[craggy]

Hello! I'm new here, this looks like a great forum with lots of answers! Hoping you guys can help me.
We brought home an 8 week old male hound mix last week. His mother is a bluetick/walker and they didn't know what his dad is. The pup and one brother came out looking exactly like a black & tan, the rest came out all or almost all black.

All the pups were hand raised by two women that rescued them from the mother's owner who was upset that his good hunting dog got bred and was going to kill all of them. They were about a week old. I think this has caused some good and bad qualities in our dog, as he's super friendly and loves people, but also seems to be bordering on separation anxiety and needs to be with us ALL the time. I've been working on crate training, which isn't going the worst, but nighttime is killing us as he wants to be with us and not in the crate and barks almost nonstop with maybe half hour sleep breaks in between. I'm also worried about when my kids go back to school in 2.5 weeks and I go back to work (part time during school year).

My husband would like to bring his last remaining littermate home too. Our boy was raised with one brother and originally there were four in this home and four in the other, but two died shortly after being rescued. So it was just him and his brother along with the woman's two adult dogs and two cats. He slept with his brother every night. She said the brother had a rough night the first night they were separated, but then she moved him in with the older dogs and he was ok. We're thinking what if we brought him home too so they could be together and keep each other company when we can't? Other than the separation issues, our pup has been really good (well, as "good" as a puppy can be) and I don't have a problem bringing his brother home. But I have never had two dogs at once before, and don't know if there are reasons we shouldn't consider it? Our only other pet is one cat, he's good with her, doesn't chase or anything but she snubs him so they don't interact much.

Do you think have the sibling pair would help keep them happy when we have to be away? Would you crate them together? At the woman's house, the pups were kept at night in one room in a pen with a large crate inside it, but from my understanding she never closed the door on the crate, just let them use it at will. We would likely have a kennel in the garage for when I'm at work as my days can be on the longer side, but they would be in the house with us the rest of the time.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts or advice!!! If we do get the other pup, we wouldn't be able to go get him for another week yet as it is quite a distance away.

 

[ChaosIsAWeim]

Look up littermate syndrome and see if that is something you are willing to deal with. Also I would never leave two puppies unsupervised in a crate together, they should be in separate crates but can be in the same area.

 

[Amaryllis]

You really shouldn't. Littermate syndrome is awful. You got lucky that you got one of the brothers so young. If they had been allowed to continue that way, you wouldn't have been able to keep them in separate rooms without them both hurting themselves to get to each other.

 

[Avie]

My mother raised two littermates, female yorkshire mixes. She got one first, but when one of the pups didn't get adopted, she was contacted with the question if she'd like to have the remaining pup as well. So within the week she ended up with two puppies. They had no problems growing up together and they'll be three years old in December.

But I can imagine small dogs being easier to take care of than as per say, two hounds, like you've possibly got on your hands. But if you feel confident you can handle it, then go for it.

I too would advise you to crate them seperately. Or keep them loose in the living, like my mother did and she never had issues with seperation anxiety. Whatever you feel comfortable with. But be aware that if you have them loose, there is a possibility they'll destroy something. (my mom's dogs were too small for that, I suppose )

 

[craggy]

Wow, I had NO idea! Thank you so much for the info. I need to read up more about it but from the little bit I just searched I'm thinking I already owe you all for saving my sanity!

So then comes the question, what can I do to help him with the crying and whining? Nighttime is pure torture. I have crate trained a dog before ( a Boston Terrier) and it was never anywhere near this difficult, even though he was way more high strung than this pup. Like I said, he's good during the day, I actually just left for a couple hours and he was fine. Gave him a Kong when I put him in (this time he wasn't barking when left, but oftentimes he starts up the second we walk away), and he was sleeping like a baby when we came home. But at night it's a different story. And during the day if I'm not crating him but just walking into a different area or something. This morning I was having my coffee on the porch with the laptop and because he couldn't sit in my lap he whined and barked and scratched at my legs. Later on my daughter was outside playing with him and ran in to use the bathroom, and he went ballistic.

Thanks again!