Two Jackapoo's

Hi All
I have just purchased two Jackapoo's from a breeder today. I work (part time) so wanted them to be able to keep each other company when no one's home. I have just read a multitued of horror stories from people saying its crazy to get two pup's at the same time.

Although its only been a day I can already tell that they have completely different personalities and are already helping each other to pee on the puppy-pads (number two's are getting closer to the pads but not quite there yet!) But teaching them their names isn't happening (they either both come when one of their names is called or they both ignore me!). But, as its the first night I'm quite pleased that after putting them in the kitchen for the night we only had around 20-30 minutes of barking, howling and whining (and that was only 1 of them, the other was quiet) they are now fast asleep in there and I haven't heard a peep from them in over 2 hours now!

Has anyone got any positive advice about training them? E.g. should it be together or apart? etc.

You cannot train dogs together until they get more savvy, they have to be trained apart so you can ensure that EACH of the pair has the same understanding.

But whilst they spend more time together than apart and more time with each other than you, you may, if you are not very careful, be assigned the roles of "mobile food dispenser" and "transporter to park".

Good luck!

Dogs don`t have names. They can be trained to respond to words - one of which is `Fido` or whatever. To a dog, `Fido` is the equivalent of a call for attention.
It takes a hundred or more repetions of a word/ treat for a dog to associate a cue word with an action.
In addition, that action needs to be repeated in different areas. If you always train Come in your hall, the dog probably won`t do Come in the garden. So you need to train in different areas, at different times. And separately.
This is not an easy cross, IMO. You have the tenacity and drive of the terrier with the intelligence and strong will of the poodle. So good luck.

The trouble with having two pups together is that they can become more bonded with each other than with you.

Both Poodles and JRTs are very smart and very energetic but they will need time putting into them. (first 18mths/2years)

I have had a few people with litter mates come training (have a couple with 2 newfies at the moment!) For what it is worth, they have all done very well, and all have come out the other end (having put masses of work in) with lovely dogs, but saying never again.
As long as you are prepared for the extra work (separate walks/training sessions) and lots of 1-on-1 sessions with them you should be fine.

Hi Clairy13, I am new here too.

We have recently got a cockerpoo puppy after losing our black lab, and we are having to learn all over again how to train a pup. We are retired so we are putting the time in, but with two pups you probably need three times as much time! We once had two Jack Russells from the same litter and they were a nightmare to train, so we ended up giving one to our daughter, who then got so attached she couldn't then give him back....

Best of luck with the pups, but I get the feeling they'll be training you...

Thank you to everyone who has commented. My apologies for not replying sooner but as you can all imagine ... my hands have been FULL and I am suffering from definite sleep deprivation!!

I must initially amend the name of this thread as I called it "Two Jackapoo's" when in fact they are Yorkshire Terrier X Poodle's (my daughter had been calling them Jackapoo's all day and it stuck!)

As for the puppies ... they are thriving!! I have always had large breed dogs (gsh x rhodesian ridgeback, husky x malamutes etc.) so I imagined this would be very different, but at this stage they are simply puppies. They are too young to walk outdoors but I am making sure that I spend time with each of them separately each day. One of them (who is definitely more terrier) becomes very distressed when the other (definitely more poodle) is removed from the room, but the other one doesn't seem too bothered.

As for toilet training (for want of a better term) we've been working really hard on getting them to 'go' on the puppy pads, and the hard work is paying off. We make a big fuss when one goes on the pad and the other follows straight away ... and when they dont manage it we ignore the fact and clean it immediately. Generally its just overnight when they go 'elsewhere' on the kitchen floor but thats to be expected.

The only real problem we're really having is night times ... my neighbours are giving me very evil looks in the mornings so any advice on that would be great. They sleep in the kitchen and we don't go in until morning (no matter how loudly they bark!) The second night was the worst as they cried, barked and howled for most of the night, on the third they cried sporadically, and last night was the same. They have a large cage in the kitchen which I put their bed into and they sleep in there throughout the day and at night (by choice) I was initially going to cage train them, but after a bit of reading it seems a bit cruel, so any advice there would be great too

My only advice is that crate usage is really not cruel providing you do it in the right way.

By this i mean dont use it to punish your dog or by just ramming them in there to keep them out of the way etc. If you use the crate to be a safe, quiet place for them and make it nice for them to go in, you will gain a lot from using it.

I have two dogs and they have a crate each, they have water in the crate (the doors are always open and they drink from either), they are often fed in their crates for their main meals and apart from bed time if they have to be crated during the day when we go out they are fed a treat in there.

The crate was used if they got a bit carried away with play to settle them down etc, to ensure their safety and the house safety when we go out, (they play fantastically well together, but if we are not home and it geets rough or one gets hurt, we could be too late to save them,) crating them next to each other gives us the security of knowing the house and they are safe.

They love the crates and sometimes will go in to get a break, they are useful if you need to insist on quieter periods if one is injured etc and if necessary can buy you a few minutes if you need a loo whilst they are so young etc.

It will also help if you want to focus on training with one as you have somewhere safe and inviting to isolate the other etc.

I really do believe that it is actually beneficial for each dog to have a place that they call there own and is cosy etc.

Thanks for that, I may have to get rid of the large crate and get two small ones for each of them. How do you suggest we start this process? I mean in terms of how long to put them in there initially, and the time period for leaving them in there a bit longer (and hopefully overnight eventually). Im very tempted to put one in there when they are fighting, as its getting a bit nastier each time they have a go at eachother. Would they not see that as a punishment? At the moment I just separate them when they get a bit rowdy, one in the kitchen and one in the living room with me.

If they are fighiting now, it will only get worse, and one may need to be rehomed.

Are they both boys?

Terrier especially like a bit of rough, one of the reasons most breeders will not let two siblings go to the same family.

Nope, they are both females. To be fair one is definitely worse than the other and it just so happens to be the one who has more terrier in her. The breeder didn't say anything about issues with siblings, but we initially only went for one and I was talked into getting 2 of them (blame fully on partner & daughter!!) but now that they are both here I really wouldn't want to part with one of them. My worry is that if the fighting gets any worse we may have to consider it...