Littermate syndrome? Is anyone familiar with this? Any thoughts or experience dealing with it? |
Never heard of it. What is it? |
I have never heard of it either, but a very rude woman came to my job today told me about it. In the middle of a conversation I was having with a manager she interrupted to tell me how I need to be a cautious pet owner and not allow Teddy and Lola to spend too much time together because it could be deadly to them. I came home and googled it and it doesn't sound like anything "deadly" to me. Here's a link I found on it. Littermate Syndrome: The risky downside to raising sibling puppies | Jeff Stallings, CPDT-KA |
I had never heard of it, but after reading the article I don't put much faith in it. I have had no problem raising siblings Kayla and Karlee, and in fact feel that they have been a special blessing. So much joy! I do worry sometimes about what if something happened to one of them, as they are very rarely apart. There are many YT owners with littermates, and I have not heard of any problems, although some owners feel house training 2 at a time is more difficult even if they are not littermates. |
I think its a bunch of malarcky I wouldnt worry about it. Anyone can have opinions on anything maybe based on one experience and it doesnt mean its going to apply to all experiences. I would have no fear of getting littermates and that lady should have minded her own business |
I would not worry about this. Some people believe/worry that anytime 2 dogs are put together that they will be more into each other and not pay attention to their humans. My boys are brothers from different litters, slightly less than a year apart, and they are very much into their humans. Any two dogs can reinforce good and bad behaviors in one another. |
I only had one set of a brother and sister Afghan Hounds years ago. There was no trouble with them being raised together and were easily trained...to potty outside from a young age etc. |
Blah forget rude people who think they know everything in my opinion the biggest things you have to worry about are potty training and getting them fixed before the female goes into heat. |
I read about this "syndrome" in several basic dog books. I don't think it will turn out to be a complete nightmare like in the article you posted above, though. The books that I read mainly just said a couple times a day to separate the pups and get some 1 on 1 time with each of them to gain trust/confidence/establish that you're the owner, etc., I wouldn't be too worried about it. It's definitely not "deadly". |
I have heard of it. I have not owned littermates but I do think that it could be much more work but not necessarily a big piece of trouble. |
Yeah, I'm not paying any attention to it. I found it to be malarkey also! Before it was even brought to my attention, Teddy and Lola have been spending a lot of time apart as is. Teddy belongs to me and Lola belongs to my father and his fiancé. They eat separately, sleep separately, scheduling is different. They probably get about 3 hours of play time together a day if not more. Thanks everyone for your advice though, it's appreciated! |
Seeing how cute my little sisters are together has been a wonderful experience. I would definitely get littermates again if at all possible. |
About 2 months ago I got a beautiful little biewer. Then 2 weeks later got her 1/2 sister. Actually Mimi turned 5 months today, her sister Rita will be 6 months on the 22nd. There have no problems at all. They play well and both have definitely bonded with me. I do spend a lot of time with them. We returned last week from a month long road trip and the only problem is that they can't figure out why they no longer get to go everywhere with me. Ignore people like that. She's probably jealous that she can't afford 2 puppies. |
Actually I have heard of this. I have no idea how common or un-common it is, but it does exist for sure. I do think that even if the puppies are not of the same litter, but come into the home at the same time, it is truly essential to bond each puppy to humans. It is certainly in the early years double the work for sure. But you can incorporate separate training, walking, petting, and grooming time with each individual puppy. And also they will need to be socialized to strange folks, places etc, separately, and also together as well. I do agree with what the author wrote here. And it can be as little time as 10 minutes x 2 daily for each puppy. And sure the puppies can play usually safely with each other being same age and breed etc, but that should never be a substitute for human handling, caring, bonding, etc. I also think it might be breed dependent as well, some breeds are more geared to a pack mentality, most of the sled dogs, some of the hunting breeds, etc. One concern of note with siblings from the same litter, is any health problems. If one puppy comes home sick, the other is quite likely to fall ill too. And then there are other health issues that might rear their head along the way, and you might have those same issues in each puppy. It is like everything else, education of the owner goes a long way to have a successful multiple dog household. |
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