hello! just wondered if anyone had any advice about keeping 2 brothers? years ago we had 2  boys, one was 4 years older then the other, although they were not brothers as time went on when the younger one got to about 4 he started to change. nipping at first then it was full scale war. of course it was the thing of trying to be top dog untill in the end they had to be kept apart full time. yet for the first 4 years they were as good as gold. it was heartbreaking. now my girl has babies and the original plan was for us to keep one, but there's 2 who we have attached to. it's hard trying to decide. we dont want history to repeat itself. has anyone else had this?

IMHO stick to just one - bringing up two puppies to be independant of each other is hard work on its own, let alone the problems that may develop later on down the line as they mature and start to want to develop their hierachy (as you already know with two unrelated dogs, and related dogs, especially from the same litter and same sex are even more likely to have these sorts of problems :( )

Just keep one - we got 2 dogs the same age but different breeds, and after 3 happy years they have started fighting and have to be kept apart. :-(

Hi Kaseyangel,

I agree totally with Digger and Lucy - the problems of keeping littermates are immense and with the best will in the world the 10 x harder than average work with socialising, house training and turning each of them into a well behaved family pet can easily go out the window a couple of years down the line when they decide to sort out the pecking order and neither is about to give in :(

I know how easy it is to get attached - we all do - but this is one of those situations where it is very important that your head rules your heart.  It is actually much kinder to let one of them go as they need and deserve individual attention.  Be strong, be firm with any family members who may try to persuade you otherwise, and stick to what is best for everyone, human and pups alike - that is keeping only ONE.   Best wishes, Teri :)

Don't do it............

Also, 2 dogs are a lot more likely to start fighting if they are the SAME age than if there are a few years in between them.

Marianne

Hi as you will know your dogs are very boisterous in the early days trying to train two boxer puppies is not for the faint hearted. Only my opinion but if i was in your shoes i would stick to just keeping the one puppy.
good luck in whatever you decide