Last week I started working with a family that have two 18 month old schnauzers Jett a male and Grace a female. They are not siblings but have grown up together and are very bonded to each other. The problem for their owners is that they really only take direction from each other. When they are overstimulated, stressed or excited they feed off of each other. This creates a severe situation of excessive barking, housebreaking errors and unruly behavior within the home and on walks.
My short term plan to encourage a stronger bond with Grace and Jett's to their owners is to keep them on leads withinn the home. Each person will keep only one of them by their side at a time. They will be fed, excersized, trained and receive praise separately. Their owners will take turns spending time with each of them individually and to reward all the behaviors that they enjoy in them as separate individuals.
This is a slow process but once Grace and Jett begin to look to humans for support and direction it will be much easier to teach them to respond when given commands. Their owners are so devoted to them and now realize that taking on two puppies at once created a difficult learning and bonding environment.
It was amazing to watch them, even in the hour I was there I could see that they were begining to look to people for resources. A definate step in the right direction!!!!