Raising Littermates and Same-Gender Dogs - My Experiences

hey everyone welcome back to our Channel or Welcome to our Channel if you're watching this for the first time today I want to talk about a topic that I get asked I think the most frequently and that is about raising sibling dogs so as many of you know right now I have a full family pack of the mom Tacoma the dad David and the five siblings which are litter mates of course Goliath Esther Ruthie Sampson and Solomon and before that I had two Great Pyrenees sisters that were litter mates and their names were Coda and Kira and they lived into teenage years so I do have some experience with raising siblings and today I just wanted to talk about my experiences and what I think works really well and what I think about some of the topics out there such as littermaid syndrome and having dogs of the same gender having multiple dogs of the same gender and this has been such a Hot Topic I didn't even realize when I got Koda and Kira my first two litter mates until I was on a couple dog groups and boy the fighting and bullying that went on if you even mentioned that you had two dogs litter mates or if you had the same gender it was awful so hopefully today we could talk about it and maybe it'll even encourage someone or maybe you'll get something out of it that will help you Coda and Kira came into my life when they were eight weeks old I had just got alpacas and of course I read how great great Pyrenees can be as lifestyle Guardians so I went to get one puppy that day and drove to get one puppy and looking back at me in the back of a truck where we met to um that I was supposed to buy this puppy from the from the owner from the breeder was looking back at me two puppies and they said there were only two in the litter which one would you like and two absolutely adorable puppies were looking back at me Kira was kind of like cowering in the corner a little bit scared Coda was more outgoing and a little bit bigger and there was no way I could decide so I just said I'll just buy both of them I came back with both of them and they lived into teenage years together without any problems without um fighting um there there were a couple scuffles I would call but I would call them scuffles never drawing blood or never any any issue just um just establishing a little bit of dominancy sometimes they play together guarded together ate together um slept where they want sometimes together sometimes apart they had no problem being apart from each other if we wanted to take one for a walk and they kept our place Predator free their entire lives then as Coda and Kiera were in their senior years they were getting older I think they're around eight years old I had a Tacoma an akbosh puppy so Tacoma joined our little pack as an eight week old puppy and Kira did not like to come at all enough that she had attacked Tacoma and I believe Coda helped save Tacoma's life and it was serious enough that I kept them separated for the safety of Tacoma I kept Kira separated from Tacoma for a couple of years Coda took over being Tacoma's mom and they got along wonderful so there was a lot of effort there it's keeping them separated and I hope this encourages somebody that might be in that a similar situation where you have two dogs that you are committed to and you love them and you don't want to re-home them I chose to not do that and that situation changed okay it wasn't a permanent situation when I added David and now we became a dog family of four I also kept him away from Kira and so this involves shuffling lots of dogs because you wanted Tacoma and David to be together a lot and you want Kira and Coda to have time together and of course Coda and Tacoma got along great so in a little trailer double wide trailer home yes that involves some effort but there was a point as David kept growing and growing and growing and added him as an eight week old puppy also um he ended up being 180 pounds but when he was Boy over a hundred pounds I felt confident enough that Kira was not gonna mess around with Tacoma because David admired Tacoma Tacoma raised him and so I decided I think all four dogs can be together and I was correct so David became a father at nine months so this it did not take too long um well he bred with Tacoma at nine months then by one year he was the father of Esther Goliath Sampson Solomon and Ruthie and so now our pack had grown to a pack of nine I really didn't think that Great Pyrenees were that caught in Kira were going to live to be as old as they did that's why I thought well we let's get this pack growing that's why I added Tacoma when I did and added David when I did because I didn't want Tacoma to be the only Guardian I think they work better more than one especially if they ever do confront a predator so it was very wrong because thankfully it was wonderful Kona and Kira lived to be almost 14 and they died within I think it was six months of each other all right so that was my first experience with raising litter mates and so I'll put my opinion out there on the littermate syndrome theory is that litter mates should not be raised together because or you could if you do you could have many