What Is Littermate Syndrome?
Have you heard of littermate syndrome in puppies before? Read below to learn more about it.
What Is It?
Littermate syndrome is a behavioral disorder that can affect any breed. It occurs when littermates or puppies raised together bond intensely and become heavily dependent on each other. This can cause these puppies to fail to make connections with their human family. Additionally, it hinders the ability of these pups to interact with other people and dogs when they are not with their littermate.
What Are The Symptoms?
The symptoms of littermate syndrome are shown when the puppies are separated from one another. The signs include excessive crying, whining, destructive behavior, or lack of interest in playing or interacting with other people or animals. Specific signs include:
- Fear of unfamiliar people, places, noises, or things
- Anxiety when separated from the littermate
- Unwilling to eat without their littermate
- Unwilling to engage with people or toys without their littermate
- Struggle with basic training
What Are The Challenges?
If you have pups with littermate syndrome, it can make it harder for them to communicate, play, and socialize with other dogs. This can cause fear and aggression toward other dogs in the future. Additionally, everyone lives a snuggly puppy. However, littermate syndrome can cause puppies to bond less with their human parents. So, they will not develop and learn the correct social interactions with people.
Additionally, gaining their attention can be difficult because the puppies are focused so much on each other. This makes training more difficult. Even teaching basic skills can be a challenge to puppies that have littermate syndrome.
How Can I Help?
If you have puppies with littermate syndrome you can:
- Separate them in their crates and gradually move the crates away from each other eventually into separate rooms
- Feeding in separate rooms
- Take walks at different times
- Training and playing sessions at separate times
- Socialize with other dogs
- Allow time together still
However, if you are thinking about getting two puppies at once, you can prevent littermate syndrome by:
- Treating the puppies as individuals
- Socialization with dogs and people
- Limit alone time with each other
- Adopt unrelated puppies a few weeks apart
Raising and training two puppies at once can be a challenge because of littermate syndrome. However, it is not impossible. If you have two puppies or are thinking about adding two more to the family, follow the tips above to make the transition easier for everyone!