Raising 2 German Shepherds

Question
My wife and I owned a GSD previously and he was an absolutely wonderful pet. I am in the military and I have to deploy frequently; sometimes for extended periods and it made my wife feel secure having him in the house. Unfortunately we had to put him to sleep recently at 12 years of age. That all brings me to my current situation. We have recently purchased 2 male GSD puppies. They are a great joy to own. My question is this..... we have been taking them to puppy training and the women instructing us has made it pretty clear that we shouldnt ever leave them alone together, especially when they get bigger. I did a little  research into it before we bought them and the people I talked to said that as long as I got them fixed they would be ok together. If I didnt I was told that they would eventually have it out. When they are bigger I would like to let them have the run of the house like we did with our previous GSD but I am worried that they wont be able to get along well enough. We do plan on continuing training. It just seems to us that it kind of takes away from the feeling of security if they are locked in a crate. Do you, from your experience, foresee a major problem for us? If we have to we will crate them even when they are bigger. We love them both and wouldnt think of giving one away. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Tim Siffel

Answer
Hi, Most all dogs will "have it out" when they reach about a year to a year and a half in age.  It comes in many different forms from just play dominating to outright actually fighting.  This is nature's way of establishing the pack, who will be Alpha dog, and who will be the Omega dog.  In  the wild, the dogs can and do have it out to the death or until one gives in to the other or gets driven out of the pack.  Neutering does help neutralize this to an extent, but not necessarily get rid of it all together.  In fact, this is not only in males, but females as well.  In fact, German Shepherd females tend to be the worse when it comes to fights.  Getting crates will help when you are not home, but this behavior can and does come out even when you are home.  The training will help as you will commands you will be able to use to establish that you are the alpha dog.  Neutering would be a good idea anyway as it does tend to extend their lifespan and lower their risk of testiclular & prostrate cancer.  Neutering does not affect their ability to protect, in fact my best protection dog I have ever had in 25 years of working dogs was a neutered male.  Hope this helps, and good luck.

Dawn