problems with they don't bond to their human they don't do their job right because they need to be together so much and they Panic maybe if they're not together I did not find that to be true not at all they did a wonderful job they could be together they could be separated it was not a problem and the other opinion I have is on should you have same-sex dogs well there's no right or wrong answer but I'm going to say my experience it has not been a problem at all and a lot of people will say especially females intact females that are non-spayed you can't have two well I choose to keep all of my females not spayed they are not altered it is I get the boys neutered because we have both sexes and I don't you know I don't want puppies unwanted puppies so and well for a lot of reasons it's just how I choose to do it I feel like the neutering procedure is less invasive and I do think dogs are meant to to be a certain way and I think there are benefits to keeping them the females not spayed and they don't have problems well as my vet said my Great Pyrenees didn't have any bowel problems or anything with um urinating when they shouldn't be maybe inside when they're older because I did keep the hormones in place and they were not spayed so I had up to five we're going to get into that girls at a time unspayed and there was no problems at all so I did not have a problem having same-sex genders and of course I had the boys same-sex and I did not have a problem with that and if you think about it there are some people that will say you can never have two boys or two girls and that's so silly because if you think of let's just say the dog sledding um industry the dog sledding sport you need a team of like 16 and I think it now it's 14 for the Iditarod and you couldn't even put a team together because after you had two dogs your male and your female um there's no other gender so you wouldn't even be able to put a team together and I've met more friends that have raised siblings and we've become best friends over many years from getting off groups that didn't let you even talk about having um siblings and again my opinion I think it's really a shame really sad and too bad in rescue organizations when you have somebody that wants to adopt siblings and a lot of times these puppies or maybe grown dogs siblings have been together and through a lot of crap in their life and that's all they have is each other and they love each other and they're bonded to each other and they won't allow them to be adopted to someone that willingly wants them both I think that's really too bad because animals are going to form attachments you know they're going to form attachments to other animals that you know they're not related to on at my place I see inner species friendships that are very strong and so if I was going to go around and say oh you two can't be together too much you're getting you love each other too much you're getting too attached I just think that's baloney I mean that's what life's about with Litter Mate syndrome I think if you had two dogs that are so afraid to be apart I would question why and help to build up their confidence and love them so that they didn't have to be afraid to be um separated for a little while from their best friend from their Litter Mate so for a couple of years we were a pack of nine with two sets of siblings we had Conan Kira the Great Pyrenees sisters and then we had the five pups of Tacoma David that were siblings and litter mates and if there were other if there was another two dogs that didn't like each other it would be David and Coda had a little Rift where at times and that was only when they were in the house at certain places that they established as their territory there was a small Rift but it wasn't any there weren't any fights or anything like that and again they are not related so my experience I have not had two dogs that are litter mates or siblings not get along but I have had two dogs that maybe just don't really care for each other in a way um that probably has to do with boundaries in their territory there was a little place in the house where um Coda liked to sleep and she would like to go a certain way to it and she would kind of growl on her way to it David didn't like that so the way I handled that was you would just kind of stand there when you let her in and go let her go by and that was that it really was not a big deal and again they were not related and they were are not the same gender so you someone couldn't say oh well you had two alpha females or you had two alpha males or two unneutered males that that's why I know I had a female and a male that were unrelated and and they didn't get along in a certain situation that was it outside they were fine and for those of you that follow me on social media or on this channel you know that my Guardians have 24 7 access to wherever they want to be outside inside they just know where to be they have access to laying on the bed on the couches the only place they don't have access is at night I like to bring everyone closer in including the livestock that's the alpacas into the night pen so they I don't keep them out in the other in the big fields