CANINE
The Unbreakable Bond?
Amy Szabo explores the commonly held belief that littermates should not be adopted together and details her own personal experiences with littermate syndrome A common belief amongst pet professionals is not to adopt littermates and author Amy Szabo admits that sisters Bentley (left) and Morgan are “a challenge”
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f you Google “littermate syndrome” you will find articles written by many different trainers, behaviorists, and veterinarians with one common theme: do not adopt littermates! Littermate syndrome is the term used to describe two sibling puppies raised together who become so incredibly bonded to each other that they may exhibit severe separation anxiety when apart – even for just a vet visit or a walk. This bond can be so strong that the puppies are not able to bond with the humans or other pets in the family. Simultaneously, training the puppies can be a challenge. There is also the risk that the puppies may become aggressive towards each other. Littermate syndrome is by no means a foregone conclusion, however. With the right approach it can be avoided, or its severity at least mitigated. I first learned about littermate syndrome early in my training career when I was working with a family that had male and female littermates and then adopted another female dog that was deaf. I was called in initially to review the sibling dogs’ behavior toward the deaf dog. What I witnessed was that the female littermate was the more confident dog and often bullied her brother. She would steal toys from him and then guard them if he tried to get them back. He would always yield to his sister but when they were separated, it was the female littermate who struggled the most with separation anxiety. Unfortunately, I did not get to work with that family on the littermate issues. Due to limited finances they chose to enroll the deaf dog into my group class so that they could work on learning how to communicate with her and build her confidence. So, knowing what I know about littermate syndrome, what on earth made me adopt littermates? Let me provide some background first . . . 20
BARKS from the Guild/May 2016
As puppies, Morgan and Bentley were hyperbonded and had little interest in playing with other dogs
For the last seven years I have primarily been teaching puppy socialization and basic obedience. About two and a half years ago I convinced my husband that I needed a puppy. I have never had a brand new, 8-week-old lump of fur that I could mold into the “perfect dog” and I thought it was time to walk the walk since I train so many new puppies. I had it all planned out. I was going to decide on a breed, find a local breeder so that I could meet the puppy as early as possible, track his or her development and then bring him or her home at 8 weeks old and start training. On August 12, 2013 though, my big plans for raising the perfect dog got put on hold, most likely indefinitely. On that fateful evening in August I was on my way home from a training class when I found two dogs at an intersection about one mile from my house. They had no collars on but appeared to be healthy, young dogs. It turns out the dogs were female littermates, likely pointers, about 6 months old at the time. They were not microchipped. I decided we would foster them until we found the owner or a permanent solution for them. As I spent more time with them, some of the littermate syndrome symptoms became apparent: they were hyper-bonded to each other with each becoming stressed when separated from the other; they had a rough play style with each other and little interest to engage in play with other dogs; one was very sound sensitive and reactive to every little noise; the other was more shy and chose to cower and hide when stressed; and house training stretched the limits of my patience because simultaneously training them was nearly impossible. My husband and I considered just keeping one of them but I was concerned about trying to find the right home for a dog that