Littermate Syndrome

 Here is my article on LITTERMATE SYNDROME. 

This article was written to help dog owners understand littermate syndrome, what safety measures should be taken if the owner does decide to take on two pups at the same time, and a few tips for helping the owner succeed if they do decide to get siblings.

Littermate syndrome does NOT occur with all siblings, but is common and severe enough that dog owners should take it into consideration before getting two young pups together who are the same or approximately the same age. The cons of getting siblings together often outweigh the pros.  
Most rescues and shelters will not adopt siblings out together, because this syndrome has occurred frequently in the past, even with two pups from different litters that are adopted at the same time.
Good knowledgeable  breeders will generally not sell two siblings to the same family.
Very often pups who get littermate syndrome sadly end up being dumped, together,  at a rescue or shelter.

Littermate syndrome can occur when two pups from the same litter, or of appropriately the same age from different litters are brought up together. 
It usually occurs during key socialization periods between eight weeks and six months of age, so it is especially important to keep them apart during this time.
They often bond so closely with each other that they won’t socialize with humans or even other dogs.  Early life experiences will have a strong impact on them as well.  See my article on PUP SOCIALIZATION, for more helpful information.

Genetics has a lot to do with how siblings respond with each other. If the pups are both confident, mentally sound individuals there is a far less risk of littermate syndrome occurring.  If one or both pups are poorly bred or mentally unstable, this can easily be a recipe for disaster.

It’s believed that when the pups are so similar in age, size, and especially gender- hierarchy issues occur. They cannot sort out their status in the pack, which leads to conflict.
The worst cases scenarios are often two males, or two female pups together. Often the female siblings are much more aggressive to each other during their heat cycles.
Getting one pup of each gender is usually the best choice to help avoid littermate syndrome.

The extreme bonding causes issues because the pups feel they cannot be separated at any time from each other and will go into SEVERE  panic attacks if separated, it can also be catastrophic to the other when one dies.
Usually there will be one more confident outgoing pup, and one insecure shy pup.  Though  the more confident pup seems to be the harder to handle one, the shy pup will usually be the one who ends up with the more severe behavioral issues. 
Ongoing fighting or aggression is often common. Food aggression between siblings can result in fights, and severely wounding each other.

Owner engagement will make a big difference on whether or not the pups become overly bonded.  Inexperienced, non committed owners are at the highest risk to having pups with littermate syndrome.

I recommend using ALL the pups daily meals as rewards for obedience,tricks, and good manners. Hand feeding gives “ value” to the human from the dogs point of view, instead of giving “value “ to the dog bowl. It helps the dog focused on the handler instead of being distracted, which is a huge advantage in our favor. Hand feeding also lessens the chance of resource guarding, as there is no longer a bowl to guard.

Pups need to be mentally challenged even more than physically exercised, as developing growth plates shouldn’t be over worked, and mental stimulation will tire the pup out faster anyways.

Play with and train the pups separately, feed them separately, both should be properly crate trained in their own crates, and gradually crated in separate rooms. Crates can be placed near each other at first, but moved further away from each other fairly quickly.

Basic obedience drills of sit,down,stay, and recall goes a long way. Littermates can often have difficulty learning basic obedience skills, as well as having housebreaking issues.

Structured walks, both together and apart are very important. A structured walk consists of the dog walking in heel position by our side, no pulling, barking, whining, or marking, release word to potty, then right back into a structured walk.

Trips to puppy socials and Veterinarian visits should be done separately.

Siblings that are in a household which already has an older dog often do better because it may help to mentally stabilize the pups. 

Here are some exercises that will help pups with bonding, and build focus on the handler.

PLACE command is very helpful for older pups, sessions should be fairly short to start, then gradually add duration.
The pup learns to go to their cot, lie down, be quiet, and stay there until given a release word. A tie back can be used at first, PLACE is always supervised.
I have a very detailed article on training PLACE at my site.

FOCUS game, using the pups daily meals. Have the pup sit on a safe raised object. Stand in front of the pup. Let the pup see you take two pieces of their food, one in each hand. Outstretch your arms all the way out from your side. Look directly at the pups eyes and make a “kissy” sounds or other attention getting noise with your mouth. The instant the pup turns their gaze from your hand to your face IMMEDIATELY say YES!  -  and reward from either hand. Repeat often.

Do confidence building work, luring up/under/through different safe objects in the home and elsewhere. Again, use part of his daily meal for this. Harder exercises can receive higher ( jackpot) amounts of food.  Give lots of praise and encouragement during training.

In closing, I’d like to remind everyone that this article clearly states littermate syndrome does NOT happen in all sibling pups. Both siblings CAN turn out to be well adjusted dogs, under the right circumstances.

More informative dog training articles are available on my site below, which is open to the public, and free of charge. ❤️🐺❤️
https://www.facebook.com/AllBasicsDogTrainingKimChappell/