Should we separate twins when we're not around

Hi everyone

Just wondering, should we be crating the twins in separate cages when we are not around or it's bed time?

At the moment they are only 9 weeks old, but I'm worried that as they get older the sibling rivalry could get worse and I don't want them to hurt each other.

The crate is ample in size for them as it was the cage we used for our old dog who was a rottie.....

Any advice welcome as not having had two before I'm now worrying over everything........

Thanks

Ali

i'm not sure i never crate my dogs, how do they get on?

I would definitely crate them separately! It's better for them to have their own space where they can relax. I would definitely buy another crate so they each have one. Also if you have a crate that is that big you should put the divider in so it is smaller while the pup is young. Otherwise he/she will go to the bathroom in one corner and sleep in the other if its too big and it will be much harder to house train!

At the moment they are getting on quite well, but they're still young. They haven't had any accidents in the crate (yet)
Will look at getting another crate this weekend......or maybe put something down the middle of the crate to separate them as it has two entrances, or would that be no good????

They are only 9 weeks old, at that age they need to be able to play fight and sort themselves out. If they later in life get more aggressive (be sure to learn how to tell the difference between agression and playing) then you can consider seperate crates, but for now don't panic, they can't do much damage to eachother at the moment.

Brilliant thank you for that Hayley. I'm a typical new mum and worry about my babies. We do keep a close eye on them when they are playing and if it gets too boisterous we are diverting their attention by getting them to play with a toy - so far so good.

But when we're not in we can't control them, so I was worrying.........will just watch and see what happens...

Just be sure to treat them as dogs not children, remember that they will naturally have one who is a little more assertive and the other and challenge this, so its not that they are not getting along - just testing eachother!

Sasha is the dominant one, we've already worked that out, although Myles does try in the end he gives up and comes running to us - quite funny really.

My husband took a video of them yesterday play-fighting....Sasha went up to Myles bit him on his bum and ran off, after a few mins of play-fighting my husband called their names and they came running straight to him and sat down.......very intelligent babies we have

Aww yeah the bitches are normally more dominant, as in all species eh

Keep telling my husband that. When we brought them home Myles went straight to sleep and Sasha and I had a conversation.....Myles is like his Daddy - lazy! and Sasha is like me, a chatter box and likes things done her own way haha

Aww babies, has anyone mentioned we love pics?? I'm sure they'll be fine together, I must say I think you very brave getting two puppies

Either very brave or very stupid, I'm yet to work it out lol......I have uploaded a few pics.....they are adorable even at 5.30am when they wake me up haha

Hayley wrote:They are only 9 weeks old, at that age they need to be able to play fight and sort themselves out. If they later in life get more aggressive (be sure to learn how to tell the difference between agression and playing) then you can consider seperate crates, but for now don't panic, they can't do much damage to eachother at the moment.

I'd crate them when they're left alone. Yes, they need to learn to play fight properly without it getting out of hand, but if you're not there, what's to stop it boiling over, even at their young age?

If they do get over excited & fight, they can injure each other even at their age, and that would damage all future relationship between them.

Hi Caryll

Would dividing the current crate we have be ok? I've looked on line and I can get a divider for next to nothing and wondered if that would be ample. As otherwise we'd have to sell the current crate and buy two others - money is not the issue, its housing either 2 crates of different sizes or 2 smaller crates as we are currently only in a 2 bed property and space is becoming limited.........

Well, ideally I'd say two crates so that they're not in each other's faces!

If space is limited (and I really understand that!) then a divider might work. Unless, of course, you can put them in seperate rooms without them chewing everything to pieces?