hi was wondering why everyoner on here thinks its a bad idea to have 2 pups from the same litter. I have 2 bitches which came from the same litter who are just over a year old they get along famously and never fight or compete against eachother and adore eachother. They do everything together and at the end of the day cuddle up together as best buddies

My two boys from the same litter also love each other and cuddle up together. They love to do everything together - they love each other far more than they do us! :rolleyes: They're wonderfully easy when taken out separately - taken out together and we might as well not be there for all the interest they take in us. I'd never have two the same age again.

Your bitches are young yet toi start being competitive in hierachical terms. 

This is most likely to occur on full maturity if at all.  You may be lucky if your breed if it is particularly dog sociable and your two girls lacking in any dominant traits (most un dog like). 

It may also be that you rar perceived by them as such a good leader that they have no wish for one of them to be higher in status than the other.

The other problem is that of course being dogs they will attach themselves more firmly to their own species than to you.  This can cause problems of over dependance, and problems in training for you.

Luckily your pups are both small so some of the problems physically with two boisterous, destructive adolescents may be reduced by sheer lack of volume.

I wonder how you would feel with two Mastiffs at the hooligan stage who both wanted to go greet another possibly smaller dog in tha park?

I alsolutely would never had two dogs (no matter what sex) from the same litter. I find 2 young dogs of differnet ages (1 year apart) hard enough but to go through all the training at the same time would be a nighmare. You have to have the time to train each one seperately and also together, no mean feat. Also as mentioned they bond too closely together and as a pair they have very little need for the owner, i'd much rather they had that bond with me. Again thy may get on now but that may not always be the case and they are so close in age/size e.t.c. it would be unusual not to get problems i would imagine.
Hey ho, thats all just my opinion though!

I had a brother and sister from the same litter and although in their day to day lives I have never had any problems the bitch absolutely hates going to shows without her brother and I am convinced it is the cause of her ring shyness but when they are both at home they do not have any problems although got to say I wouldnt do it again.

Absolutely agree with you on that one Lucy!  My two are from different litters - one male doberman and one female rott X - and are 2.5 months apart.  The work involved is rediculous - I can't train them both at once regardless of what for - if I'm training nidoors (for tricks etc) I have to shut the other in another room, otherwise I'd have to give them treats every time I clicked for the first dog (or the clicker would lose its power); and on a walk, I can't train them both to walk to heel or recall at the same time, because one walks wonderfully on the lead and the other doesn't, and their recall issues are slightly different.

There can be rivalry issues as well, if they are the same sex - an example would be dobermans.  You should *never* buy two brothers or two sisters at the same time, as it's likely they will fight severely when they hit maturity.  The same is true of same-sex pairs from different litters.  I'm sure there are other breeds like this.

I've no doubt it works for some people - I think a lot depends on what you are looking for in a dog; I want dogs that do a lot of things.  For example, my dobe can shut doors on command, spin, take a bow, and does agility; whereas my girl can roll over & play dead, stand on her back legs, and will be doing flyball.  These aren't things you can train well at the same time with both dogs.  If someone wants a pair of dogs just as companions, then I dare say it does work out - I know a family with an 8 month lab and a 5 month retriever with no problems - but they are only pets, they only need to sit and come back when called.  Plus, they are easy-train breeds compared to many.  Just my opinion of course, but I will never get a pair of pups at the same time again - there will always be something like a year between my future pups, to give me the time I need to train them up to my standards.

My own breed is rather independant, and I find they very quickly learn to take advantage and ignore you when they know you are preoccupied with one of the others (ppo pick up is a classic), so I have found I need at least two years, but better 3 years to be able to take them out all together and still ahving reasonable control. 

Even so I am now finding that the veterans do pretty much their own thing, and get away with it as they are pretty sensible :D

I normally walk my five (19mnths, 5yrs, 7 1/2 yrsa, 10yrs, and 13yrs)altogether on lead without any trouble at all.  I was away last weekend with one of them and my freind had four.  This made five dogs one 13 months one 19 months, two two year olds, a 3 year old and a 6 year old. 

When we stopped for my freind to get her head down (coming back down from Scotland) I took the five dogs for a walk. 

Compared to taking my five this was really hard work, becuse in effect I had 3 youngsters and only two adults.  It was hard work getting them to walk bu my side or slightly behind.  the 3 young ones all wanted to be in front which of course lessens my ability to control them.  We had to stop and start a lot until they got the idea that I weasn't having any pulling or jostling for lead positions. :D

The friend who has the two two year olds has found it very hard work, even though they are very good girls really. 

She has had dogs close in age before and always found it gave problems sooner or later, whereas with my much more generational group I have no problems with their relationships at all.

i have two 7mth old blue merle boy dogs from the same litter shiloh and cheyanneanne both get on really well together sharing toys sharing there beds and the best of all they eat from the same bowl ive never had no nastyness from this my sister also had two tri brothers from the same litter as me and her two boys iestyn and brenyn are exactly like my two really great together so me and my sister must be one of the lucky ones

Jenniefer you cannot reallyn say yet as your boys are still only puppies.  No one says they aren't good company ofr each other trhough puppyhood, this would be the natural order in a wild pack.  It is th3e problems when they reach amturity, the problems of training two and their over dependance on each other at the expense of theri relationship with you which will be undermined making training evn more difficult.

Let us know how you are getting 0on when the boys are 3 or 4 years of age :D

I have to disagree on this one, I had litter brothers until November last year until we sadly lost one. They are 3. I had two at the same time as my first dog (same breed) was VERY dependant on me so I thought getting two would prevent this. I was worried that they would bond more with each other but this didn't happen. They never fought and got on well together always sleeping curled up together.They made a good team, Whisper would catch the rabbits and josh would eat them!! I suppose it depends on the breed, some are more trouble than others!

I always feel that two puppies from the same litter simply transfer their playground from the breeder's home to the new owner's home.  Their priorities are still playing and bonding with each other rather than bonding with the new owner.

Two male puppies may play together fine for the first year or so, but because puberty and hormones kick in at the same time in both dogs there could well be battles for dominance.  This can happen whether two males the same age are related or not.  I am always reluctant to sell a male puppy to a home where there is already a male.  Although I have done so on a couple of occasions after extensive questioning of the new owners, and in each case the established dog was soft, friendly and getting towards middle age.  These homes were complete successes, with both dogs becoming devoted.

A few years ago my sister had two Female Bichons and two Yorkies (one male and 1 female) who she was intending to breed.  Well the female yorkie wasn't so keen on the male yorkie and she decided not to breed after all.  When one of the female Bichons was nine years old she became pregnant by the male yorkie (my sister had no knowledge that they had been together because she kept them separate when in season)  and the first she knew of it was when the Bichon was actually giving birth.  She ended up with four healthy puppies, two bitches and two dogs.  She rehomed one of the bitches and ended up keeping the other 3 puppies and they all get on very well and they will be 9 years old this year.  The bitch she homed lives down the road from her and her family think the world of her. :-)