[Viterzgir]

Hi!

So 3 days ago I got 2 boys - White Swiss Shepherd.

They are from the same family - brothers.
When me and my wife train them - we separate them to teach them.

Do we need to play with them separately too? They cannot play with us - whenever one starts to play another puppy comes and they start play fighting. It is almost impossible to stop them. Also, if one takes a toy - other drops everything and they start play fighting again or just running after each other.

Important note - I don't need this for myself I want to teach them to play toys, that it's fun to bite some other things, not just your brother. Also, so later we could play on the outside.

Thanks!

Regards

 

[LeoRose]

Raising littermates, or two unrelated puppies that are close in age, isn't twice the work, it's more like four or five times the work, since they need to be separated more than they are together. Crated separately, fed separately, trained separately, walked separately, pretty much everything separately, to avoid them becoming overly bonded with each other, and not their humans. Also, with having two males, there is the possibility of same sex aggression as they mature. Returning or rehoming one of them would probably be a good idea.

And yes, if they don't know how to play with people, they can be taught. A friend of mine recently got a working line Belgian Tervuren puppy, and has some videos posted of him. He is a sport prospect, so he is very bitey. In this one, she is mainly just playing with him, bit there is also a bit of beginning heelwork.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3031921130173396

 

[Viterzgir]

Thanks @LeoRose for your response. Very sad to hear that. We thought that it would be a great idea to have 2 pups, so they wouldn't be bored like ever. But it really feels like just living with dog neighbors. They interact with us only when separated and we cannot hold them like that forever

 

[Lillith]

Like LeoRose said, it is 4 times the work to have two puppies. If you plan on keeping both, you should make sure they are separated from each other far more than they are allowed to play together. They need to bond to their humans, not another dog. If they are allowed to bond to each other, this develops into anxiety when they are separated from each other. So if one dog has to go to the vet they're going to become very anxious and inconsolable when the they are separated. If you want to take one dog for a walk but not the other, it's not going to happen.

Dogs are perfectly fine without another dog family member. There are single dogs in families all over the world, and they're fine! It's okay for dogs to be bored, too. They need to learn to settle and sleep or chew on a toy when you are not playing with them.

 

[3GSD4IPO]

Separate them and work with them separately. Any breeder worth his salt would not sell you litter mates to begin with because the dogs will bond to each other an not to you.

As said above, you got two puppies and 5 times the work. To have them bond with you they cannot be together at all.

Separate them and take on the work or rehome one if you cannot take the significant amount of time this will take.