Treat the pair as two separate puppies
Two littermates arriving together can look like an easy package — one trip to collect them, shared toys, instant company for each other. The risk hides underneath that convenience: puppies who eat, sleep, train, and explore only as a pair can become so reliant on each other that being apart, even briefly, feels alarming, and the quieter puppy may never practise making choices without the bolder one going first. From the first evening, build in separateness. Give each puppy a crate of their own, feed them in different spots, and let them nap apart as well as together. They should still enjoy plenty of paired play, but their day needs solo chapters too.
Build solo confidence in small doses
Confidence grows through tiny, successful separations rather than long tests. Take one puppy into the garden for a toilet trip while the other stays inside with a stuffed food toy, then swap. Walk each puppy a short distance alone once they are going out, even if the other gets a paired walk later. Play a simple name game with one puppy in the kitchen while the other rests behind a baby gate within earshot. If one puppy panics when the other leaves the room, shorten the gap, keep departures boring, and build the time up gradually instead of letting the pair stay glued together all day to keep the peace.
Separate the training, share the play
Teach new cues one puppy at a time. A puppy trying to learn to sit or come when called cannot concentrate while a littermate is bouncing off their shoulder, stealing rewards, and turning every repetition into a wrestling match. Short solo sessions of a few minutes, several times a day, teach far more than one long paired session. Keep paired time for what it does best: supervised play, exploring the garden together, and learning bite inhibition from each other's reactions. Watch that play closely — if one puppy repeatedly pins, chases, or pesters the other past the point of loose, wiggly fun, step in, split them calmly, and give both a break.
Divide the work fairly between people
Two puppies double the toilet trips, night wake-ups, meals, grooming practice, and training sessions, and in many homes one person quietly absorbs most of it while the other handles only the entertaining parts. Sketch a daily rota covering who does the early-morning trip for which puppy, who feeds which bowl, and who runs each puppy's solo training slot. Rotate the assignments so each puppy works happily for every household member and neither handler becomes the only person a puppy will listen to. Swap notes on what each puppy ate, learned, or struggled with, because littermates develop at different speeds and a trick that clicked for one may need a different approach for the other.
Watch each puppy's own progress
Judge each littermate against their own yesterday, not against their sibling. One may toilet train quickly but fret at night; the other may sleep soundly yet take longer to recall away from distractions. Comparing them constantly leads to pushing the slower puppy or boring the faster one. If one puppy becomes withdrawn, guards food or toys from the other, or cannot settle unless touching their sibling, raise it at a vet check or with a qualified trainer early, while the habits are still young and changeable. Keeping the two routines distinct is much simpler with KinsLe, where Care Teams can hold a separate duty list for each puppy so every handler knows exactly which job belongs to which youngster.