2 12 week old Husky brothers play/fighting

Question

Jasper & Sigmund   QUESTION: Two weeks ago I adopted 2 male Husky/ 25 Shepherd puppies from the same litter.  They are great dogs and very smart, everyday they learn something new.  One problem we are having with them is not knowing when to stop them when they start play/fighting.  It is very cute and they have a lot of fun together playing, but I have never had 2 puppies so it seems a little aggressive to me, biting and jumping on each other.  I was just wondering if this is something that we should try to stop them from doing. We have been stopping them when we feel it gets too rough, but to them at 12 weeks old they don't understand that sometimes they can fight and sometimes we make them stop. Should I wait until they get older to make them stop, is this just a puppy phase?

Also, how much water do they need?  They are not house trained yet so it is hard to clean up pee all the time.  We bring them out at least every 2 hours, they pee outside and as soon as we come back inside they have to go again on the papers.  What can i do to make them stop this? I take them out again if one goes, but it has been two weeks and still, we are dealing with the same potty games.  

Please let me know any ideas or how to make it easier raising 2 huskies from the same litter together.  Thanks!

ANSWER: First, play fighting can get a little rough, even among adult dogs.  Generally, I let it go as long as no one gets aggressive.  You can usually tell once growls lower, or teeth are bared in warning.  Play fighting usually just involves tackling, yipping and higher pitched snarling.  High pitched painful yips are usually a sign one dog went too far, and I will separate then as well, although another sign of play fighting is that the aggressive dog in this case will usually back off.  (An "Oh, are you alright?" type move).

As for water . . . tough to say.  Generally, making sure the dogs have water available after feeding, play time, and naps, as well as every 2-4 hours is the best advice.  If you take it up about 2 hours before bed, you usually can avoid an extra trip out in the middle of the night.

As for house training them . . . two at once is next to impossible to do easily.  However, you have to isolate them from each other in order to praise and correct them, which is the only way to get them to understand house training rules.  Also, crate training is really good, but make sure they are in separate crates.

Hope that helps some, the biggest thing is patience, but try to make sure you and someone else has responsibilities for one of them.  That way, you take care of Jasper, the other takes care of Sigmund.

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QUESTION: Thanks so much for your quick and thoughtful response!  Things are going good with the two pups.  Now they are 3 months old. I have a few more questions for you.  I have the two dogs in the basement to sleep and also while my boyfriend and I are at work.  They were taught to be paper trained and still go on the papers inside when left unattended for more than 2 hours.  I am not crate training them because they have to be left alone from about 1:30 to a little after 5pm and I figure that this might be too long for them to hold their bladders at this age.  What is the amount of time that a 3 month old puppy should be able to hold it's bladder or bowel movements?

At night, we let them out at 11pm, 4am and then 6:30.  They don't go between 11 and 4 but between 4:30 and 6:30 they go pee and sometimes poop.  Are they waking with the sun and going then? Is there any other things we should be doing to make them not go?

They are going "potty" on command when we are outside and know that that is where they are supposed to go, but I think they think it is OK to go in the basement on the papers too.  I am not home when they go so there is no way of telling them that it is bad. Should we try crate training or is that too long of a period of time to keep them crated?

Also, they have been chewing up tiles and an old chair in the basement while we are at work. Is there any way to make them stop this?  When I get home the damage is done and I know you are not suppose to yell after the fact because the dogs won't know what they are being punished for.  

Thanks in advance for all your help!

ANSWER: Glad things are going well.  As for the paper training, you have taught the dogs that it's ok to go on the papers, so if they have to go, they don't bother holding it, they just go there.  The general rule of thumb is that a dog can hold its bladder for a number of hours equal to the age of the dog plus one but no more than 8 hours.  In this regard, the 3 month old puppies should be fine for up to 4 hours.  (This figure is adjusted down substantially for smaller breed dogs, but it works pretty well.)  If they are to be left along at this point for up to 4 hours, you may want to start trying crate training.  Another option is to leave fewer papers down and try to move those close to the outside door and migrate the paper training into holding it in general.

As for the walks and such, there is definitely a cycle that the dogs get into, and part of that does have to do with sunlight.  Very similarly, humans work with it as well.  I would really think the only the thing that you can do to help them not go between 4 and 630 would be to eliminate the papers and not give them an outlet to go.  I think crate training is the better option, but if you can eliminate most of the papers and watch them, you may able to reduce what area they see as appropriate to eliminate in.

Good job on not correcting the dogs after the fact, as you are right, they won't connect it.  However, since they have free run of the basement, you have to expect they will get bored and explore things.  Your options include:

1) Eliminate access to those things (crate training, or setting up barriers, closing doors, etc.)

2) Make the events unpleasant.  Generally, this is limited to if the dog has one or two things they just seem to like doing that they shouldn't.  One of my dogs loved to just casually gnaw on the coffee table.  He was completely fine everywhere else, but the shelf on the table was at a good height and I guess felt good on his tongue.  Anyway, a few sprays of bitter apple (you can get them at your pet store) took care of the problem as it makes it really poor tasting.

3) Deal with the destruction.

Unless you are able to shape the behavior by being there, or putting some sort of negative feedback into the equation (like the bitter apple spray), it's almost impossible to get the dogs to stop doing something.  You can try distracting them, but that usually only works for a few hours - they'll eventually go back to doing things if they enjoy them at all.

Hope that helps some and feel free to write back with more questions.

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5 months old   QUESTION: Hi there.  Been a while since I have asked a question.  My puppies are now 5 months old!  They are doing well.  I am having a problem with them recently about peeing in their crates!  I thought they were doing great with the crate training, and then when I went to wash their blankets that are in there, realized they were wet!  I feed them at lunch time when I come home for only about 45 minutes.  I make them go to the bathroom before I put them back in their crates, but they pee between 2-5.  They have had coccidia for the entire time I've had them.  They have been put on 2 different kinds of prescriptions for it, but still have diarrhea on and off.  They are drinking a lot of water because of this and wonder if that is why they can't hold it. Or maybe they just feel that it is OK to go in there.  
Should I take their blankets out? Is there something else we can do about the coccidia? Any tips will be very appreciated!  Thank you!

Answer
Sorry about the delay, for some reason I missed the email on this one :)

Glad to hear they are doing well - they look great and I'm sure are a ton of fun.  I would try two things for the crate training:

1) Try reducing the water intake about 2 hours before bed time

2) Take any blankets out of the crate that might absorb anything - sometimes that can encourage them to urinate as they think it is being soaked up.

Let me know how that goes but I think that's a good start.