A Tale of Two Siblings: Littermate Syndrome in Dogs - Peach on a Leash (2024)

I began to notice this. I now feed separately. They spend at least 3-4 hours a day kenneled seperately, nor even next to each other. We also take them out seperately. I do not want to re-home either but do notice the aggressive behavior between them Occassionally. Do I separate & put them in their kennels or let them fight it out?

My littermate males are 3 years old. They are two of my pack of 7, so they have plenty of interaction with other dogs. They do sleep in separate crates now, after about 12 weeks old. Their own personalities have developed nicely, Dale is more loving and clingy to me, while Chip is more independent. I guess mine were easy as littermates because there was a larger pack.

I love how they say socially between 8 to 16 weeks but all vers and animal facilities won't let you in under about 20 weeks to socialize. I'm not sure what the professionals think we should do we can't just NOT socialize a puppy until it's 20 weeks. But everyone shines on you suggested it.

My litter mates are 14 years old, one male and one female . They have totally different personalities and needs. One is very outgoing and energetic while the other has always been somewhat neurotic. We have done most of what is in the list, more by instinct than any knowledge. Today is the first time I’ve ever heard of litter mate syndrome.

My dogs are two year old pitbulls both very strong personalitys and from the same litter 2 weeks ago I noticed that they've been fighting and last night and this morning they literally tried to kill each other what do I do? Give the one away or put one down I need advice asap as I love both my dogs and am scared they might kill each other

My partner and I were unaware of this issue until it was too late and the dogs began fighting. We now have them seperate nearly all the time out of fear that they will keep fighting and cause each other serious damage. We have a little one on the way and are looking at moving for work I doubt we will be able to keep them separate like we have been. What can we do now to reintegrate them to being together more often? I’m not willing to rehome them they are apart of our family and I’ll do what I have to to make it work.

I had two littermate lab sisters – completely diffrent personalties – loved each other deeply and very loyal to one another but never any glaring issues. When puppies it was impossible to train them when together – they would make eye contact and off they were. so I separated, walked separate and one-on-one time with both. I did this more out of sanity since I saw that training them together wasn't possible. Once they reached maturity and trained – all was well. I never heard of littermate syndrome until recently.

I have 2 female littermates (about a yr n a half old), they're german shepherds. I've basically done everything it says about raising littermates. However, both of the girls came in heat at basically the same time. I had my partner bring our male down to breed them (one of the sisters belongs to him). Even tho I put him with each girl separately, switching from one to another, and I never saw him tied with either, only one got pregnant. Unfortunately not my girl and I don't understand why? Could anyone give me an answer? I've been thinking everything you can imagine. I was so looking forward to seeing the babies she would have, she's a black n tan except more like blonde n tan, the sire black. Will she get pregnant next time or…? Someone please give me an answer?

Everything mentioned here is true to the T! I have two litter mates (both boys) they will be 12 soon. But one is misses the other more but he’s also the independent one which is interesting. They do fight with each other when they see other dogs. Don’t socialize well with dogs unless the dogs are super easy going and around their size. Training them was so hard because when I thought I saw progress one would fall out of line. But all that I wouldn’t trait it for the world they are my everything!!!

A few months ago we went to adopt a young husky puppy. I was to pick out the one i wanted. I chose a young female. Just when I thought we were leaving. My grandfather (I live with my grandparents) decided to suddenly get a second one. A male. At first we had no issues. They would cuddle and play with one another. They have always slept separately. Been walked separately. I try to train them separately but often fail too. One was going to puppy class, with the idea of taking the other one after the first one was done her lessons.
Then this virus thing happened and I have not been able to get them to socialize at all with others. I have a hard time calming them if anyone in my family drops by for something. It has gotten to the point that they were suddenly start fighting when they get too overly excited.
Ever since they turned four months old (they are five now). They been constantly wrestling like they would when we first got them. I always allowed it because I read it is good for puppy play. But lately it has gotten out of hand. If it goes too far it can lead to a fight.
I been working to try and get them to stop. But I can't get their attention unless I use treats. My grandparents scold me for this saying they will fight just to get the treats. But I have tried everything. Clapping my hands. Ordering them by saying "Enough", a whistle, You name it.
I can't just get in there and grab them because innocent play will suddenly become aggressive. My grandparents do that and it always leads to a fight.
Any other time they cuddle with one another. Play with one another. They know basic commands like sit, wait and such. Only thing I have trouble with has been come, and heel and not getting them to immediately run out the front door or back door or jumping on other people which I am working on.
I really do not want to get rid of any one of them. I love them both. I am hoping when they are fixed it might help a bit. But that won't be till June. My stress level is getting to me. I just want them to get along more like they used too up until last month.

