my bitch has recently had to male pups, and i would like to know if to brothers would be happy to live together. my bitch sasha is nine and a laid back girl and nothing bothers her and is currently waiting to be rehomed with my sister, whom would prefer the older staffie and she is great with kids. but my concern is if the 2 boys would be ok together, as i have been told that to males will kill each other rather than live together. but surely if they r brothers and r not bought up and incouraged to fight, surely they would b fine together. i really need help on this as i dont want to have to dogs if the breeding in them says to fight with one another. as i have had experience with 2 bitchs one i had from a pup the other was introduced a few years later and it all ended in tears as they suddenly turned on each other, i assumed it was because i bought the other bitch in to late and onto her territory.
any advise would b gratefully recived

In my experience and opinion, borne out by speaking to those longer in dogs than myself, it is more likely for two males close in age (as two brothers are of course) to fight. the reason is there is nothing that elevates one in staus over the other, which is what you have when you have a couple of years age gap, so that a young puppy learns to respect the older dog like it would it's mother.

Totally agree with brainless on this one, having two dogs of the same sex of the same age can lead to subling rivalry later on developing into fighting.

This is especially so with any terrier, particularly staffies.

I have experienced this twice and both times one of the dogs had to be rehomed, not in my house by the way. I was involved via rescue.

Also having two pups of the same age makes training and separation anxiety a real problem (for instance who has done the puddle on the carpet!)

Jayne

Hi,

I asked a not disimilar question on this board a little while back you can see it & the responses here:

http://www.champdogs.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?tid=12746#82770

We are experienced Labrador owners and after a lot of research into the pro's & cons of this we have decided that we are taking two Labrador pups from the same litter.

We will let you all know how it goes. :rolleyes:

We are NOT having two males though, we are having a male and a female, a brother & sister.

We have been advised by a lot of people about the potential problems in taking pups from the same litter and we are prepared for this.

We are really determined to have sibbling pups and we are aware of what we are taking on.
In general we would not reccomend anyone doing this unless they are fully aware of what they are doing and aware of all the problems that can occur.

There are no guarantees but the consensus of opinion seems to be that if you do take sibblings then brother & sister are probably the best combination to have. I can tell you straight though that we would not have taken two males under any circumstances and we are talking about the Labrador breed here which is not renowned for fighting.
I would be VERY worried about having two male Staffies together.

Having said all that, and just to show you that sometimes you can be proved wrong, we do now know after posting here of two five year old male Labrador brothers who have been brought up together without any problems at all. They were both neuteured at about 11 months and share the same room, toys etc without any signs of trouble at all.

HOWEVER ! ....... we still wouldn't risk it, sorry !

Hi all, I have 4 male labs, 1 aged 3yrs+3mths, 1 aged 3yrs, both entire, that havr lived together since I got them at 9wks & 10wks respectively. The other male is 18mths(also not neutered) & the son of the 3yr old who sleeps with his litter sister at night & the other males when he feels.The other male is 5+half yrs neutered who sleeps with his 2 litter sisters but they all live together in the house in the daytime & go out together to play & they have never had a fight. Only posted this cos Labs were mentioned & have v limited experience with the Staffies. It can & does work with Labs if you are prepared & able to put in the time needed. Sorry to Staffies for going OT. :)
Christine, Spain

NO... No other way of saying this but NO WAY!!!

Two male staffords inthe same house is a very tricky situation and would not be attempted except inthe most experienced hands, and this with a significant age difference... To keep 2 male pups of the same age you will definately end up rehoming one of them. I have seen the results on 2 males that are 2 years apart - they fought once and from that time had to be kept apart even when supervised as they wanted to kill each otehr - and i am not exadgerrating in any way...

Please do not keep both these pups...

Talking dogs in general the most likley problems of having litter mates is that in playing together they will cause themselves injury. Pups of large breeds should not be allowed to over exersise. I keep males together with no trouble, did have trouble with 2 bitches in the past, but they are spaced by at least 2 years, that way the new puppy know where he stands in the family and is not having to push to be top of the canine pile as he doesn't have a chance. Jackie