The Littermate Aggression Issue
As many of you know, I work with littermates and their owners on a frequent basis. In fact, it has become an issue that is near and dear to my heart. I've written posts on it before and have received many emails and comments to those posts describing the trouble that others have had with owning littermates. This morning, I received another comment from a woman who is considering adopting littermates from her local shelter. The dogs have never been apart and it sounds as if the shelter would like for them to stay together. I thought I would use this as an opportunity to update you on my views about adopting or purchasing littermates (or even two dogs of similar age).
There was a time when I would have described the potential effects of adopting littermates as "sad" or possibly harmful. The words I would use today are "horrifying" and "tragic". I will use two recent cases of mine to illustrate.
I received a call from a woman who was having some issues with her two one-year old male Briards. They had been raised together since puppies and were engaging in a great deal of door charging. Although she did not report it to me at the time, one of the dogs had recently bit a neighbor and broken the skin (it was a Level 3 bite on the bite scale of 1-6). Overall, she was not having major issues with them yet, but she was frightened by what might happen. She scheduled an appointment with me for the following Monday morning. Tragically, the Friday before our consultation, I received a call from her boyfriend. She had been attacked by the dogs and was in the hospital, where she received over 100 stitches and a two day stay. /she had been bitten on her calves, thighs, forearms, and upper arms. There were also wounds to her back and her stomach. After getting the details of the incident from her, I can honestly say, this is one of the rare times that an attack was utterly unprovoked. These bites qualify at a minimum as a Level 5 bite and are arguably Level 6.
Another recent consult involved two puppies who were not from the same litter. One was 5 1/2 months old and the other was 4 1/2 months old. They were left out of crates, unsupervised throughout the day. The older of the two puppies was already resource guarding and attacking the other puppy. He was biting the other puppy and his owners. He was inflicting Level 3 bites already. The younger puppy's development and growth was severely stunted and both were fearful and reactive towards strangers. The owner was in for some major training to get these two back on track!
Now, these are admittedly two extreme examples of littermate issues; however, the number of times I have seen issues such as these makes me firmly believe that noone should adopt two dogs that are littermates or the same age puppies. The risk is too great, the damage too severe, and the puppies themselves would do much better to be homed in two separate homes. I can genuinely say that I believe you will be doing a disservice to the puppies if you bring two of them home instead of one!
Cara Vacchiano, JD, CPDT, CAP1
Buddy's Chance, LLC, Austin Dog Training and Behavior.