just for their safety I like everyone to come in tight at night so when Coda and Kira passed away for let's see the last few years it was a few years ago the last few years we've been a dog family of seven and this is like the Dream Team I mean I can't I couldn't not dream up a better pack of livestock gardening dogs a better pack of family dogs a better friends in my life they are just amazing and they all get along they play together they sleep together they eat together they are silly together they guard together we've had neighbors lose livestock to bears and a bear very close and ours pack kept everyone safe we we live in Mountain Lion Country we have kite oats and wolves are in the area and stray dogs and this pack they are so serious especially at night and they can be so playful too they truly are the Dream Team so would this dream team get along and be best friends and be amazing Guardians if I was not a factor at all in their life I don't know but I'll talk about some things that I do that hopefully add to the happiness and add to the calmness and add to the peace here one of the biggest things that I do is I love these dogs I love each one so much I honestly truthfully do not have a favorite dog if if I had to choose a favorite dog it would be the one that was in front of me at that moment the one that has its head on my shoulder the one that I'm running with the one that I'm playing with the one that I'm talking to at that moment and it's because I love them all so there isn't any jealousy I've never seen a jealousy here and I can't imagine if I did favor a dog and loved one more than the other what it would be like because you can't fool dogs they would pick up on that so I think it helps that I love them I love them as individuals and I treat them as individuals there is we have special moments each dog in I in my relationship with that dog is so unique and so special and I just cherish those those times and those things that I do with those specific individuals and I do believe that spending individual time and treating them as individuals and saying their name so many times throughout the day their individual names when I'm hugging them or telling them what a great job they're doing or joking with them I think that helps a lot to keep the not just keep the peace that's like the lowest level I would think well I'm keeping the peace there's no fights but to have everyone enjoy each other's company and love each other I think yes it does help to spend individual time with them and treat them as the unique amazing individuals that they are so if you're watching this and would like any advice or encouragement I would just encourage you to do the same thing like if you're having if you have a Pack treat them all as individuals so let me tell you a little bit oh it's going to be hard to tell you a little bit and not make this a three hour video about each one and how they are so different okay so David he is like my mom he's like a mama's boy David you want to go up with Mommy yeah he's 180 pounds and he's very protective of his family and he doesn't like pet by anybody else besides Maria or I but he's so cuddly and so sweet with me and we communicate without words like there's times I'll just look like you know he might want to come in at 5am and he'll just know you know I better not come in yet because Mom asked me to stay out a little bit longer because we have the koreas are out and I'm the only one out so we communicate so well my big baby boy David and he is my Smiley one and he uses his teeth to smile but one thing about David is he loves to go places with me in the truck and with Maria David you want to go in the truck with me and go to town would you like that so I take him places it is not because I'm favoring him it's because he loves the truck the most and loves going places the most so that's why he goes to town with us the most um and that's his special time with me and David I should mention is half Great Pyrenees and half hawk Bosh so let's talk about the full akbosh and I'm going in no particular order here Tacoma is actually if we're going in order of whose of seniority who's oldest I would have started with Tacoma Tacoma is full akbosh and I cannot even put into words how smart how intuitive how silly Tacoma is she is my mind reader she has done the most amazing things just by picking up on what I'm thinking she would stand at the door with a Bible case one time when I'm looking for it on the way to church um she's had my reading glasses in her mouth when I know I am writing too much at the computer on a freelance writing job and she'll walk away and come back like where are my glasses she'll be sitting there across the room just looking at me like come on Mom you know you you can't keep working this long at the computer uh she she has the bear tracker when we had a bear issue she tracked the bear to the kill I took her on a leash to the neighbor's farm and I said that's where um you have you're missing livestock The Bear Went right here she has a nose that's just unbelievable for smelling so I communicate with Tacoma a lot I play with Tacoma a lot I've taken her to 5K races she's won every doggy