Question
What problems may arise if you raise two puppies from the same litter in the same household? I've had many professional trainers say this is a bad idea but I'd like to know the reasons why. And I'd like to know some things I could do to avoid problems if this does happen.
I've heard they tend to bond with each other more and the humans less. So I would assume having separate training sessions on a very regular basis would help.
Answer
The term of interest here is, I think, Littermate Syndrome and it happens because we naturally think that the best friend for our puppy is one they're already familiar with. If you stop to think about that, it doesn't even make sense for us. While the vast majority of us like and get along with our siblings, there comes a point that we don't want to live with them.
Littermate syndrome is, basically, a situation where the two dogs bond excessively to each other to the point that they don't socialize and bond with humans nor socialize well with other dogs. Not all pairings will fall into this, but there seems to be a huge consensus amongst trainers that this much more likely to happen than it isn't. Once the dogs have fallen into the syndrome, the only real option for fixing the issue is to rehome one of the dogs, often a pretty hard thing to do and is a big factor in trainers recommending you don't raise littermates together.
Note well, this risk is also prevalent when mixing two developing puppies from different litters. Understand that they both are developing socialization skills with humans at this stage and having them together interferes with that.
At any rate, it is possible to train them, house them, and feed them separately, in all aspects, but that's quite the burden on you. Only you can state if that's worth it, but for the most part I think it's better to avoid.
Answered By - Joanne C