miniature schnauzer sibling puppies fighting

Question
I have a boy and a girl miniature schnauzers, they are 9 weeks old...we are in the puppy training stage, but they continuously fight with each other like biting, pinning them to the ground, biting at each other's face.   It starts out as gentle puppy play and quickly turns into fighting.    Is this normal and what should I do because they are non-stop?

Trina

Answer
Puppies play very hard, and it often seems (and sounds) like fighting. Gentle puppy play? What is THAT?!<G> They are learning to inhibit their bites, and if one bites the other too hard, there is retaliation. Try living with an entire litter at this age; it is absolutely deafening at times<G>

Now it could be that they actually ARE fighting. Some dogs just don't get along well together, particularly if they are at the same level of dominance. A large part of the noise and rowdiness of puppy play is determining dominance levels in a bloodless manner.

If it is too much for you, you should return one of the puppies. It really is MUCH easier to train one dog first, and then bring in the second dog a year or so later so that the first dog will help to train the second.

Karen