Littermate syndrome with huskies????

[TheYoung'sHuskyPack]

Having owned 2 Huskies for almost 15 years and now having two new 6 1/2 month old sibling puppies I was advised to look into littermate syndrome...  I've read the information and see where it could be helpful to people with many breeds but being a long-term Husky owner already with years of experience, I don't see where it applies to Huskies in the same ways.  I don't know of another breed that benefits and prefers to be in groups (packs) like Huskies do... Has anyone else run across this?  Basically a professional trainer I was considering working with told me about it and one of his big points was doing separate training for each.  I don't necessarily agree with that, especially since they will be doing most things and going places with us together...  Any input will be appreciated, Thanks!

[Bryan n442]

Honestly, i don't have much experience with this but just recently i had gotten a puppy and so did my sister, but she couldn't handle it and out of a impulsive reaction i said i would take hers. Well after a day of research and handling the two puppies i finally came to the conclusion that i could only handle one puppy at a time. So i sold one of the puppies to a good home and kept the other one. The puppy was calm and quite when he was with his brother but after separating them he is now having to get use to being alone in his crate. He will cry and whine and howl so i assume separation anxiety can be an issue if they were raised together and never have to be left alone. i also assume that he would have less connection (bond) with me than he would with his brother. i can easily see how trying to train two puppies at the same time may be difficult. When training you have to give one puppy your full attention. trying to train two dogs at the same time may be confusing for the pups. if they were mildly trained then i don't think it would be an issue to reinforce the behaviors but when starting off with a new trick or command i would assume you should only train one at a time.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Even tho they're going to be doing everything together it's best to get them used to being apart too just incase one needs to go/stay at the vets or if anything sadly happens to one leaving the other alone

[Emma]

I had two young dogs close together in age and it really is beneficial to give them individual time.

Training is a nightmare with two of them together. They spend far more time ignoring you and paying attention to each other than anything else tbh. They also, like Nix said above me, won't cope too well when the need arises to be separated. I've got one who will cope well with that (Bear) and one who will run around crying for a while (Ice). The worst thing is when we have to separate out on walks if a situation arises. He's not too bad now but for a good year or two Ice would start bucking and kangarooing around if Bear left his line of vision. He hated it.

[UK_Husky]

My wife and I are picking up two female Siberian Husky littermates this weekend. We've never had littermates before but taken lots of advice. We plan to crate, play with, and train them separately. Slowly moving the crates apart until they are in different rooms, spending as much time with each as possible and limiting their alone time together. They will eventually be crated in separate parts of the house as they get used to being here and apart from each other. 

Once they are trained and more mature we plan to slowly allow them to mix at their leisure. 

Does anyone see any issues with this approach? other than our ability to be disciplined enough to stick to it? 

[Gudrun VdW]

Hi there,

We are also considering taking two female Siberian huskies, not from the same nest, but from the same breeder (having two nests at the same time).  How did it work out for you in the mean time?

KR