Hi

Am posting on behalf of a friend. She has just had a litter, and is planning to keep two of the boys as they are her picks. She has been told many horror stories of keeping brothers and all the fights that can occur, so she is worried and asked me to post for some info and more opinions and experiences :) (She does not have internet access)

Her dogs are all house dogs, and she is home all day with them. She currently has 3 bitches, and 2 dogs. Each of her dogs get 1-2-1 time with her, as well as time spent as a group.

> She has been told many horror stories of keeping brothers and all the fights that can occur

Apart from the usual problems with keeping litter-mates, I'd have thought potential male:male problems would vary depending on breed ie. the more dog-domiant breeds would pose much more of a concern once at the teenage/adulthood stage than 'easy-going' breeds.

Agree that breed makes a huge difference.  Some breeds you can't keep males together full stop, others any number of stud dogs can live happily together. 

In between you will get breeds where males can live together happily as long as there are clear distinctions in hierarchy and no entire girls to fight over.

Generally with most of the middle of the road and dominant types i would not advise keeping two brothers in a multidog and multi-sex household (ditto bitches).

I would not keep the two unless she is prepared to re-home one if it doesn't work out, and this may well be when they are 2 - 4 years old.

I've posted my story here several times - 2 similar breed puppies bought at 10 weeks, so not quite littermates but only 3 days apart. All fine until I added a bitch when the boys were 3, hubby took 1 boy away for a walking weekend, when they arrived home it was WWIII! Had to keep them separate as they meant business, things did improve 4 years on when we moved house but I could never trust them entirely. I would advise against, even if she has experience of a male/female mixed pack.

I've had 12 week old litterbrothers draw blood on each other, they meant business. It wasn't the breed you'd think either!!

I have 4 males in a house with 3 females and never have any trouble.  My oldest boy is very laid back about bitches when they are in season and the younger males have followed his lead on that.  I have 2 half brothers and 2 full brothers, not a sqabble about anything, they all get along just fine.  I have however had problems with a mother and daughter who got along fine for 7 years and then the daughter took a dislike to her mother and attacked her at any opportunity.  I tried seperating them for a while but as soon as they were reintroduced she attacked her straight away.  Needless to say I had to rehome one of them and deciding that the daughter would be better off in a home where she would be on her own that is what I did, she has a fabulous home and peace reigns again. x

Thanks everyone, will pass it all on :) Is a utility group breed, not known to be reactive or dog dominant (think mop but not the smaller ones..) LOL

years ago i had 2male english bull terriers that were inseperable (and i dont mean fighting !!!) another time ive had two bitches who absolutely HATED each other .....all were house dogs all had one to one time and all had lots of free exercise together ....Depends on the breed ,sex,but also each dogs personality.

Why does she need to keep2 boys when she already has so many dogs would be my question. And huge no no to littermates.She should keep 1 but sell the other easier to move a cute puppyon than a dog who has a history of fighting.

I have had a mop like breed from the Utility group all my life (ok since I was 2).  My first question would be, is she keeping both boys or is she running both boys on for a few months?  the boys would most probably be fine together until sexual maturity, then problems would begin because of her having bitches.

I do know of people who successfully keep male together but I have never been successful in this as I have bitches.  And I'm pretty sure that the males kept together had an age gap.

I have never kept two boys from the same litter, but have kept two girls.  They couldn't stand each other & constantly fought.  In the end I had one girl & my mother had the other.  I had to move back in with my mum for a few months & even at the age of 12 they tried to kill each other :-(

My honest opinion, is I WOULDN'T do it.  But then I wouldn't recommend having two pups of the same age whether they were from the same litter or not.  Training one pup is a huge commitment as it is.

Agree with the above post about rehoming now, not with a history!

My advice, don't even go there!

We currently have 2 almost 3 year old SBT brothers who have recently started to fight.  We were advised by the good people on this site not to get two, but my husband who thinks he knows it all proceeded to get both whatever the advice I really regret not insisting on only one now.  We are now at the point where just yesterday I contacted the breeder for some help in rehoming one of them.

They love each other to bits one minute and are best friends then in a flash world war III breaks out and let me tell you it is not something to take lightly.  So far we have managed to separate them but I am now petrified of being on my own with them in case I cannot separate them alone, I am a 5' 2" woman trying to separate pure muscle of 23 and 19 kilos, not easy.

If anyone knows of a good home for one of my dogs I would be grateful if you could let me know.  They love people as most SBT do and are both lovely dogs I wish we could keep them both, but for their own safety and my sanity I know the right thing to do is rehome.  Please pass this on to your friend so three years down the line she does not have to go through this heartbreak.

Julie