2 puppies togethr?

I have just been told on another forum that it is 'a nightmare waiting to happen' wanting 2 puppies of the same litter together, and that most breeders will refuse to give a person 2 pups, what are your views on this?

I have one dog that I have had since he was born (he was a bogof from a rescue dog we rehomed) and I really wish I had kept one of his siblings.

I have been given this link to read
http://www.caninedevelopment.com/Sibling.htm

Its not impossible for it to work out, but I would not recommend it - particularly to a first time dog owner.

one point that the article doesn't seem to cover (I've only skimmed it) is the possibility of the siblings (usually of the same sex) falling out as they mature...being of same age, size etc. there isn't always automatically one 'top' dog and this can cause problems. Of course many will live together happily without any such fights, but if they do happen, they can be difficult to stop and will often result in one of the dogs having to be rehomed.

I have no experience of this personally but my vet told me of a lady with two welshies who were male pups from the same litter and who grew up to hate each other and she actually has to keep them in seperate parts of the house, walk them seperately etc.

Two puppies together can work, but only if the owner(s)are prepared to put in an enormous amount of training the puppies separately.

Siblings can form very close bonds with each other rather than the owner & they can fall out quite violently as they mature.

A lot depends on the breed & the owner. I personally would never allow two of my puppies go to the same home unless I know the owners personally & know that they will be able to cope.

Thanks for the replies so far

So what would be the ideal conditions to keep 2 pups of the same litter in? (or 2 pups from different litters- I suspect they would still form a close bond?)

They would need at least one other adult dog to live with & the owners would have to have the time to train them from the day they go to their new home. They should sleep in separate beds/crates & have time on their own & with their owner(s). They also need to be well socialized together & separately with other dogs/people.

I have a friend who has managed this with three litter brothers, however she is a very experienced owner & trainer & it wasn't easy for her

I have siblings, but its not something I recomend to first time owners.
nero on the forum has two litter brothers from one of my litters, though he did not get them at the same time there was 5 weeks between them going.

the rescue that I'm with wont adopt out 2 puppies at once, either siblings or separate litters, we don't want someone trying to return one because of aggression towards the other, or both because of unruly behaviour. Having 2 puppies at the same time is really only something that should be taken on by an extremely experienced home.

I kept litter brother Irish Setters and a litter brother and sister English Setter and never had any problems with them, in fact it was a lot easier to leave them to play/sleep together when I couldn't be watching over them 24/7 than to have them in a cage/puppy pen on their own. They all intermingled with my older ones but were put to bed together etc until they were old/big enough to be with the others full time.

I didn't notice anything different about them when they were playing/sharing beds with my other dogs who had been raised as singletons.

From one litter of English Setters I sold two sisters to one home and two brothers to another, they have since taken Bradley too so have three litter brothers. These homes were experienced homes and had multiple setters before, (I never sold my pups to people that hadn't had setters before), so I had no reservations about letting them have the siblings at the same time. These pups are now 3 years old and none of them have any social/behavioural issues so it did work out but I can understand the problems this could cause. My friend who took the two boys didn't get them housetrained as quickly as the friend with the girls, or as quickly as Bradley learned, but then he had a houseful of older dogs to teach him how to use the dog flap and other useful routines.

English Setters are not really dogs for first time owners, despite their wonderful natures they are quite naughty and can be destructive and I would imagine that two of them with a novice owner would be an absolute nightmare.

I understand totally where people are coming from who advise against it, but it can work if you are experienced enough and dedicate enough time to both pups. I think it would also depend on the breed/mix of dog involved.

I have two dogs of entirely different breeds that are month apart in age. Would I do it again? yes, but then someone is here most of the time and the dogs get a LOT of time apart, including separate walks (they don't get taken together) and training. Both are very people oriented too, which again makes it easier. The only tough thing was toilet training...just try keeping on top of not one but two pups; one is more than bad enough!

Would I have siblings? no way, too much potential for it to go wrong. Would have pups of the same age and breed but from different litters? again, no way. Would I have two pups that are totally different breeds again? yes, if I considered it all very carefully.