Raising 2 pups from same litter

I have had two litter sisters from when they were nine weeks old and they will be two years old at the end of this month and these two bundles of mischief are just THE BEST FUN EVER!!! If you have the time, energy and the patience I would recommend everyone gets two pups together.... and hopefully if they stay well, it shouldn't cost two much at the vets. Double the toilet training but they often wee at the same time and probably copy each other too when it comes to learning!

The thing I would say about two at the same time, is that our two are just totally inseparable and love to do everything together, and if one is having a nap, they both have a nap... as soon as one gets out of their bed, the other is out. They share 'tuggy' toys and run around hanging on to the same stick or sock that they take from the washing machine.... they really are so much fun.

They play together so well and right from day one, we have never had a peep out of them because they had spent nine weeks together with their mum and other five siblings and it's not like when one gets taken away and will maybe whine at night for a few days, our two never whined at all. Bassets are pack animals and love the company of other Bassets and people and as we've always had two or three together (rehomed older ones too) at different ages apart from our current two, I can thoroughly recommend two Bassets together and they are also company for one another (and our soft Cocker Spaniel) if I have to leave them for an hour or two or when I go to pop concerts they are fine for three or four hours and generally sleep most of the evening.

Here's a few of the many hundreds of pics where you can see what they are like and how snuggly they look in their bed. They also are very mischievous together and love my knitting wool, which they sometimes sneak out from behind the sofa when I'm not watching them!!!

If you click on the pics you see a bigger view!

















Here's my lovely old lady we lost almost two years ago.


Here's our soft Cocker Spaniel who lives with the Bassets and hates having his picture taken unlike the Bassets who LOVE it!!!

Bassets are more social than many other dogs, so will probably get along fine.. I hope so as we pick up two this weekend. Not from the same litter but from the same breeder and were born two days apart.

I've been told, if possible, to pick two pups in person by picking the one you like the personality of the most then watch to see which other pup it seems closest to. But be careful if one seems very passive and the other very dominant even if they seem close, as the dominant one may bully the passive one later. In this case, you should find the pup in the litter that your favorite seems second closest to. This may take 30 minutes to an hour of watching them play.

Personally I did not have a chance to do this with the two pups we are about to pick up as the breeder was far enough away and our schedules did not coincide when the pups were younger, so I had to pick from pictures. But they look sweet to me. In the next few weeks I'll let everyone know how good or bad my instincts were. The girl on the left is Mercedes, and the boy on the right is Zatarra.

We have two bassets from the same litter (Milo and Baxter) that will be a year on April 15th 2010. They are both males and are the best of friends. We both work full time and had concerns about house training when they were young...it is a feat when you're trying to get one out the door for a pee and you have to get the other out before he pees on the floor. My mother would come over at lunch every day and our neighbours were really good to let them out as well once or twice a day. With your work schedule it shouldn't be a problem.
When they were about 5 months old we got a dog door to the fenced in pen in the back yard and things became so much easier for us....no longer monitoring two dogs in the house...whenever they had to "go" they just up and let themselves out. We used a gate that allowed us to block them in the back hall where the dog door is and that is their "pen". They sleep together, groom each other and genuinely are a treat to have around. They amuse themselves and have had no problem bonding with us as well (if you're worried about that). Their personalities are totally different!
Good luck to you! If you're getting siblings of opposite genders, watch for potential matings as they come close to sexual maturity!...much easier with siblings of same sex...not that they don't hump each other every chance they get!

Hello, I know it has been a while, but I was hoping to see how you guys got on with you bassets please. We got our girl Ciri on the 23rd of December, and exactly for the same reasons as you, we got a little boy yesterday. There is only 2 weeks and a half between them, so they're quite close in age. yesterday when he arrived we made them sleep separately because Ciri was really all over him, and he was completely drained from the journey home. Today they are finally napping together (yayy!).
My concerns are, is he going to bond as much with us like Ciri did?
We struggled a bit when we got her, as she was behaving as the alpha with us (it's only my partner and myself at home), but we corrected it. She is still a bit rough, but she knows who's the boss(es) now.
Also will it be hard to train him?
Ciri know a few commands such as "sit", "stay", "find it" (when we hide chicken bits all over the house and she goes mad looking for them lol), and of course, she's 90% potty trained I'd say.

Do you guys think it will be ok? We're not expecting smooth sailing of course, we know 2 puppies are going to be hard work. I'm just concerns about their training, their attachment to us, and being well rounded adult pups.

Thank you for your input.

Aurelie