We had two standard poodles at the same time once. They grew up together, I think they were a year or two apart and all was well until they started having dominance issues, a trip to Dr snip solved that problem. It was nice because they kept each other company but it was also more than twice as much work. As far as dogs passing, it sucked when one died young, the other was heartbroken, one of the saddest days in my life. The whole family was broken up and the remaining dog was the worst.
The toughest thing is teaching them to obey commands by name, it turns out to be kind of convenient to say one dogs name and tell it to come without both of them coming. That took forever when we introduced the little dog into our house, you remember Otto. After having Otto around for a while I think if we ever did two dogs again I'd get different breeds. It was nice having two dogs with traits that complimented each other.
The toughest thing is teaching them to obey commands by name, it turns out to be kind of convenient to say one dogs name and tell it to come without both of them coming. That took forever when we introduced the little dog into our house, you remember Otto. After having Otto around for a while I think if we ever did two dogs again I'd get different breeds. It was nice having two dogs with traits that complimented each other.