2 Rescued Boxer Puppies

Lola Jackson · 10-30-2009, 01:05 PM

Hello everyone,

I just brought home two boxer/mix puppies from a friend who had a pregnant mother dumped on their ranch. The puppies are 7 1/2 weeks old. I have done a lot of reading up on puppy training and things are going well so far, but I have a couple questions regarding raising two puppies as once. I may be dumb for taking two, considering these are my first two dogs, but I work from home and I'm up for the task.

I have done some reading about raising two and it appears that I want to keep them separated for parts of the day. They each have their own individual crates that sit about 2 feet from each other, their own toys and own food/water dishes. I didn't want to add any stress to their lives with the move so I let them sleep in the same crate for the first two nights, but now I am trying to make them sleep separately. One is doing much better than the other, but one doesn't like going in the crate anymore. She whines incessantly when by herself. Am I doing something wrong? I can occasionally get her to go in the crate on her own when she is really tired, but neither of them hang out in there when not sleeping. Is this normal at this age and I should just keep acclimating them with the crates? I just want to make sure I am going down the right path and not forcing them in the crates which may ruin their ability to use them in the future.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Thracian · 10-30-2009, 06:04 PM

I've heard of a DVD called Crate Games that helps you make a dog's crate fun. I haven't seen it, but I've seen so many recommendations for it that I'd say give it a try.

I think you are wise to do some separating of your pups. Separate crate time and some separate training time will go a long way toward helping them bond to you individually.