What 2 do, What 2 do?

After yesterday's big decision ("we're keeping them!!!!"), there was a giant weight lifted off my shoulders. Although it was only for about 36 hours, I was really stressed out trying to think of the "right" thing to do. Do Zon and I have what it takes to give these puppies the life they deserve? And of course, after tons of puppy research, we answered "yes."

Last night, however, two things were keeping me up (actually four if you count the puppies).

I think Kovy is a large part German Shepherd.

1. The vet told us the pups were Formosan Mountain Dogs. As far as 2 week old puppies go, I'm willing to trust the expert (especially because there are stray FMD running rampant in Taipei). But after doing all the research on size, temperament, etc, I didn't find any pictures of FMD puppies that were even remotely similar to Muji or Kovy. At about 3:00 in the morning (between feedings), I went online and did a Google search for German Shepherds.


The Chinese name for German Shepherds is something like "German Black Back Dog," which is matches Kovy's coat pattern exactly. Also, almost all the GS I found online had a white "V-neck" pattern on their chest, again, matching Kovy's pattern.

So basically, I'm convinced that Kovy and Muji are A) not Formosan Mountain Dogs, and B) probably German Shepherds (or some sort of GS mix).

2. The second thing that was bothering me was all the useful information I found online about raising puppies. It all seemed too easy. It dawned on me that almost every article I read had "a puppy" in the title. How to Raise a Puppy, How to Train a Puppy, How to get a Puppy to Stop Biting, etc. The problem is that I don't have a puppy. I have two puppies.

Again, I jumped on the computer and this time I did a search for "how to raise two puppies," and got completely different results.

Almost all of the search results were warnings about raising two puppies. Specifically, this guy from Leerburg.com said, "In fact, back when I bred dogs I would not sell 2 of my puppies to people that want to raise them together," in his article entitled Raising Two Pups at the Same Time and Why it's a Bad Idea.

My pack of dogs

After another couple hours of research, I found that it's not double the work with double the puppies, but more like 8 x the work. actually generally is a bad idea to raise litter-mates together for these reasons:

• the dogs will bond with each other, and consequently bond less with you, which means they will be less likely to listen to you, which makes training extremely difficult
• there will be a "pecking order" establishment. Dogs will fight to be the alpha in the pack (less likely with male/female siblings)
• having more than one dog will increase the "pack instinct," which will override the owner's commands (similar to how human mobs work)

If one is willing to raise two puppies (only recommended for trainers and breeders), there are some preventative measures: The puppies need to be crated separately, walked separately, fed separately, and when the time comes to socialize them, they need to be socialized separately. It's even recommended that they don't even play together for at least 1 year. You want them to rely on you for food, fun, treats.

So not only do I potentially have two German Shepherds on my hands, but I have to keep them in separate rooms and not let them have any interaction with each other for at least a year. 

What 2 do...