I have a litter of Anatolian puppies there were 19 in the litter, all survived. Now they are 12 weeks old and 7 remain to be rehomed. I sold a male last weekend and after he left, all heck broke loose. I surmise they are fighting for pack dominance. One pup in particular did not want to back down from the other, and now the whole bunch of them gang up on this pup. He has been bloodied multiple times around his neck. As I do work, I have had to separate him from the pack of pups. It does look like there will be no way to put them back together. Even his mom is bearing down on him. Is he just too big for his britches and they all want to diminish him? He seems a very easygoing pup. It all started when the biggest pup was laying under my lawn chair, and the beat up pup approached to be petted. Attack mode went the underchair layer, and it was on.

Hi- didn’t know any better until reading your information. Have two 6-month old golden doodle females in one crate & it’s been this way ever since they cane home at 8 weeks. Will suddenly separating them into 2 crates cause too much anxiety? Is there a best practice at trying to separate them at this point?

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We have 2 large mixed breed 6 month old Sisters. We trained them to walk alone and separately when they were younger. Most of he time they are fine, they play a little rough at times. We are on the road in an RV, though it is close quarters, they are handling it well. The problem we are now having is sometimes on our walks they go CRAZY, serious pulling, jumping and wrestling, and as suddenly as it started it stops, light a switched is turned on and off.

We have 2 Samoyed Sibling Bitches, they're 18 months old now and man have we been through and still enduring hell when it kicks off. It started at 12 months and the fights aren't for the fainthearted, we've had two lots of stitches and another wound which didn't quite need them. The one was Pack leader when we picked her up, even over her bigger brothers, we have a placid stud and she doesn't really boss him but she has ragged our Chihuahua on one occasion. We've disciplined her so many times and it's obvious she knows she's in trouble as soon as she's kicked off, but curing it is proving incredibly difficult!

I had two daschunds – male & female. Unfortunately, we thought crating them together would keep each other company. They have slept together for 14 yrs. Our female died 4 months ago, and the male dog won't sleep alone. He carries on all night. We started giving him hemp oil – it helped him sleep for 2 weeks. Now he is back to crying, barking & wimpering. I'm deseperate – don't know what to do!

We just adopted two border collie sisters – they are two months old and their fighting that looks like play has escalated today to a point that scared me. I’m trying to house train them and it’s been difficult if I’m doing it alone. But separating them, walking them separately, separate toys, crates, will be our next step. It’s a challenge and I feel like a fool for agreeing to get both, simply because they were the last two in the litter.

We’ve had two Rat Terrier x Chihuahuas for nine years(Cory and Cody)…My Sister in law adopted Cody, had us babysit him for a day and told us there was one more of the same liter at the shelter. We went and got the last puppy the next day(Cory). Two weeks after we took Cory home, she asked us if we wanted Cody so they could be together. We took them and training looked different for both. They have very different personalities. Cody clings to me and Cory clings to my wife. They do most activities together and we haven’t had major sibling problems. Cory is a typical Chihuahua…loud, mean and bossy. But he’s a terrier too, so he loves hunting. Cody acts like a BIG baby all the time. But his Chihuahua only comes out when it needs too. (When his brother gets on his nerves) They are both very sweet in their own way. But they also don’t necessarily need to be around each other. Every once in a blue moon they’ll have a disagreement that will scare us because it comes out of nowhere. But they get along. I have Cory laying on hip and Cody on either side as we speak…quiet and still. Good Luck!

Hi. My brother and I (we live in the same house) adopted to rottweiler puppies named Bach and Beethoven (both male) and for the past few days, they looked like they were having fun playing together until recently they started to fight hard wherein both my brother and I got scared that one of them might get hurt. Bach is a very calm puppy but he's always hungry while Beethoven get jealous very easily and ALWAYS crave for attention. Since the beginning, they had different cages, toys, walk schedule etc but I don't know how to remedy the situation for them to get along. Do you guys have any advice on what we should do?

