Puppy Training for Two Sibling Puppies

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How do you raise two sibling puppies together without them becoming overly dependent on one another?

I had a real treat yesterday. I went to fourteen-week-old Petite Brabancon Griffon siblings, Jack and Coco.They were absolutely adorable.

Apparently there are only about seventy-five of the breed in the country.

There were no problems to address but the couple had missed out on their choice of local puppy classes this time round and wanted to make sure they were going in the right direction meanwhile.

But what actually is puppy training?

Is it ‘commands and tricks’ or is it about the puppy learning for himself what works and what doesn’t work?

Parenting puppies is about more than just training tricks so we will be giving them a really stable home base from which to learn and these particular excellent classes will continue where I left off – being totally force-free and reward-based.

Treating them as individuals

We looked at ways to make sure that the puppies didn’t become so attached to one another (one of the common problems when adopting siblings) that they would one day take no notice of their humans and could become vulnerable should they need to be separated. Short periods apart and some walking individually will be built into their days.

Another sibling problem is that one can become overshadowed by the other and never really shine in her own right (Coco could potentially be the one here), another reason for sometimes treating them as individuals rather than a ‘pair’.

Scared of traffic

Both dogs are scared of traffic so we discussed how they can be desensitised. They have the perfect spot for this where they can stand well back from a road and observe passing traffic from a distance the dogs are comfortable. Working on desensitising, they can gradually work their way nearer as and when the puppies are relaxed and ready.

I demonstrated teaching Jack to sit to the point where he wouldn’t stop sitting! First I lured him, then just waited and marked and rewarded the moment he sat. Then I added the cue, then he was responding to the cue – and all in no more than ten minutes.

Now we had taught him to beg – ‘if I sit I get fed’ – so now he will only get the food when he’s asked to sit!

We did a little off lead walking beside us and then loose-lead walking around the room.

I can’t wait to go again in a couple of weeks!

NB: For the sake of the story and for confidentiality also, this isn’t a complete report. If you listen to ‘other people’ or find instructions on the internet or TV that are not tailored to your own dog, you can do more harm than good. Stories are up to date at time of writing, each one with permission.  
Theo Stewart – dog behaviourist helping dog owners helping their dogs through understanding.  I can help you too