should only be big enough for them to stand and turn around. This is for housebreaking reasons, and my dogs seems to have responded well to a crate that that's just the right size for them. Are you trying to house break your dogs? They might get confused with the idea of housebreaking if they get use to pottying on newspaper in the area that you have set up. The reasons for the crate being the right for the puppy is for the puppy to NOT potty in the crate, that's in the house. When the puppy needs to go, then you take him out of the crate and outside... he will catch on VERY quickly that outside the house is for pottying and not inside. There might be confusions that the newspaper. I have never had success with puppy pads or newspaper.
As far as placing them in separate rooms, you shouldn't to do that. My two pits are sidebyside. (their crates anyway) Side by side in the same room.
Feeding time, I don't see the problem with preparing their food right in front of them. You must always and forever make sure that both dogs are calm/submissive before feeding them. You always feed the one that is the most calm first, regardless of who it is. In my case, it always tends to be my female, but because she is older and wiser. My younger one is learning, but that's just how it happens. What I do... I feed both my dogs at the same time. Now... they are both calmly sitting before I put their food down and release them. (MY younger is learning that one still.) But I sit near by and correct behaviour that I do not want. If one of them gets too excited or too crazy, I have to correct that behaviour. My older one is prone to food guarding, so I have to watch it VERY carefully. After a month or so of carefully watching, things are going smoothly. They are both calm submissive before getting their food, and calm while eating. IF it works better for you to work on them separately, then by all means, feed them separately and work up to feeding them together. I had to work up to feeding my dogs side by side. First they were feed in two different areas, each time the bowls were moved closer together. But remember, the goal is to be able to have BOTH dogs be calm submissive when feeding at the same time. I was afraid that feeding the dogs separately might cause some territorial food bowl guarding to something. You want the dogs to make sure that they see YOU AS THE FOOD giver. That the food is your food until you say that they can have it. I can have my older female release any toy or food or anything out of her mouth by saying "drop it" from across the room. It doesn't matter if it's food, a stuffed animal, or a rawhide. This is a huge thing to learn. Your dog should not be possessive about anything to anyone.
Does this help??? I kinda started to ramble on.
reading your response prompted some more questions. first, you mentioned feeding the calm one first. what do you do when the other one tries to get at the food. just stand in his way? also, should they be allowed to share bowls? my pups have thier own bowls but prefer to double team each bowl. second, (or third actually) should I allow them to take toys from each other? sometimes one is playing with a toy and the other will come and pull it away.
Thank you - this is VERY HELPFUL and I think that experience is the best teacher :-) I do think I am confusing them with the newspaper inthe house but and as I watch them, I am suspecting the female may have something going on with her bladder (uti) and I have called my vet to check it out once all clear I will officially start the crate training in two separate crates as the male seems to be able to hold it and has better control of his bladder than the female.
The male seems to be much easier to train and is getting the commands much quicker than the female so I am using his energy to have her hopefully model after :-) I THINK WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS !!!
I am also trying to get them learning to go while on a leash and boy oh boy do i have my hands full there and I am hoping to get them out and walking next week - I have managed to get them to sit and stay by the door until I open it and step out first and "invite" them out...
I'd love to learn about how you got your female to "drop it" because they do move their head to push my hand around when I put it in their food and I know this is not a good thin so I wonder how do i correct this behavior apart from the "sshh - no" should I also remove the food and then start the process over about sitting and staying calm? They have learned "no" pretty well (when wanting to chew or climb furnituer as well as paly fighitn a bit more rough than I want them to) and i enjoy watching the internal struggle they go through with adhering to my command and wanting to follow their impulse it's very cute to watch them step back and nod their head as if saying "aaww come on" :-p i don't acknowledge that response outwardly but i chuckle internally...
thank you again for any personal insight you can share... I will continue with my lessons and practicing my clam assertive energy at all times...