It was "scary" Pen's advice and others that helped me to get two well balanced boys

But then I was never put off from asking questions, I just blethered away You could never shut me up back then

Penel, I never thought you were horrid

I just think we, as new owners need a degree of confidence in our own abilities to remain consistant and deal with the little springy blighters - if we start off thinking the task is impossible, then failure is almost inevitable I just felt a little more encouragement was needed.

- and I still maintain, that you can't quantify what percentage of littermates are handed to a rescue - to compare to singletons - perhaps we need a doggy census It could be that statistically, as a group, we don't come out so badly...

As my sociology tutor used to say 'Correlation does not mean causation'

mind you , he also used to say his wife didn't understand him, and he just happened to be passing my bustop and would I like a lift

Pol

Hi Fudds...

if you don't mind me asking ... what kind of problems did you have with the boys?

Pol

Everything twice over

The usual, toilet training, food, crying at night, chewing, destroying etc.

Tobes had no recall and beggered off and you never saw him on walks, chased joggers and bikers, cos he felt the need to protect me and Jack after he had been badly attacked by a dog.

Jack was clingy so no bother with recall. But very reliant on Tobes when outside.

Both pulled like trains, to the point where I would cry in pain after a walk.

So both were trained and we worked on different things on them, to the extent that me and Nick ( and the boys of course) would pass each other on a walk

As with any training consistancy is the key.

I still wouldn't advise littermates but I am always willing to advise anyone who is daft enough (like me) to get them.

And one thing I will add and I firmly believe this, we were very very lucky to pick too boys that are like chalk and cheese thus mix together very well, are bonded but are not the centre of each others world, which is why Bam slotted in so well.

ah, thanks for the info

- i guess mine are very different too... one of them smells of dead things, one doesn't


Blimey, sounds like you did have a hard time - i think we must have been lucky by comparison, as its only really walking to heel that is very much a work in progress - the pulling like a train, really is a pain with two - that's why i use the gentleleaders if i have to walk them together on my own (doesn't happen often) - if we go for separate walks, we have to make sure our paths wont cross, else they like to track each other! - still the upside is, if one went missing, the other would probably be able to find it

Pol, most of this happened around the teenage time

I didn't see penels advice as a told you so myself but then we all read things diff.


We fetched dottie into our lives at 8 weeks old and when she was 14 weeks old we had a mad moment and brought another springer girl cassie 11 weeks old home.
My two are not siblings but we still had 2 puppies and they were both bitches which is not usually the best combination.
I have been around dogs all of my life springers mostly my grandfather was a gamekeeper.
My oh had been around dogs all his life so he was switched on.


Saying this I don't think either of us were aware of how much of our lives would be taken over by these two girls.
It has been life changing and I have brought up 4 children who are all adults now.
The girls have been more challenging lol we have had dogs before the girls but mostly older dogs these were our first pups.

Toilet training..... I spent the summer of 2006 in the garden There wasn't a do they want to go out
puppies wee every few mins
We have had probs with our two they would be angels if we didn't Springers aint angels
Most of the time I didn't need to post the problems we were having because someone else had already posted

I read the advice that was given . Some I disregarded some I put into practice. With this site and the people on here like Penel and all of the other exp owners of dogs who take time out to give advice and loads of hard work from us we have 2 wonderful springer girls who are coming up to 2 and a half and are now chilled lol as long as they have their walk /run l don't know why I say walk they run everywhere lol

Two springer pups were hard work but if you put the time and commitment it is very rewarding.
Our two girls never fight we are lucky that we have two bitches of the same temperament and get along well together.
Enjoy your two they grow so quickly . Welcome this is a great site the peeps on here will support you with every problem and will celebrate every achievement with you and when you are at your lowest there is nothing better than a ST hug

Jillx

More advice from me - littermate owners, read at your peril

I think THE most important thing here is temperament - even more important than recall and other training.

Owners of siblings, especially same sex siblings, have to be totally aware of how your dogs are feeling ... you need to keep a close eye that there are no challenges to each other - I am not at all into "dominance" over your dogs - not at all, I am a firm believer in letting dogs get on with things - BUT - you have to make sure that ultimately - you are your dogs' access to their most important things - food, and walks. Even toys too if those are important to them.

Consistency, and very clear boundaries about what is and is not acceptable are more important with two same sex siblings than they are with one puppy. There is no need to be physical or anything like that, a firm voice (and nice rewards) are enough to let puppies know whether something is acceptable. Reward the good

When you are socialising your two puppies - make sure you do it separately as well as together - siblings will usually stand up for each other - you do not want this to happen or you end up with two dogs that always jump in together - bad bad idea. They need to be individuals, not one of a pair - especially where socialising with their peers comes into it.

here endeth tonights littermate sermon

ahmen
when we went to see dotties litter . god they were soo gorg we could have taken all 7

We did realize after a few weeks that even though dottie was the first born and she was one of two bitches and five dogs that she was bullied by her litter mates and if we had bought home one of her litter mates the bullying would have carried on and she would have been a diff dog than she is now. She was a neurotic pup. scared of everything walking her down the road was a trial every dog she saw she shied away from dottie picked cassie we were picking up the other pup in the litter but after watching dot with cassie we decided to bring cassie home. good decision dottie
Dottie has cassie who protects her and helps her to be braver

Now you see - that's good practical advice Penel - and I thank you for it


- so how old in human years are they when they turn teen then?