from a post titled Re: BERNER-L digest 4315 >>hi all ....... i have 2 berners, bailey 5 months and barnum 2 months.... and my familty members think i am out of my mind... but had to have them.........and i knew the resposiblity of having 2 berners would be a circus .but would not change a thing. <snip>dana - the ringleader, westwood, nj
Dear Dana-the ringleader, Your post about your circus-at-home cracked me up! Below are some things I've learned over the years of raising multiple pups at the same time and working with others with their dogs' behavior challenges. First, I have a rule of thumb in equating puppy ages to human ages when thinking about behavior expectations. Prior to age 16 weeks these are not AS applicable, but they are somewhat applicable. My rule: A pup's age in months is equivalent to a human's age in years. So your 5 month old Bailey's playing with your 2 month old Barnum is akin to putting a 5 year old human and 2 year old human together to play. They are at different developmental stages and "free play" will not necessarily be appropriate. This statement from your e-mail is a good example: "bailey (5 mo) will be sleeping a barnum (2 mo) runs from accross the room and pounces." Suggestions in raising two pups at the same time. 1) Do a lot of supervised activities together. Walks in places other than their yard are especially nice. They will both be "into" their dog instincts (sniffing, exploring etc) and consequently they will both be doing the same activity at their own developmental level without usually interfering with the other's development. 2) Do a lot of single dog activities, primarily training-related, with only one pup at a time. It's fine to allow the others to watch. I do this with multiple puppies by crating those I'm not working with and singling out one who comes up on a low table in the presence of the others to learn and perform tricks. Currently I'm working with puppies whose age range includes a 7 month spread. There's a lot of competition for my attention so sometimes sequestering is helpful. At other times the pups are required to mill about while only ONE gets up on the table. We've not yet mastered that with the most jealous ones of the group.:-) I suspect you're spending a LOT of time with both puppies at the same time which is challenging when their developmental stages are so far apart. While techniques in developing self discipline in both puppies may be similar, their abilities to exercise self discipline are quite different at their varied ages. The two month old's attention span may be significantly less than the 5 month old's. As far as how to deal with skirmishes between puppies, I'm learning a lot from a pup I've reared who is now a year old. He's from a different family than my other dogs and he is very dominating and aggressive....sort of an obnoxious sort. I have a higher level of expectation from him and he takes a lot more self discipline training in order to be manageable. I've changed around things like how I set the puppies free after a time of confinement and disallow his having a free-for-all in terrorizing the others. He, for instance, is required to stay behind during the initial burst of excitement when I let the puppies outside after a nap. I have him wait behind at the door and I have him do a "sit" and "wait" to avoid his self indulgence in pouncing on the others and biting them all on the neck in the fever of their glee in being released outside. At 13 months I find him seeking to stay behind to get that special time with me. :-) I hope some of this is meaningful to you. Good luck with your circus-at-home. Your pups are fortunate to have a ringleader who cares so much. Ruth Reynolds Pioneer Bernese www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/rar [EMAIL PROTECTED]
