training two puppies

Question
my husband and I have two beagle mix puppies, female, and they are 5 months old.  I have read and heard many places not to raise two puppies, especially of litter mates, at the same time.. however, for us, that is not a choice. (we got thier mom from a shelter and she was pregnant and no one knew... we managed to sell 4 of the puppies but one of ours, lily has heart defects so I don't want to sell her, etc) So anyhow, I just want some advice on how to train them.  They both already know how to sit, stay and lay "down", but training them to come is proving difficult because they get so distracted.  Also, they play-fight alot!  how do you know when it's too much, and should we stop it?  Ive heard two different sides, to let them establish their hierarchy, or, to stop it before one of them establishes a dominance.  Help!  there are to many contradicting pieces of info out there! thanks

Answer
Heather;
First, let me say, that old saw about not raising two puppies together, and especially not litter mates is a bunch of bunk put out by people who don't know beans about raising dogs.
I have raised littermates together, and I have raised young puppies that are not littermates together, and I have raised dogs of different agea, sexes, and breeds together, and dog are the way you train them, and nothing else.
How you know when lay fighting is too much is when one or the other tries to get away, and cries out in pain or anguish, or when blood if brought, and the hackles on the back of their necks is standing up.
Now the rough play maybe should be limited to a certain time frame, because of Lily's heart. You don't want her stresed so she has a heart attack.
Her Veterinarian is the best advisor about that.
Only once did I have tyriouble training two at the same time, and that was a little mixed breed and an Irish Setter.
They were both showoffs, and when I tried to work one on a leash, the other was running alongside, butting in, and douing what I was trying to do with th other.It was like, "Look how well I can do that", and they would nip at the one on the leash's heels to make them get out of line or not be able to do what I was commanding. So I had to put one of them in the house while I worked the other.
Having someone else hold the other on a leash didn't work, because the one that wasn't being worked would bark and distract.
It was funny, but it couldn't be allowed.
ake one of them to the group classes at Petsmart. Petco or Man's best Friend, or another training facility that has group classes.
You will learn how to get them to come etc.
If you already know how this is supposed to be taught, and just can't get it done because of interference from the other dog, put the little brat in the house while you work one.
When you see one trying to establish dominance, scold it, chew it's little butt out good, and tell it you don't allow that.
If it continues, you can chew it out, tell it that since it won't learn by fussing, it has to go to time out.
Time out, is like putting a child in th corner.
I have only had one dog that could be sent to a corner, and would sit there until she was told she could get out.
It was a German Shepherd I had many years ago.
I use the small bathroom in the hall for time out, and I leave them in there for about 1/2 hour. After about the second or third time, they decide just a warning of being sent to time out is enough to make them behave.
You just make it plain to them that you and your husband are the alphas, and you don't need any help.
I have only had one Beagle, and she was the hardest dog I ever trained. She was so bullheaded.
I have retrained dogs that attacked their own owners, and not had as hard a time as I did training Prissy. She wanted to do things her way, and she was really stubborn about giving it up. Mom won in the end though.LOL
My Lhasa and Sheltie play fight all the time, when they are awake. Laddie ( the Sheltie) uses Max for his chew toy, and they do it outside, inside, almost all day, and half the night.
The otther two dogs play too, but these two go at it for much longer.
We don't have anybody yelling and there is no blood. It is all perfectly harmless fun, and thy never get too rough.
Max tries to dominate the Australian Shepherd,Rowdy,  because when we got him at 6 weeks old, Rowdy was 1 year old, and he took over the puppy to raise, pampered him, and treated Max like he was Max's mother. He would interfere when I tried to correct Max for attacking him( Rowdy). He didn't like anybody even correcing his baby.
Max still acts like a bre\at to Rowdy sometimes, but Rowdy doesn't interfere with my correcting Max, after he got his butt chewed out a few times for interfering.
It's a riot arounf here.
All 4 dogs we have now were rescues I fostered, and for one reason just couldn't bear to part with them, so we adopted them instead of taking them to the adoption clinics we have on weekends.
They are good pups, and Rowdy is 9 and Max is 8 now, the other two are about 5 ears old. These guys actually help me a lot with the foster dogs I take in.
They help teach them to go outside to potty, and they let the foster dogs eat out of their bowls.
Rowdy and Max are on senior foods , so they eat out of the same bowl, and Laddie and Big Boy are on the s\ame formula,. so they eat out of the same bowl.
All these guys eat together, at the same time.
Foster dogs, I tell mine which bowls the" guests" eat out of, put the extra food in there, and they show the new dogs wghere to eat, and share with them.
When I keep a foster dog a couple of weeks, they are well socialized when they go to their permanent home.
Anyway, YOU show them that YOU are tthe dominate one, not one opf them.
A group obedience class is the best way to train, I think.
Actually, the owner is the one who gets trained the most.LOL
Yopu leartn how to handle them to get them to do the different things they need to learn.
You could take one, and do the class exercises at home with the other one, or you take one and hubby take the other and go to the same class.
Charloptte