Due to having a male pup returned to me, I was wondering if anyone has experienced of keeping a brother and sister from the same litter (I kept a girl). I know it won't be easy but wonder if anybody could give me any advice. I would castrate him as early as possible to avoid unwanted litters (I want to breed from the girl in a few years time - if she comes up to standard and passes her health tests), but wouldn't want to keep an entire male.

Thanks in advance.

I kept a dog & bitch puppy together for 5 months - not easy (which one ate the flooring, which one chewed the TV aerial???? etc. etc.) The dog then went to his new home & returned just over a year later when his owner had a heart attack. Only problems, once Mum & sister accepted him back, was that the dog was very naughty (escape artist) & was a much stronger character than the bitch who was a little angel but "easily led"! If the dog escaped, she'd follow. They got on fine though, and lived together for the next 13yrs when the bitch died. I was always glad she went 1st as I don't know how she would have reacted if he'd gone first. I'd definately advice castration, my only mistake litter in nearly 30yrs of keeping dogs & bitches together came when the dog mated his Mum!
If you are prepared for the extra work & training involved in keeping 2, (& you sound as if you are) I'd go for it - good luck.

I have kept 2 bitches and 1 boy from the same litter. This has been our first season and the boy has mated with both the girls.
They are now aged 16 months and are generally well behaved but due to the seasonits been a bit crazy. If you are planning to mate the girl I would suggest getting the boy neutered which is what I am doing in a week or two.

I have 2 litter mates but are both males , they can't be seperated because they have bonded so much to eachother. Bella the big momma keeps them in order.

Hi
I do have a brother and sister littermates.  Yes it has worked but I wouldn't do it again. What I would strongly advice against is having the male neutered "as early as possible" -if I had my choice over again I would rather arrange for somebody to look after the bitch when in season the first time or two, or vice versa. I spent a lot of time socialising both pups separately -they went for separate walks, went to training classes separately etc, but even so the bitch cannot cope without the dog. The dog is okay away from her. But my main problem is that as they (both) were neutered early (5 months) both are still like puppies at the stage where they spook easily (they are 3) and have never gained any confidence. Essentially in the case of the dog, I have a 27" 45 kg huge dog who is terrified of his own shadow almost. If he sees a small dog, he will run! He has no confidence at all, and I believe this is something that can happen when neutering early. The bitch is actually even WORSE, she's even timid with *us*, yet NOTHING bad has ever happened to either of these two. I do notice a BIG difference between mine and the puppies in the same litter that went to other homes singly and were neutered later. The others are a lot more confident.

So personally I'd advice neutering once the boy is mature, and make arrangements for the meantime. Hopefully you will then avoid my problems. Don't get me wrong, I adore both mine and neither are a problem as such, wellbehaved etc, but I feel awful about how timid they are.  I think the double whammy was the catalyst here -littermates AND early neutering . I did of course have my reasons at the time for the neutering, now I wish I could turn time back. (Like you I hadn't planned to keep two pups, it was just necessity after the home for the bitch fell through.)

Marianne

Just to add to my previous post - would agree with Goldmali & have the dog castrated later rather than sooner if possible  by putting one of them in kennels for the 1st season.

I had litter brothers until we lost one a few months ago, I didn't have any problems at all. They didn't bond close together either, one of them prefered me and the his brother my OH. I think it depends on the breed alot of the time.

I always keep one of each from the litter. not had any problems atall.

We have had brother and sister from same litter and never had any problems.  We also had two brothers, one we got at a young age to show and the other six months later.  The latter  fought with his brother from day one, the former never fought back but when really tested would put his brother "down" and held him there for a moment or two.  Ours were not neutered as we showed them - however in the brother / sister relationship we had the brother neutered. At the moment we have all bitches and despite hearing forebodings from people we have no problems, they all get on fine.
Neeva

I have done it a few times and currently have a 7 month old dog and 10 wek old bitch.  Yes its harder work with 2 puppies, but the rewards are enormous.   Its nice to see them playing together, you don't have the problems of putting an older dogs nose out of joint by bringing a puppy into the house when they have always been the apple of your eye.
One tip though to keep thier independence from each other.  make sure in the begginning you take them at times outside seperatly and do a few sits and toilet and groom etc and when old enough for walks do some of them individually.  That way they get a nice bond without being obsessive about each other.

bev

As it turns out, I have found him a super new home (an agility friend of mine who lives locally) so I will see him on a regular basis and when my girl starts her agility training so will he. I had decided if he wasn't going to have him I would keep him.

Thanks for all your advice, I will bear it in mind for the future - you can never have too much knowledge!

Regards
Karen