Hi everyone!  First of all love this forum as it's full of great information, which I can use with our new husky puppies.  We got two little husky puppies right before christmas and they are almost 9 weeks old now.  Sadly my girl broke her leg three days after we got her by falling off the bed, so she is sporting a splint.  

I was wondering if there is anyone here who raised two puppies the same time.  Mine are from the same mom. They are being crate trained, which they are doing great with.  They are really good puppies, stay in their crate and right now because of her leg, they are crated for three hours at a time and let out for an hour and they sleep through the night in their crates, so I feel that they are really good puppies.  

The question I have is when they are out of the crate they are constantly rough housing and growling at each other.  Do I let them do that, especially with her broken leg?  They are kind of in their own world and I am not sure if I should separate them, or not as I don't want them to become aggressive, or am I making more out of it than it is?

Also Zeus, my boy listens pretty good, but Roxy my girl is just oblivious to most things and in her world most of the time.  When I get alone time with her, which we started to do as we don't want her running around with her broken leg as much, she just goes on and does her own thing and I am trying to train her, but she is not too responsive.  I would love to have some suggestions on how to make her a little more receptive to training.

Anyway, if there is someone here who raised two puppies the same time, or has some advice on how to do do so, I would love to hear some feedback.  And I leave off with one of their newest pictures I took, so you can see who I am talking about.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203066029118490&set=pcb.10203066044758881&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203066036638678&set=pcb.10203066044758881&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203066037918710&set=pcb.10203066044758881&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203066042318820&set=pcb.10203066044758881&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203066043678854&set=pcb.10203066044758881&type=1&theater

I haven't raised two the same age but my puppies are about 6 months apart. The playing and the growling is all normal husky behavior, and its good for them to do that, however I would not let them play together until she is completely healed. You want to give it time so everything can heal right and not have problems in the future. I would keep her calm and crated as much as possible, no running or anything like that even if she wants to. This will give you time to train alone with the boy. Be consistant and teach him whatever you would like. This way when the girl is healed you can then move on to teaching her, it will help calm down on the chaos to and make it so your not teaching two at the same time. Give her a lot of alone time to since she will be crated more. You can do minmal traning with her since it will give her mental stimulation but I would not make it to vigurious for her since she is hurt. Plus they are still young, and I wouldn't worry about any aggression between the two of them when you do seperate them. I would maybe just feed them together or something to get them bonded but not actually let them play.


That is just my advice, so I hope it helps! By the way they are very cute!

siku&nikolai, thank you so much for the great advice!!! So my take on it is that we have to separate them as much as we can while she is healing. I am going to do that going forward. They love each other and when we separate them, they are looking for the other half, but we have to do it, as it's in her best interest.

As far as minimal training, what would you suggest? Thanks again!!! Much appreciated!!! And yes, they are so adorable!!!

You have beautiful little puppies! My girls are 9 & 13 months and boy do I remember those puppy days! Oh wait, I still deal with them haha...I do have to agree with keeping your girl on crate rest while being injured. As far as the rough housing and growling when they play, that is totally normal for huskies. Mine sound like they are killing each other when they do that but they are really having a blast. I do and always have done everything with my girls together...I feed them side by side (they even like to eat out of the same bowl with no problems) and they have an amazing bond. As far as training, I would work on sit, stay, leave it...whichever commands you want teach for now. Once your baby is healed I would then tackle loose leash walking etc. As for them not listening, they are huskies and that's what they do! Hehe..I would suggest a high value treat, it usually helps as well as training when the pup is tired verse full of energy.

Thank you so much Laura and your puppies are sweet!!!! We have them each in their own crates, but let them out the same time to eat and do all the things they need to do. For some reason I have a hard time differentiating that they are dogs and not humans and keep feeling guilty that they are in the crate so much! I have to get over that!!!! LOL....

And yes, they do sound like they are ready to kill each other when they play. I kind of figured it was normal, but it's best to ask, so I am glad I got confirmation!

I will work with her on those commands and do the same with Zeus and maybe some leash work with him, but separately.

Thanks again for the advice!!!

Congrats on the puppies, they are great. You do need to monitor them however as raising two puppies that are similar in age may cause what it's called the "Littermate Syndrome". This is pretty serious as often one of the puppies will never reach their full potential, can become shy or aggressive, hence taking two puppies together is not advised by any dog behaviorists.

Here is the link you can get some basic info. This can be prevented but you will need to do some reasearch and consistent training with both of them individually and together. There are several canine behavior books that can also help you prevent any issues. Good luck

http://www.caninedevelopment.com/Sibling.htm

Thank you Monika for the link!  I never thought it would not be good to have two puppies from the same litter.  I can see how much they want to be with each other and they do play/fight a lot.  They are in separate crates, have been since day 3 of them living with us.  I am going to do more research on how to make their life and our life with them more pleasant and that each get developed the way they should.  Thank you again for the link!