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  #31  
Old April 13th, 2009, 06:39 PM
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Blackdog22 Blackdog22 is offline
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Very well said, I agree 100%
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  #32  
Old April 13th, 2009, 08:18 PM
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Mat&Murph Mat&Murph is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Promethean View Post
First you have to change your mindset. YOu don't really have to try to become the leader of the pack, mainly because there is no pack. What you have is an interspecific assemblage of animals. These pups aren't fighting you for leadership and if they do something it's not out of some machiavellian motive. You can choose to view the dogs as your enemies constantly trying to take over or you can view them as potential partners that need to be educated.

I would suggest you start walking them, traning them, even cuddling them individually. Who would want to spend time with a stranger that doesn't speak their language? You need to make your company far more rewarding than the environment and other dogs - this will means food rewards and play. Also, I think having them spend time separated from each other, and you would be a positve experience. This will make your entrance into their world so much more rewarding. After all, if they are together hanging out, you don't have much to offer.

If you walk them alone and it decides to stop, then let him. You job as this juncture is to make the walks and the leash a positive experience. Just stand there and wait.. after all it's a pup and it could be tired, it's thin pads may hurt from teh pavement or salt or it just wants to smell the surroundings. It doesn't really matter. He's with you, bonding with you and having a positive experience with you and that's the really important part - aside from seeing and experiencing new things - of the walk at this age.
Well Said!!!! I have alone time with my boys one on one and it works out great.
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  #33  
Old April 14th, 2009, 08:17 AM
BenMax BenMax is offline
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I personally am eager to hear back from the OP.

As for members taking things out of context - there is really no need for this. Together we can learn a few things if we are open enough to listen.
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  #34  
Old April 22nd, 2009, 02:27 PM
New Dog Owner New Dog Owner is offline
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Thank You!

I got a lot of information from everyone and I'm very happy to say that not one person said that I needed to get rid of one of them, so thank you to everyone!

As for an update, well they are a little over 8 weeks now and we kind of took a mix of advices from everyone. We did end up keeping them together for a bit, but I started noticing some problems where they wouldn't listen to us calling them when they were together, no matter how hard we tried. In fact one seems to be the leader and wants to do his own thing and when he walks away the other would follow. So then we started seperating them, not 100% of the time, just some of the time. Doing this I think kind of gained the trust of the one that isn't so dominant and now when their together it's about a 85% chance of them listening.
So we kind of do half and half. During the day when we are not home, I bought two cages for the basement (4ft x 4ft) (basement has mutiple windows) and we currently keep them seperated but the cages are right next to each other. At night when we go to bed I have two of the "large" crates and we keep them seperated but in the same room with us and they are right next to each other. So when are they together? Basically whenever we are home or we are not going to be gone long we keep them together in the backyard and we also feed them together. It's about 10hrs each day during the week and about 18hrs each day on the weekend.

As for the walks, we still do them in an empty parking lot that is near the house or we take them to the pet store when it rains (got their first shots last weekend) and they seem to do fairly well. They still do play when on walks and they do tend to want to do their own thing but we took the advise of all of you and realized they are so young that is what they are going to do, so we are not overally concerned. The main thing for us is to get them out there, burn some of the massive amounts of energy they have, allow them to smell new things, get used to the sounds and meet people, but since they are still young when there is other dogs around we go the other way for now.

I am pleased to say that at night, we have not had one accident yet in the crate (knock on wood), they usually wake up, cry/bark I quickly bring them outside, they do their duty and I've got them to learn to walk right back inside (works about 90% of the time). As for when they are romping around the house, there is accidents, one is very good at going towards the door, pending he makes it, the other is more interested in playing, but I think we can manage.

As I'm sure with all pups, they do like to roll around in the mud, they are digging a hole, ripped off the bottom of gutter and started chewing on the bottom of the fence but they do stop when I say "no".

Overall they are doing well and we realized through all of the responses that although they might be "big" (20lbs), they are still pups and learning and playing is what they do best, so we are learning to enjoy and laugh about some of the things they do, but we are still stearn (without the frustration) with stuff we don't want them to do.

We have owned dogs before but never two together, so any more advice anyone has is much appreciated, or if you think were doing anything wrong, please let us know. Like I said we took a lot of it to heart and again thank you for not saying we had to get rid of one as that would have just made us more frustrated...there is a chance!
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  #35  
Old April 22nd, 2009, 02:39 PM
BenMax BenMax is offline
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I have to say I think you are doing GREAT!. Good for you!
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  #36  
Old June 20th, 2014, 02:03 AM
username username is offline
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I think that you should do everything separately.Also walking them one at a time

Hope it helps!
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  #37  
Old June 5th, 2016, 10:40 AM
YanessaBee YanessaBee is offline
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Unhappy Very similar situation

