Box training is one of the most effective training tools. Spend time alone with each puppy. Your puppies will learn their names faster if you use their names every time you interact with them. In the beginning, names should always be spoken in a happy tone of voice in a rewarding context, such as when praising, giving meals, or teaching commands that are rewarded with praise, caress, or treats.
You need to make sure that each dog learns to separate from the other puppy, so that they don't develop separation problems as a close couple. You'll do this by leaving one puppy home alone from time to time when you take the other puppy out and place the dogs in separate cages and rooms. Dogs need to learn that life is OK even when the other puppy isn't around. It's possible to raise two puppies well together, but it can be almost a full-time job.
This is because, to do it correctly, you need to devote as much time and energy to each puppy as you would if you were raising just one. Every puppy needs to be played, socialized, trained and taught good manners throughout the day during the puppy stage to become an adorable and well-adjusted member of the family and, if you do it with two puppies, it's a lot of work. Here's what you need to know about littermate syndrome and what you can do to prevent emotional and behavioral problems between two puppies raised together under 6 months of age (whether they are from the same litter or from different litters). For example, if you're away most of the day, you'll want to spend some quality time with your two puppies separately.
Raising two puppies together and trying to prevent the symptoms of littermate syndrome from appearing requires a lot of work. The worst unfortunate outcome of sibling syndrome in puppies is the fact that dogs' communicative and cognitive abilities remain underdeveloped. Allow your puppies to establish their relationship, but intervene if one of them becomes too dominant. This happens when puppies become too attached to each other and share an identity rather than having clearly defined individual identities and a strong sense of self-confidence.
Gradually separate the cages so that eventually your puppies will feel comfortable sleeping in different rooms or on both sides of the bed. In reality, puppies raised together are rarely as successful from an owner's point of view as a puppy raised alone. This helps ensure that your puppies don't develop a dependence on each other and gives them the best chance of having a healthy and independent lifestyle. Separating puppies using stair doors and puppy pens and sometimes closed doors, for most of the day during the first year of their lives, will provide you with the opportunity to befriend each puppy and teach them human forms.
As I mentioned, even puppies from different litters that are raised together can have the kind of cognitive and behavioral problems that are broadly associated with littermate syndrome. If you have two puppies at once (also known as “twin dogs”), you will get the benefits of having the dogs play with each other and burn a lot of that puppy's energy in your own home. If you already have two small puppies, you can reduce the effects of littermate syndrome by teaching your dogs to do things separately, completely independent of each other. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways you can teach your puppies to be more independent, even if they have to live in the same house.
