Two's Company....NOT

[Landlockednow]

OK, I did a lot of research before getting Corgis, but possibly not enough.

We got two tri-colors, littermates, at 8 weeks. I felt that two could keep each other company. Like, the very next day I read somewhere, maybe here, that "no responsible breeder would place two littermates in the same home, since they will continue bonding toward each other and not with their humans."

Well, things went ok for a while, but they just turned 5 months, and now they are either "fighting" or barking at each other. Non-stop. If one jumps in one of our laps, the other does, to, and for "small dogs" the one-two punch will about knock you over. Maybe they are just teenagers!

Individually, they are everything I was expecting, but I am not sure in this case, we have synergy!

We have thought about trying to "trade" one for a non-littermate, or simply returning one back to breeder, but we enormously attached to each one, not necessarily "both" together. Would like a win-win-win (typed wine the first time, maybe a slip).

What do you folks think? Any ideas?

LLN

[adkmehrman]

Is it aggressive barking and just playing? considering how young they are they are probably just playing and puppies do play fairly rough. Are they the same sex? This will probably also get better once you have them altered which from the sounds of it you probably should.

[Landlockednow]

Yes, they are both males, and headed for neutering week after next, per vet's schedule. I think we have passed, in many cases, beyond playing, we hope it will get better, but I keep thinking about the bit about not having two from same litter. Turns out, since I posted this a.m., they have been angels today. Go figure.

[Louwants]

LOL! Sounds like typical brothers to me! After you have them neutered, I imagine they will calm down some. I have a corgi and corgi/chow, male and female, and when they mock fight, it would scare you the noise they make. The female was a rescue, and when they first started their mock fighting like that, I use to try and break it up, before I realized, it was play.

[BannaOj]

Do they have their adult teeth in yet? I have two littermate puppies that are about 5 months right now, and their play has been rather vicious lately also. However, they are teething, and practically toothless at the moment (everyone's puppy canines are gone, and the adults haven't grown in yet) When their adult teeth come in, all of a sudden playing rough starts hurting more, and they'll probably back off, and they'll probably be less grumpy because they will be done teething and not in pain as well.

[Landlockednow]

This is pretty aggressive stuff with more and more frequent growls, right many "yelps" and massive barking. Mostly adult teeth, too. We will see how it goes once they go under the knife.

We are in the midst of a cross state move, delayed about 6 weeks, so we have not done any obedience yet as we did not want it disrupted. Hoping that too would help, though I had them doing pretty good with come, stay, sit, until a couple of weeks ago. All that is gone, now, too.

[BannaOj]

I suspect with your life in flux the dogs also know it, and are less stable than they would be. Hopefully between the neutering and finally getting settled into your new space they will calm down in a couple weeks.

As I recall 9-10 months can be another trying phase. I remember that there was one week, where nearly all of the puppy owners from my last litter called and said that their puppy had done *something* horribly naughty. Then my own puppy from that litter did something naughty also. Sometimes it really is the age and they grow out of it.

I would make sure that you give each puppy individual time with you, not with its brother, so that you bond more closely with them as individuals.

[Bailey's driver]

It's how my two daughters acted all the time they lived here !!

It sounds pretty normal. It took me a while to learn that. One very good sign is if each dog lies on it's back once in a while and lets the other dog get on top. That's a sign it is play, not fighting. It's being submisive in an obvious way.
Bailey's 2 yrs. old now and enjoys wrestling with certain other dogs he knows. He is begining to understand when some dogs don't want to play like that. He probably has 20 dog friends that enjoy doing that with him.

The younger dogs want to wrestle more than the older ones. This holds true with all the breeds we run into. Possibly 30 different breeds. Maybe 50 different dogs. Bailey has mellowed a little with age too.

I agree that being settled into the new place will help them calm down. They get a lot of security from being in the same place and doing the same thing.
If you are changing habits getting ready to move that will make the dogs a little nervous. Repeat any habits that you can with the dogs.

Bailey and Charlie just playing

[Michael Romanos]

I had two male Corgis (father and son) living together for many years and both 'unfixed' and I know of plenty of people who have had two male or two female Corgis and the situation and relationships have been pretty normal and not any kind of state of war. When I had two male Corgis (both were conformation show champs) the father was the boss but both coexisted very well. More recently I had a male pup for two weeks and he and Taylor got along just fine - again both unfixed.

[Bailey's driver]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

I had two male Corgis (father and son) living together for many years and both 'unfixed' and I know of plenty of people who have had two male or two female Corgis and the situation and relationships have been pretty normal and not any kind of state of war. When I had two male Corgis (both were conformation show champs) the father was the boss but both coexisted very well. More recently I had a male pup for two weeks and he and Taylor got along just fine - again both unfixed.

Did you find that the dogs calmed down as both, or one, of the dogs got older?

[Michael Romanos]

All Corgis and Corgi owners mellow as they age. And with dogs they most certainly get more comfortable with each other - though I have heard of the odd exception which I think is abnormal ie created by some abnormal situation mostly unknown to the owner and requiring some kind of consultation with a canine psychiatrist.