Dash that she has entered in this area and a jump rope with Tacoma and most importantly I listened to Tacoma and I never doubt what she says is true and and one thing is she doesn't like to be on the gang line for dog sledding and she has told me that so when we do go dog sledding with all seven like to get a Christmas tree she likes to be next to me like on a leash and I keep them on leashes or on the gang line when off property so um yeah that's the coma so next we'll get into since this is about siblings the their their kids let's talk about the siblings and how unique each one is I'll start with Esther and Esther is ha is 75 akbosh in 25 Great Pyrenees and us there with her because I like to say she's the oldest of the siblings because she was born first and she was born into my arms right into my hands and she came out barking before her full body was emerged she could she could bark Esther is oh my silly this silly one that joyful one they all are happy but Esther inherited from her dad the smile she does the full teeth grin and I just cherish that and I will talk to her in certain ways just to get that smile because I love her smile so some of the things I do with Esther is um like I open I like to open the window in the mornings and just say good morning because I know she loves that and she's gonna come over and smile [Music] thank you some eggs Esther is also extremely serious when it comes to protecting her family and I think she is so beautiful and I tell her that all the time and she looks the most like Tacoma with that streamlined body next I'll talk about Esther's only sister which is Ruthie and Ruthie was last born and she is the smallest so we call her the youngest and the baby of the family and Ruthie and I just have a lot of moments in the day that are just special between her and I like Ruthie likes to eat out of my hand for breakfast in most dinners almost all breakfast is so uh put the breakfast out and everyone eats in a certain spot and Ruthie waits for me to feed her her breakfast and and I just think that is so special and so I do that with her and Ruthie will stay out pretty much almost all summer not continuously but I mean like at night time and she likes to guard a lot at night in the summer and then around October she'll come back in and at night she sleeps right on my pillow so I call her my little pillow pet and she is the most afraid of the vet so when we go to the vet I need to like give a shot if Ruthie gets a shot and I I don't know why she just they're all just unique like that the other ones have no fear of going to the vet so Ruthie and I did spend a lot of we spent a lot of cuddly time together and a lot of time talking together like what you know each time at breakfast she gets me to stop what I'm doing in my routine and slow down and that's just one thing about Ruthie she's also after Tacoma the the fastest I think in our pack next I'll talk about Solomon and I like to call him the fluffy puppy and I also call him Saul a lot or salamander and Solomon has his eye on me pretty much all day and he is my escort so if I'm going somewhere like he's with he'll wait for me to do evening chores he'll just wait and he escorts me whenever I go pretty much anywhere so one thing and he's also very cuddly if he's not on outside Duty he will be sleeping on my pillow a lot of them can fit on my pillow and they lean against my body Solomon is if I had to guess his best friend I would say it's definitely his brother Samson so if I'm camping out outside with the pack I'll have Solomon on one side of me and I'm like sandwiched in between Solomon and Samson on my other and one thing I do special with salmon is I ask him the most if he would like to help to go mail a package which sometimes can be every day and he loves that I just have to whisper I have a package to mail and he's at the door waiting for me to go mail the package okay so next I'll talk about Samson and I also call him Sam I Am and sami-sen and Sam and Samson loves to sit on my lap like anytime I sit down he will run and he'll start turning before he's a few feet from me so he can land on my lap and I call him my Cuddle Bear because he is extremely cuddly he likes to put his face right next to my face and he is the littlest of the males dog so I call him and Ruthie the littles and those two are together a lot also Samson really loves his brother Solomon and really loves his little sister Ruthie and one thing special I do with Samsung is I've taken him places where he can work in like a therapeutic kind of setting he's had people crying one time at Home Depot a man said could I pet an old man an older man could I pet your dog and I said sure and Sam said he just like leaned into him and the man stared crying and he got down on his hands and knees and then he said thank you so much and there was like an exchange that took place there that was some kind of healing therapeutic exchange so I know Samson has that ability to bring that out in people so that is why I've taken Sampson places um like to a local just recently about a month ago to a local assisted living facility and we also took Marie and I took some ducklings and we took Samson and