After losing my soul-mutt of 5 years to an accident, my family and friends urged me to get another pet to help me move on. My boyfriend and I found two "7 week old" male Corgi/beagles looking for a home and the breeder said whichever one didn't come with us would be going to the shelter. We couldn't pick between them anyway so needless to say we took both, naming them Atlas and Akila. I have only dealt with shelter mutts 6 months of age+ and only one at a time, but my boyfriend assured me he had experience with this and that we could handle it. I also saw plenty of response from others that two littermates were impossible but I am determined to make it work. We have had them for a little over a week now and when I got their specific birthdate I realized we got them at 5 weeks (they were already on solid food) so they are 6 weeks now. They are OK at going out, I give them a click and tell them "good potty" with a treat when they go outside, and they have a potty pad by the door in case they didn't go fully at least they know to go to the door when they need to. Even with this they CONSTANTLY mark inside all over the carpet at least 15 times a day each. They roughhouse constantly (I can't tell what is play and what is fighting), snarling and bark/howling at eachother. I intervene when it sounds particularly bad. They are both quite defiant, Atlas especially as he howl/barks at me and bites me if he doesn't get his way (I won't let him eat furniture or roll in the mud outside etc). I assume they are trying to establish a hierarchy but I want them to be equals or at least to see me as their leader so theres no reason to fight/mark. I need to gain their respect somehow but I am not sure what else to do. They are kenneled when I am gone/sleeping, they walk separate usually and they don't go ahead of me, they eat from separate dishes at the same time and I make them wait until they are calm. Any help would be appreciated I apologize for the super long post..
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  #38  
Old June 5th, 2016, 11:51 AM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Actually, it sounds like you're doing well with these two, even if it doesn't seem like it to you.

Some suggestions, though:

--for your hands' sake, find a cheap pair of bicycling gloves (with palm and back of hand covered, but fingers free). These guys are so young and they will be nipping till you can teach them otherwise, and if your hands are protected, believe me, your patience will last loads longer!

--rough-housing with each other is okay. They'll teach each other what is too rough and they'll learn to control their mouths during play. But still, if it seems to get excessive, continue to break them up. Young pups do get overstimulated easily and may need a time out to calm them down.

--don't expect miracles about the accidents inside. They are soooo young and probably don't have great bladder control, yet, so they can't help it. It sounds like you're doing really well with the house-breaking--just keep it up, stay consistent and remember that this phase won't last forever! Make sure you have a good enzymatic cleaner formulated especially for urine and use it every time you clean up a mistake. If you don't get that urine smell out (and it can linger strong enough for them to smell it, even when you can't), they'll figure that's a designated potty spot and use it again. If you catch them at it, make a verbal correction (just a 'no' or a gutteral growl will do), snatch them up and take them outside. If they made a puddle but you don't catch them in the act, just chalk it up to puppyhood and clean it up without comment--they'll never know what you're talking about if you scold them for it since they've already forgotten that they've done it! Take them out when they first get up, before and after they eat, after they play, after a nap, after they drink, and any time they go to the door, of course.

--these two will tend to bond to each other really strongly--so you need to put them in a position to see you as a leader figure and bond to you, as well. Separate training sessions are great for this. (You and your boyfriend both should do these one-on-one sessions, separately.) Keep the sessions very short (the pups' attention span is less than 5 minutes at this point) and keep them fun. 'Come' is an excellent first thing to teach. 'Stay' is another (you might both have to work on that one--one person holding pup till called, the other calling--so just trade off who does the calling as your one-on-one for that command). Change it up--once they have the verbal command down, teach the same thing as a hand signal, teach a whistle 'come' and a whistle 'go on'. 'Sit'. 'Down'. In a few weeks, collar and leash training. The more you can work with them separately, the better they'll bond with you.

--get ready for teething. The chewing, nipping and over-stimulation usually peaks as they're losing their baby teeth and getting in their adult teeth. Load up on safe chewing toys over the next few weeks. Durable toys like Kongs are good--especially the stuffable ones. Collect old clean washcloths--when pups are teething, we get the cloths wet and keep them in the freezer. Cold cloths are soothing to the gums and as the dogs gnaw, it'll help loosen the outgoing teeth. But supervise them carefully with washcloths so they don't pull off pieces of fabric and swallow it, which can be very dangerous for them. There are also teething toys meant specifically to be put in the freezer to make them cold.

--most of all, grab your patience with both hands and hang onto it tightly! You can get through this!! Patience, persistence and consistency will pay off in the end.

And remember--you'll miss all the shenanigans when they're grown up and past that stage. Believe it or not, you'll laugh nostalgically over all the puppy stories, hard as they are to live through. So take tons of pictures and handle one day at a time and I promise, things will get better and you'll end up with two lovely companions!!

(And if you ever get the time, we'd love to see pics of your boys!!! Also of your sweet soul-mate if you can bear to post a pic )
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