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Living with littermates – one year’s experience
Some time ago, there was a discussion on the problems with littermates.
To sum up the past year: We are lucky, as we are two people, and each dog has his/her human. Plus we work from home. But as we live together, it was a hard job to sort it all out, and sometimes, it still is.
At home, they are fine; at times they snuggle up on one bed, but sometimes, they need a their space and stay in different room – Gina in my office, and Anton in Tina’s.
Outdoors, it is a different story. We still walk and train them separately, as they just don’t listen when they are together– at least not too well. They are competitive and one wants to be on top of the other. We are getting there, but slowly. In the evenings, we have now started to walk them together on leads, and the pulling gets less and less. With patience and persistence, we will get where we want to be.
Besides all the hard work, it is such a pleasure to watch their different personalities. Gina is a right little lady, outgoing and charming. Everyone loves her, even people who don’t like dogs. She is an early bird, gets up at five and off she goes into the garden (to do some work :)) A dog built for action.
In contrast, her brother Anton prefers his sleep-ins. He is placid, lazy and loves his cuddles. A dog built for comfort and emotion.
Gina is keen on her agility classes. I found that out when we happened to pass a playground. She follows my hands and goes wherever I guide her. She is so focused; it is a pleasure to be with her.
Anton would be a great gun dog. He takes his pointing academically, lifts his paw, as if he goes by the book, adopts his “knickers in a twist” posture (it looks hilarious) and flushes up birds. He would be a good at dummy training.
Gina and Anton are littermates and so different, with so different talents.
I love them both and would never give them away, not for zillions of Dollars, but, to be honest, littermates? We would have to think hard about it....
To sum up the past year: We are lucky, as we are two people, and each dog has his/her human. Plus we work from home. But as we live together, it was a hard job to sort it all out, and sometimes, it still is.
At home, they are fine; at times they snuggle up on one bed, but sometimes, they need a their space and stay in different room – Gina in my office, and Anton in Tina’s.
Outdoors, it is a different story. We still walk and train them separately, as they just don’t listen when they are together– at least not too well. They are competitive and one wants to be on top of the other. We are getting there, but slowly. In the evenings, we have now started to walk them together on leads, and the pulling gets less and less. With patience and persistence, we will get where we want to be.
Besides all the hard work, it is such a pleasure to watch their different personalities. Gina is a right little lady, outgoing and charming. Everyone loves her, even people who don’t like dogs. She is an early bird, gets up at five and off she goes into the garden (to do some work :)) A dog built for action.
In contrast, her brother Anton prefers his sleep-ins. He is placid, lazy and loves his cuddles. A dog built for comfort and emotion.
Gina is keen on her agility classes. I found that out when we happened to pass a playground. She follows my hands and goes wherever I guide her. She is so focused; it is a pleasure to be with her.
Anton would be a great gun dog. He takes his pointing academically, lifts his paw, as if he goes by the book, adopts his “knickers in a twist” posture (it looks hilarious) and flushes up birds. He would be a good at dummy training.
Gina and Anton are littermates and so different, with so different talents.
I love them both and would never give them away, not for zillions of Dollars, but, to be honest, littermates? We would have to think hard about it....
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Susan Stone on
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Enjoyed reading this - and appreciate the final sentence...;-))
I must say you are doing a great job working with the two of them separately, but definitely very hard work! It certainly pays off in the end.
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