later I sent a video to my friend because it was my friend's dad and she said oh my goodness my dad hasn't has neglected his right hand since his stroke yet he's petting Samson with his right hand so that that's what I do with Samson that's unique and special is I take him to places like that where he can meet people and help people and last but certainly not least is Goliath Goliath is like three dogs in one and I truly mean that he has so much to say so many inner feelings like like like three dogs were packed into one body and Goliath was born with severe hip dysplasia that was diagnosed at around nine months and I've taken them to the a specialist and out of state specialist and I was told he'll just get worse and he's never going to be able to walk or run and he is the one that runs the fastest he is the most active when it comes to a perceived threat in the field he he is more sensitive to things like that that could be a threat whether it's a hawk that flew just a little too low or an airplane that's flying a little too low um or someone walking a dog a little too close to our fence line and Goliath is just on it and he's at racing and barking and he is also my um talker and my singer he he sings like a wolf he talks to me like a person uses words that sound like Mama okay time for mash cake yeah Goliath I did I can't I can't say enough about his um his soul the soul alive is just amazing Goliath is also the one that likes to bring me packages when they're delivered to the gate and just one of the things special that I do with Goliath is I let him get his way more than I do um the other dogs in a way because I really trust his intuition and like it could be 10 p.m and he'll go to the front door and say I need to get out front out in the front yard and there I don't let them in the front yard like when it's time for bed even though we're fenced but if Goliath asks I let him go and maybe that's some of it is my soft spot for Goliath and what he went through as a puppy with his hip dysplasia but um he knows I'm going to listen to him a little bit more and I'm gonna let him do a few things more because he he just a hundred and ten percent believes it needs to be done so um so yeah and Goliath and I may have the most good morning time because he's my growly puppy and I just love how he growls good morning there it goes so I'm going to end this video by um just showing some of the team building exercises that we do every day and one of them is to get on the tire um on the way down from chores and um and when we get gifts at the gate I always say they're individual names it just comes natural to do that and I did have somebody say wow I never never thought of using their individual names and to me it just just comes so natural to do that and I just encourage you to definitely um always use their names they know their name and they love their name and and it comes in handy if you have to call them because this pack does listen I never understand when people say Great Pyrenees or aquabash don't listen boy they listen so acutely and so um acutely that you barely have to say their name and they're coming and I think it's because I am part of their pack and I listen to them so listen to listen to your dogs treat them as an individuals as the individuals that they are and just love them and have fun with them and so it's so good and this with um our team building time and thank you guys for watching if you haven't subscribed it sure helps us to subscribe if you'd like more content please join our patreon I'll put that in the description that's another social media platform and I try to post a video almost every day depending on which tier that you choose on there if you need any alpaca gifts check out our store at bhmalpacas.com we have all kinds of things like socks mittens hats gloves if you'd like something made from your dog's naturally shed hair my daughter and I can make you a scarf or a hat or yarn so check out our store and thank you for watching we'll end with some team building here come on let's get four oh come on up so come on we got five come on come on five we got five and go let's go let's go there she goes dancing comma so good one to come with David Esther Ruthie go ahead Tacoma Shake good girl good boy so good job appreciate it good job it's gonna shake David Shake y you get excited it's all set so fast go ahead Shake good boy sit here everybody's Shake here we go yeah okay where's the one foreign

Channel: Big Horn Mountain Alpacas

Views: 38,132

Keywords: lgd, livestock, guardian, dog, littermate, syndrome, litter, mate, same, sex, gender, boy, girl, female, male, altered, unaltered, sibling, rivalry, littermates, puppies, puppy, fighting, full, pack, family, dogs, akbash, great, pyrenees, pyr, fight, fights, littermate syndrome, tips, advice, training, train, how, to, individual, activities, activity, best, friends, Big, Horn, Mountain, Alpacas, ranch, farm, working, attachment, bond, bonding, sisters, brothers, sibling aggression, aggression, behavioral, behavior, raising, myths, truths, condition, young

Id: why0_j7d87o

Length: 33min 36sec (2016 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 21 2022