Can puppies still recognise their siblings once they've gone to a new home?
The sun is finally here - but the news doesn't stop. Sign up for our newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe for free Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice  I recently bought my first puppy along with a family member who also got a furbaby from the same litter. Whenever they meet theyre inseparable and it was the same when I had a dog growing up. My grandad also had a pup from the same litter and the dogs grew up together and had a wonderful bond. Watching my dog Bungle and his sister Maggie play together, its hard to believe that theyre not aware of their special bond. So I decided to ask an expert. I contacted Anna Webb, a nutrition and behaviour expert and host of A Dogs Life podcast, to find out if dogs really can recognise their own family members. She said: Whether canine siblings recognise each other after theyve flown their birth nest is still not known. Theres been some studies that show that puppies do know their mothers scent and their littermates, but unless a dog is living with one of his original littermates theres less likelihood theyll recognise each other. The reason for this is whilst wolves do maintain their ability to know each other in their pack for life, domestication has weakened this survival skill in dogs. A dogs pack becomes his human family and dogs are known for remaining in the present. That said, in one study 76 per cent of dogs aged two selected their mothers scent sample over another bitch of the same age and breed, highlighting scent recognition. Every dog is an individual and some siblings may well just get along, but whether they know theyre related is still unsure.  So, there you have it. Its not known for definite, but Im going to carry on believing that they know - because the thought warms up my heart!