I adopted two litter mates but not at the same time. I obtained the male when he
was eight weeks old. My nine-year-old German Shepherd Dog died in an accident a
couple of months later after which the puppy was obviously acting lonely. I
found out his litter mate was still available so I went back to the kennel and
brought her home. By that time, the male had almost finished Puppy Basic
Training at Petsmart so he was nicely socialized. I started the female in a
concurrent class immediately. She was almost five months old when I brought her
home but she was already socialized. The puppies recognized each other instantly
so the introduction went very well. I believe the critical age for socialization
is between six and 14 weeks. Later than that and you have extra work to do.

They are nine months old now and get along beautifully. The female was spayed
before I brought her home. The male is about to be neutered. He rarely displays
any sexual behaviors towards his sister. I'm just doing it for his general
health and longevity. Neither dog ever exhibits dominance behaviors. They get
along wonderfully which includes occasional harmless play fighting. I believe
that early training was key.
The pups: http://www.magicandjewel.com/

Several years ago I had a pair of same sex Siberian Husky litter mates and that
worked out beautifully also. Same sex pairs of some breeds are less likely to
get along well. For example, same sex GSDs can be notoriously competitive with
each other. My puppies are competitive but it's obviously only playful. I feel
that my dogs are calm because I am. In short, I don't think it matters if dogs
are from the same litter if the human provides the right environment for their
wellbeing.

Cary Enoch Reinstein, Enoch's Vision Inc. http://www.enochsvision.com
Blog: http://www.enochsvision.net - "Behind all these manifestations is the
one radiance, which shines through all things. The function of art is to reveal
this radiance through the created object." (Joseph Campbell)

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"Sofia"<sofialoren8@...>wrote:
Hello Fellow Fans! I have a question about adopting littermates. For
soooooo long I have wanted a collie puppy and later this summer I will
have a chance to adopt one. I would like to adopt two female pups, but
when I mention this to others many have said that adopting litter mates is not a
good idea. Is that true? Some have said there will be a
'sibling rivalry' issue. Others have said it is ok but not two of the
same gender. As a foster home for dogs, there have been times when we
would have more than one puppy very close in age and it was never a
problem. True they were not from the same litter, but still puppies of
the same age. Does being from the same litter really make that much of a
difference? Thank you for your help.

Sofia