It is not always littermates! I have 4 Beagles, two of whom are littermates, 8 years old now and never an issue. The other two were found running together, no issue with them either, have had them 4 years now. My problem is with my two Coonhounds. The first was a rehome, about 5 years old. The Beagles were terrified of him, of his size mainly, so he had no one to play with. A year later decided to get another Coonhound from a shelter, he was around 2-3 years old. I knew he was intact, and had him neutered 2 weeks later, he ended up with 3 surgeries, and sepsis from that neuter. Finally able to bring him home, and he proceeded to grab a razor off the showere wall and eat it all, back to hospital for a scope to be passed and fish for all the razor blade pieces. Regular vet saw one week later for re check and found heartworms. So he hasbeen crated for 7 months, I didn't want the other dogs to excite him, so he and I lived in my bedroom all this time. I am much more mom to the two Coonies than the Beagles, so he finally got a clean bill of health just when Covid came to town. So all we had was each other for a very long time. Now a new problem, jealously, between them over me, more "arguments". I do know how to keep multiple dogs, but these two have me puzzled. All I do is spend my time with them seperately and together. Sometimes it seems as if the more they are together the better things are, but then sometimes not. It is exhausting and any suggestions anyone might have to end the "Walker Wars" would be more than welcome.

Good info. Just brought home 2 doodles 8 weeks old. They are crated together right now. What age should I be seoerating them so they dont get anxious without each other.

We are in our 70's in good health at present. We have a fenced-in backyard. Our last dog died two years ago, so, we have reserved two puppies. The first, a mini Labradoodle, will be ready to come home on Jan 9, the second from a different breeder, a mini Goldendoodle, was just born yesterday so will be ready to come home on Jan 28th. They of course are not littermates but are we asking for big trouble here since they are so close in age? We never considered or knew about Littermate Syndrome. I'm thinking we could pass on this litter and wait for another but since she is just a small-time breeder it may be a long time to wait. Thank you for your advice.

I have a slightly different situation. Three weeks ago I brought home a second dog, a 15-month old neutered male heeler mix, Bandit. The previous owner just didn’t have the knowledge, time, or space for a high-energy breed. I already had a spayed female pit mix, about 2-years old. They get along and play well, although it seems my female is trying to be dominant lately. Bandit has quickly picked up on life here at my home and he fits right in, has already learned at least a dozen new “tricks”, and has perfect recall. My question is this: the man who rehomed Bandit to me is asking me if I would also take Bandit’s sister (who has been with the owners brother for the last 4months) because I’ve done so well with Bandit. Would this be a recipe for disaster? Would it “undo” all of Bandit’s progress?

So I did this all wrong. I got two Dobermans Goose and Maverick, who spent their whole lives together. They were brought home in the same bed they shared a cage they did everything together. They would fight but never so violently. Never really had a issue with them till recently. They both had been feeling sick goose was feeling worse then maverick so we took both to the vet. And out of nowhere goose started fighting with maverick and they fought. Today was the second time it happened. Goose isn’t letting maverick out of his sight. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to re home one of them because they’re my boys. But I also don’t want one of them to get hurt either.

It is quite hopeless to know that now. I have two brood sisters, 6 months old each, who eat and sleep separately, but walk together. During the past few weeks we have noticed their very hostile behavior towards other dogs and people. They had very few episodes of fights with each other, and usually have a very friendly relationship. What can I do?

Hi there, if I have added two male littermates into my family, with one 11 year old fixed male already in the house, is it advisable to neuter both siblings or not?
We are crating them apart, will be training apart (have already been doing this in different rooms of the house but they’re only 10 weeks atm so training isn’t too long) feeding apart, and once they have had their second jabs and can go out for walks will be walked separately, we were thinking of alternating them on walks with our adult dog too.
The main question we have is about neutering the both of them. Thank you.

Hi, we rescued 2 puppies (male and female) a week ago. The vet thinks they're about 3 months old and we think they are a mixed Spanish hunting breed -with some German short-haired pointer in there. We live in a 1 room house but with acres and acres of land. (We spend most of our days outside.) We are feeding them separately and attempting to spend time with each one-on-one. The separate sleeping is a bit of an issue, they currently sleep together on the couch. Do you still recommend getting 2 separate crates even though they'll be in the same room? In the summer it will be warm enough to sleep outside. Thanks, any advice appreciated!

