pairing puppies together

    • Bronze

    pairing puppies together

    i have a 4 month old female french-griffon puppy... very friendly with people, very energetic... i thought of getting her another male puppy so they can grow up together....
    i got a 2 month old male  half griffon half yorkshire cute puppy....
    but all time the 4month old female keeps beating and biting the 2month old male... and growling... and the 2month old makes crying sounds.. (he doesnt bark yet)
     
    whenever im feeding or carrying the 2month old male or she see's him drinking or eating from her plate... she keeps growling !!
    whats happening?? i read another post here in this forum about "Paring up dogs"
    and thats close to whats happening here except that my 2 dogs r puppies... with only a 2 month gap...
    what should i do?? wait and c if they can come along together??
    im new to dogs so any info would help [;)]
    • Gold Top Dog
    You need to keep that male puppy from eating off the other dog's plate, and if the other dog is really beating him up for his safety you may need to keep them apart. Are you spending enough time with the older dog? it's very human to shower too much attention on the newcomer. Clearly she thinks she should be in charge, and how dare that new pup get attention from her human. She is punishing him for getting attention from you-- as the junior dog, in her mind, he is only entitled to her leftovers.  
     
    most experts strongly recommend against letting two puppies "grow up together". You end up with either strong competion between the puppies, which is what you seem to be seeing, or more often you get two dogs who bond closely and end up with no interest in humans at all (brother puppy is so much more fun to be with and is easier to understand than that weird two-legged critter). You need to spend a great deal of time with each puppy alone in order to make sure each puppy bonds to you and becomes socialized to humans. Some folks recommend that puppies be completely isolated from all other puppies until the pup is at least 6 months of age; I think that's a bit extreme.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I have to agree with the experts here, it's better for a puppy to not have a littermate or another puppy until they are at least 12 months and preferably older.  I desperately want another pharaoh hound but every breeder I've talked to has told me the same thing:  Don't think that your current dog will stay well behaved and teach the younger one all the lessons you've taught it.  The older dog will go through a second "stupid puppy" phase and you'll be sorry. 
     
    In your case, you may want to keep them seperate as much as possible and unite them only for playtimes.  Obedience, as I read on another forum, should be done seperately with each dog.  Remember you want the dogs to look to you as alpha and respect you as well as get along with each other.  You need to be patient and give it at least 3-4 weeks before that will happen on a consistent basis.  Also socialization with the older pup and older dogs would be good, as it seems she doesn't have any concept of inhibited biting, if she's making the other pup scream.
    • Gold Top Dog
    See, I have always wondered what was the correct "matchup timeframe" for dogs. 
    I posted a similar question in "Pairing up Dogs" posting.
    I am very curious as to what "theoritically" is the best mix of age and gender to pair up dogs.