Hi,

We recently got 2 West Highland White pups. They are both female (siblings)
and they are just 11 weeks old today.

I've found that so far, if we attempt to train either or both whilst they
are together, they tend to distract each other so we've taken to separating
them for short training periods.

Does anyone have experience of training two dogs at the same time and is
this generally recognised as the correct way?

Rgds,
MikeB

"MikeB" spoke these words of wisdom in
:

Hi,

We recently got 2 West Highland White pups. They are both female
(siblings) and they are just 11 weeks old today.

I've found that so far, if we attempt to train either or both whilst
they are together, they tend to distract each other so we've taken to
separating them for short training periods.

Does anyone have experience of training two dogs at the same time and is
this generally recognised as the correct way?

Rgds,
MikeB




Hoo boy, training two puppies at the same time sure is biting off a big
chunk of ambition. Since puppies care more about what each other are doing
and egg each other on, while blowing off yoou, it's really important to
separate them when training. Training two puppys at the same time is like
taking the work of training one puppy times 4

In article ,
"MikeB" wrote:


We recently got 2 West Highland White pups. They are both female (siblings)
and they are just 11 weeks old today.


Did the breeder discuss same-sex aggression with you? From a pair of
female TERRIERS?

I've found that so far, if we attempt to train either or both whilst they
are together, they tend to distract each other so we've taken to separating
them for short training periods.

That's pretty much a given! Two puppies at the same time is generally a
very poor idea for many reasons.

Does anyone have experience of training two dogs at the same time and is
this generally recognised as the correct way?

The correct way is generally to just not do it! But yes, treating
them as individuals is very important, as is teaching them to work with
you as a pair. Concentrate on the former at this point.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"Janet Boss" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"MikeB" wrote:
Did the breeder discuss same-sex aggression with you? From a pair of
female TERRIERS?

No, she didn't. Is it often an issue then? If so, is it more of an issue
with certain breeds?

Two puppies at the same time is generally a
very poor idea for many reasons.

Too late now! We'll do our best.

treating
them as individuals is very important, as is teaching them to work with
you as a pair. Concentrate on the former at this point.

Thank you. That's what we are doing.

MikeB wrote:

No, she didn't. Is it often an issue then? If so, is it more of an issue
with certain breeds?

Bitch-bitch aggression can be a very serious problem; deadly, even.
The thing is, you may not even know that there's an issue until
it's too late. It can be sudden-onset, after years of living
peacefully together.

And, yes, certain breeds/types of dogs--e.g. terriers--are more
prone to same sex aggression. There's no way on earth I'd have two
female terriers in my home. Aieee!

Too late now! We'll do our best.

Eleven weeks is not that old. If it were me, I'd think seriously
about returning one of them to the breeder.

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

In article ,
"MikeB" wrote:


No, she didn't. Is it often an issue then? If so, is it more of an issue
with certain breeds?

You bet. Yes, "bitch fights" tend to be much worse than any male dog
arguments. In general, neutered males of many breeds can be a pretty
easy pairing, many people choose opposite genders if there are only two
dogs in the home, and knowing the bitches is important when you choose
to have more than one. Some breeds are MUCH easier to do that with than
others. Terriers are notoriously bad for that. Not that they can't get
along just fine, but it may be more difficult, although spaying is
generally a very, very helpful factor.

Small terries also mature young, which means those characteristics may
present themselves at a fairly young age. Do you have spay contracts on
the pups? Do you get to choose when to spay?

Two puppies at the same time is generally a
very poor idea for many reasons.

Too late now! We'll do our best.

It's pretty much what most people will choose, although I've known
people who've returned to breeder when they had a hard time.

treating
them as individuals is very important, as is teaching them to work with
you as a pair. Concentrate on the former at this point.

Thank you. That's what we are doing.

Take them places solo, train solo, but remember to do things like
feeding near each other, supervised, so they learn that they are
individuals who must be cooperative and congenial then as well.

Good luck - there are a lot of folks here with multiple dog households,
and a lot of insights to be gained.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

In article ,
Shelly wrote:

There's no way on earth I'd have two
female terriers in my home. Aieee!

Same here. I have had 2 female retrievers, but not to maturity of the
younger one. Still, with my breeds, there are generally few problems if
the structure and training is there.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Janet Boss wrote:

Same here. I have had 2 female retrievers, but not to maturity of the
younger one. Still, with my breeds, there are generally few problems if
the structure and training is there.

Same sex aggression is common in most of my favorite breeds, so I'm
unlikely to ever have two girls. I've had enough experience with
just plain old randomly-snarky-with-packmates aggression to last me
a lifetime. I can manage it, if only one dog is serious, but I'd
rather not.

I just hope that I like living with boy Boxers as much as I do
girls, because otherwise, I'm going to be stuck with just one dog at
a time, and that is for to weep!

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

In article ,
Shelly wrote:


I just hope that I like living with boy Boxers as much as I do
girls, because otherwise, I'm going to be stuck with just one dog at
a time, and that is for to weep!

No kidding! With my dogs I know I have a ton of flexibility, which is
nice. I admit that I've always enjoyed having 2 boys though. With 3
(past and future), I'm comfortable mixing it up.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"Janet Boss" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"MikeB" wrote:


We recently got 2 West Highland White pups. They are both female
(siblings)
and they are just 11 weeks old today.


Did the breeder discuss same-sex aggression with you? From a pair of
female TERRIERS?

From my experience, which is not as considerable as some but does involve
terriers, this is not a forgone conclusion. I know of many households where
there are two female terriers living in total harmony. And I have seen as
many same-sex aggression problems in hounds as I have in terriers.

Yes, the OP should be aware of the possibility. But it is very far from a
certainty. I think anyone who is considering keeping two intact females
(and the OP doesn't say this) should be very certain of their ability to
recognize and handle it if it happens.

If it were me, and someone handed me the two puppies and said I had to make
every effort to raise them together, I would attempt to do so. And it would
probably work just fine. But I'd have a backup plan to rehome one of the
dogs if it came right down to it.

I'm thinking that one of the first danger points would be just before their
first heat? Does that make sense to anyone else?

And yes, both dogs should be neutered as soon as possible.

Does anyone have experience of training two dogs at the same time and is
this generally recognised as the correct way?

The correct way is generally to just not do it! But yes, treating
them as individuals is very important, as is teaching them to work with
you as a pair. Concentrate on the former at this point.

I agree with Janet on this. Training two puppies at the same time in their
lives is difficult for experiences trainers. It's not something that very
many knowledgeable trainers will intentionally take on.

But there they are in your household and they need training, so it's up to
you to find a way.

You will certainly need to train them separately. This is difficult because
much of normal puppy training goes on every minute of the day. They are
always learning so you have to remember that you are always teaching.

In spite of there being two of them, you need at times to act as though you
only have one puppy at a time. This will need to be done with the two dogs
separated as much as physically possible. You will have difficulty being
the most interesting thing in the world if the puppy that you are trying to
work with can hear her sister screaming from the other side of the door.

You will also need to remember that even though they are the same age and
are sisters, they are still two different dogs. I have two littermates
(although I did not get them at the same time) and they are as different as
any two dogs in their breed, both in basic personalities and in how best to
train them. You may have to learn twice the training skills as you would
with one.

Good luck. You have quite a steep learning curve ahead of you.

Judy