Hi Tony, Hope you get this message. I just adopted two girls from the same litter. I am having a tough time with them. They fight play where it is scary. How are you doing with your two girls. Thank you, Barbara

We have two jack rats, brother and sister. They couldn’t be more different! Everything was fine till they got fixed at 4/5months . Then aggressive behavior started to come out, they don’t lay together and rarely play together. But they can’t stand to be separated! If one leaves the house the other cries. Of corse they encourage bad behavior in each other like barking or digging. I am great at stopping them, bc they see me as boss. My husband on the other hand they love but treat him like a lower class dog and it’s taken two years for him to learn it’s not ok. My biggest problem is bathroom in the HOUSE! They will go to mark over each other’s potty!! It’s in two spots of my home but I can’t stand it ! They are two years old!! While I wish they laid together and were sweet like our last dogs , I will accept that they won’t, but the potty in the house is the thing that’s driving me nuts .

we have springer spaniel brother and sister 6 months old. He has become aggressive towards her and she is scared of him a lot of the time. We are working with a springer rescue to find the male a home. We are devastated and there is a lot of crying going on in our house but I feel it is much better for them to be separated so they can both live happy lives then to keep them together in this situation. It is not going to be easy but I know it is the right decision. I would recommend finding a rescue organization for your dog. The springer rescue has a waiting list of carefully screened families so this is a good option. I feel its selfish of us to keep the dogs just because we will be sad when the situation may only get worse with time.

Sorry as I know this is an old blog post. But in your professional opinion, once some of these behaviors have occurred, is it absolutely impossible to reverse or improve them? I have 21 month old littermates, both males. They are rescues, we didn't know anything about littermate syndrome when we adopted them at 2.5 months. Didn't follow any of the separation protocols listed above, but we took them to group training classes for the first many months. They developed reactivity around 6 months (one more than the other). So I started to do separate walks and found that the one who reacted less was really quite fine on his own.
But when we moved countries is when their behavior became very hard to manage. One developed separation anxiety from us (now worked on it through desensitization and can be alone with his brother for 4+h). Aggression is not really a problem; this year alone they have had maybe a handful of scuffles (never lasts more than 2 seconds, never resulted in biting or a fight, just a lot of noise/screaming, different to when they play) and its usually when we haven't been careful enough with for ex. one finishing his chew before the other (we separate when feeding). We don't have them crate trained, and it is not advised for the fearful one to be crated because his SA is connected to confinement anxiety.
The biggest issue is that the one with SA this year started refusing walks on his own. This makes working on reactivity very hard because we have to take them out for potty. We are working with an R+ trainer, and actually the reactive one is doing so much better because we go on group walks and I know we can reliably calm him down around triggers in the future. However, since he has to go out with his brother to potty, all the work gets reversed. The reactive one is noise reactive as well and barks a lot at home. They both bark at people coming into the house but then calm down and usually accept snuggles within the first hour of a stranger coming. They are fine with sleeping and calming down for the majority of the day, but generally get overexcited with new situations very easily.
Long story short, I feel very guilty for unknowingly harming my dogs in this way and I would really love to help them out, but not sure if this is even realistic. We are planning to put the more fearful one on anti-anxiety meds come the new year and hope this will ease him into the desensitization process…

We have two Labradors male and female from the same litter. They are now 8 months and also have the company of our 2 and a half year old mixed breed female. They all get on really well and mix with other dogs well when out walking or they visit our home. Our lab bitch will be sorted in January but just noticed a few spots on the flooring so guess she will need to get over this first. They do play quite a bit and our older one joins in. Never gets out of hand though. (Well not yet).

I have two twin puppies agirl and boy, the boy has had intercorse with his sister not know they are siblings, and he won't stop he keeps charging at her like a bull at a bull fight. So what can I do to stop this.

I have two littermate brothers. They are currently 12 weeks old. I am absolutely terrified of the negative effects of littermate syndrome. Since day one we have had the boys in separate crates. We usually have one on one training sessions with them. They eat separately, and we try to have separate play sessions. Separate walks etc. They listen and follow commands very well. When they are playing together they can get pretty rowdy. I just want to ensure they never get aggressive with each other. They currently play with the same toys together. How can I ensure that later down the line, aggression is not a factor. I’ll take any advice can get.

We currently have two 12 week old littermate brothers. After reading everything about littermate syndrome I have become very nervous about my decision. However since day one we have tried to separate them as much as possible. They currently sleep in separate crates. They go on walks separately, train separately, eat separately etc. However we do allow them to play with each other throughout the day. As they are getting bigger we have noticed that they have become more rough during playtime. Nothing has gotten out of hand. I just want to ensure the negative effects of littermate syndrome do not have an impact on them as they continue to grow. What is the fine line between aggression, and fun play? We are trying are best to treat them as individuals. We never want them to get too aggressive or codependent on each other. Any advice?