One common thing that humans don’t understand is that they are not as interesting or as much fun as another dog. For that reason it is nearly impossible for a person to train two dogs at once. This is particularly true if these two dogs run around all day and are a bonded pair (such as litter mates).
If you have two dogs and plan on training them it’s best to separate them. Do this for a bit before you begin training. The reason is to get the dog to refocus on what we are about to do with him. Taking a dog away from a fun situation, like his best friend, and then putting a collar and leash on him and making him perform is cruel and stupid. Dogs respond to stimuli, that means we need to stimulate our dogs in order to get them to want to learn. It’s like being in school, you generally learn more from interesting teachers than from boring ones. Most dog trainers as well as dog owners are terribly boring.
See: online dog training
When I train a dog it’s all about fun, it’s all about structure – but that structure comes through fun and games. Play games, get active and put the learning into that context and you’ll see much better results from your dog.
If both dogs are present and you are trying to teach one of them, you’ll constantly be trying to get the dog’s attention away from the other dog or trying to get the other dog to leave the dog you’re training alone. It’s a no win situation. The very first thing you need if you want to train your dog is “his attention,” if you don’t have that, don’t start training.
The best training situation is one that inspires the dog and has the dog focussed on the handler / person. A great way to do this is to isolate the dog for a while before you begin training. My dog is generally in my home, before meals, or in a crate in my car at the training field. When I bring out the leash he is all excited to engage with me. In fact he is so engaged to train that there can be any number of other dogs on the field – my dog’s focus stays on me.
This is only possible if you start out by training your dog as I mentioned above. I have never tried to separate my dog from another dog when he was younger. He was allowed to play with other dogs, and still is. However, when it came time to train, there were no other dogs around to distract him. I was the most interesting thing around, I was the giver of praise-food-and toys. Everything good came from me before – during – and after training. Once that was clear in his head we could train anywhere with any number of distractions.
If you want a well-trained dog, do what it takes and don’t try to be too different. Think of your dog first and what he needs. Give him the tools to succeed and he will. Always set your dog up for success.
Forget about trying to train 2 dogs at once, in most situations it is a recipe for failure. I suggest having one dog trained before getting another one. This should take you about a year or two. Dogs from the same litter or puppies of the same age are very difficult to train. One of the keys to successful training is to make it achievable.
