I have lots of past experience with Hungarian pointers, English springers, German pointers and currently run a English/GSP X and an ESS (one at FT standard).

I am thinking that I would like to train a pair of pointer sisters from the same litter - which I have never done before - but recently read a one liner which stated never make the fatal mistake of buying two dogs from the same litter!?!

Anyone had any experience on two brothers or sisters ?

Cheers

Charlie

Yes. I bread my very well bread big male to a well bread bitch. Labs. I kept one, my parents got one, an uncle got one and a best friend got one. All males. The pups all turned out very differently. So much so, that you could not tell they were littermates by the way they looked,acted or performed.I acquired a very well bread bitch and followed some of her littermates. Happily, she acts just like her mother, the other bitches in her litter, not so much.
I have studied retrievers extensively from many sources, both written and in person. A pro training many dogs is one thing. An amateur or individual traing more than one of his own dogs is an entirely different thing altogether. Traing a dog is very time consuming. Trying to train 2 at the same time is exponentially greater than 1+1. Just b/c they are littermates does not mean they are identical or even close to the same. Dogs are just not built that way. If you want them just as pets, what the hell, get 2.

I have two Brittany half sisters, same father. Age difference is about 6 months. They are house dogs and sometimes can be a bit snippy with one another inside. Outside and when hunting they are fine. Both retrieve but one is the dominate retriever if they both arrive at the bird at same time. both have different styles with one that works slow and sure and the other being a bit of a runner. Both were trained by a pro.

BigB

when i bought my last setter, the breeder stated that they would not sell 2 from the same litter to anyone

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
when i bought my last setter, the breeder stated that they would not sell 2 from the same litter to anyone

Out of a kennel of 12, our 4 best are M & F GSP littermates and M & F Brit littermates, we have always hunted them paired that way and they have been great hunters ,never been a problem .We however do not let them retrieve,and that is the hard part,we use English Cockers to flush and retrieve while they have to stand there...so,if I saw some pups I wanted,with all the years we have worked dogs,I would not have a problem getting them out of the same litter...

JC - read you post with interest. Any particular reason when M & F and not two same sex ? And did you do the training yourself ?

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
JC - read you post with interest. Any particular reason when M & F and not two same sex ? And did you do the training yourself ?

I have found that a combination of M/F pair vs M/M or F/F pair tend not to be as aggressive toward each other as same sex..I hunt no more than two dogs out at a time,and with our South Georgia heat,the dogs are rotated every 1 to 2 hours,so they can be boxed together with some degree of comfort on my part..two M/M or F/F in a box can cut each other pretty bad (the old saying that M/F dogs do not fight has some meaning behind it of course there are exceptions to all rules)...The hunting is the hunting no matter where,my passion is the dogs,being retired I work with the dogs every week,if you do not work your dog/dogs they will NOT obey you and cause you to say all kinds of dirty words..however as much as I would like to claim that I trained all of our dogs,that would be a gross overstatement...we are lucky to have a great dog trainer that works with our dogs on a regular basis form the time they are pups till they retire...

Thanks JC, appreciate the share of knowledge and experience. Happy hunting and good dog work!

I've bred a few litters of setters over the years, kept two males out of the first litter, no fighting problems until they were older and a female in season was around. A brother and sister out of the next, no problems what so ever, and last litter three years ago, two sisters, they love each other. I've had and trained many dogs over the years, and though siblings are different, I can definitely tell they are from the same breeding. As far as I am concerned pointers and setters are similar disposition wise, so if you want littermates, go for it.