Very strange question but are singleton puppies more difficult in their behavior?
Friendly dog with a good temperament from good lines, however very difficult "puppy behavior" more so than any other I've come across.
This is my first singleton, just curious really. Thanks.

With our singleton, a b itch, the biggest problem was once mum was off her pretty much 100% I felt so sorry for her all alone in the box that I tended to carry her around with me.   I couldn't let her with the others because she wasn't big enough.    As a result, I freely admit she was spoilt rotten.    We kept her although sadly she wasn't as good as I'd hoped so she wasn't shown after the first few puppy classes, and I never took a litter from her - in fact she came in bang on 6 months (odd, none of her relative bitches did that) and then started cycling roughly every 5 months.   That was pulling her down and she didn't enjoy being confined away from the others that often a year so she was spayed.

She was a prima donna - ruled the roost big time although in truth, the others gave her a wide birth - R E S P E C T, so we never had any actual bust-ups.   Again I put all that down to her being spoilt early on, and having no competition within a litter.   Bless.

My Beardie boy was a singleton but his breeder had a slightly older litter which he mixed with. He has the most wonderful temperament gets on with other dogs. I have people to stay with their dogs and he's fine I got 2 kittens no problem. Had a cage of fancy rats he sat at cage and had his whiskers nibbled.

He's 15 years old and never been a minute's trouble. Can't imagine life without him

One of my boys is a singleton puppy. Unfortunately he is totally spoilt, he went from living in my friend's home (she bred him) where if he made a squeak he was immediately picked up by one of her 4 daughters to my home where he was again pampered to by my 4 children from the minute he arrived. He was extremely demanding as a young puppy and at 5 months old, just through his home circumstances, we ended up rehoming another puppy of the same breed that was only 3 days younger than him. This was brilliant for Stan as he had the playmate he hadn't had and luckily for us Max's temperament is the complete opposite to him, very laid back and not demanding at all and they've lived happily together now for 10 years.

As an aside poor Stan's mum couldn't stand him and throughout her life whenever we met up with her family she spent the whole time grumbling at him, it ended up being a running joke between us. She never had another litter (couldn't get into whelp) so he was her only puppy.

> She never had another litter (couldn't get into whelp) so he was her only puppy

Interesting that because our singleton puppy was from that bitch's second litter - the first only produced 2 puppies, to another male.  Clearly she wasn't a prolific producer which was a disappointment as she was one of two bitches (and a male) we'd kept from that litter and I'd always felt she was going to be the better brood bitch.   Her sister took a UK title (this was from a litter we'd bred out in Canada and brought back to the UK with us) but I didn't think was going to be the producer.    As it happened (ignoring the disaster her litter was on the part of the vet) the Champ. sister produced 9 puppies (initially - 5 were lost as the direct result of what the vet didn't do).

Awwwww  I want the Beardie boy.

Sounds as if I'm very lucky.  My Border Collie is a singleton from working lines.  The breeder was an obedience/agility person. 

I cannot say how impressed I was when she came to deliver him.  She came into my living room with the pup.  My Toy Poodle snarled in his face, just to let him know that she stood no nonsense.  His breeder said he'll be fine here. 

He didn't blink, he didn't flinch.  He is calmly confident. He has been so very easy to train and loves learning, I can only say that whatever she did in her rearing of him, I'm impressed.

We had a singleton and she started to become food aggressive and pushy by 6 weeks old. My vet advised that we take her to be socialised as soon as possible as risk of infection was far out weighed by risk of being destroyed should the behaviour ever get out of hand when she reached her full 45+ kilos. I spoke to the dog club and as long as we were happy to sign the waiver that we wanted to join the class early - she could go.

By the time she was 13 weeks old, she was fully house trained, had passed the kennel club puppy foundation course and had learnt manners. We did indulge her at bedtime as mum wasn't happy to sleep in with her at night from 3 weeks on wards and we knew she'd get cold if she wandered off the heat mat so she slept in a bed next to us and we made sure we got up to make mum feed her until she was ready to be weaned. She came everywhere we went as there weren't any siblings to keep her entertained or to snuggle up to but that's as far as the indulgence went. The new handler was very impressed with her and amazed at how much she had learned. We just did as our vet advised and kept her busy with proactive teaching and tiring her out enough to keep her happy and quiet.

It's all down to what you do with them and as I was home alone with her and the other dogs, I could take sole responsibility for her daily routine and when to pander to her diva moments and when to ignore them. Had roles been reversed, my husband would have created the pup from hell!

Thank you everyone for not laughing at my question.

I am a groomer and had in a puppy of a different breed today, similar in age to my boy that was one of 6 and the pup was good as gold. Made mine look like dennis the menace.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's got a bad temperament. He's wonderful with people and other animals but all the other pups I have had over the years have not been as bad for chewing, barking and misbehaving.

We have 5 dogs including him, all of them have been with us as pups and he's so far the worst in behavior.

Our girl had a singleton pup on her second litter (five others all stillborn and unable to revive them). My mentor scared the life out of me with tales of how singletons temperament is bad and from the start I did my best not to spoil him and to provide him with challenges similar to in a litter, pushing him off the teat or playfighting with toys with him.
He was mixing with the rest of our pack far earlier than usual which helped with his education although I had to separate him from our boy as he learned that he wouldn't do anything to puppies and so puppy would chase and torment him, not what we wanted him to learn!
We also took him to visit stud dog breeders and also our mentor to meet their dogs at seven weeks.
We chose his home very carefully and he went to live with a bossy botch to help put him in his place. He very quickly took over and ruled the roost! However he is an absolute gentleman with a fantastic temperament and loved by his family. He comes to visit twice a year to be clipped and is a real treasure.

>Awwwww  I want the Beardie boy>

Not a chance Jean I cherish every day with him now

My singleton girl is quite clingy, as in I am typing this with the laptop at a very awkward angle as she insists on sitting on my lap the whole time. But then she is a Cavalier, so perhaps not so very unusual! I found that even with good puppy classes and careful socialisation, she isn't as bold as fearless as the breed standard really calls for, she utterly loves people and is perfectly happy with other dogs controlled on leads, but gets worried by them offlead, she's never quite got the hang of free play in a bunch. :-)