Which gender is best together?

[wolf_Q]

Of course there's exceptions and every dog is different...but in general...considering two dogs, both altered...which would most likely get along best?

Male/male
Male/female
Female/female

Not that I'm allowed to, but I'd really love to get another siberian husky. I was thinking that Nebo would do best with a female. I've never had a female dog, so I don't really know, but of the dogs he's met, he seems to get along better with females generally.

From what I've heard male/male is usually easier than female/female. Reggie and Smokey were not neutered until they were older, so we had two unneutered males in my house for years with no problems. Like I said though, I've never had a female dog, so no experience to go on..

[binka_nugget]

:eek: I couldn't imagine another male here. I'm making sure my next dog is a female. One of our trainers said that female/female are generally better than male/male. She mentioned that two female dogs can bond and become the best of friends while two male dogs might only co-exist in the same house and not care for one another. I don't know if that has any truth to it but my boys seemed to have bonded quite nicely (after LOTS of fights over alpha position).

[Shelteez2]

Well most any dog book you read will tell you that opposite sex pairs are more likely to get along than same sex.
I also read in a lot of books, and on a lot of websites (with people's personal accounts) that female/female fights are usually much worse than male/male. Of course there are always exceptions.
I haven't had any problem with my two female/male, but I wouldn't expect any problems with either of them if I brought another dog into the house, no matter what sex.
What matters most is the temperment of the dogs in question.

[Twisterdog]

I think it depends on the individual dogs.

My sister's female Sibes want to KILL each other, and I mean that literally.

One of my friends has two male dogs, and they are GOING to kill each other someday, no doubt.

I have five female dogs now, and they all get along well with each other. However, in the past, I have had two females that HATED each other.

I also have five male dogs. They get along well, but my alpha male certainly keeps the other four in line.

In my experience, males do a lot of posturing, strutting, growling, bumping, humping and bluffing. But when it comes right down to it, there is rarely a knock down, drag out fight. And if there is, it is over fairly quickly, when one dog shows submission.

Females, on the other hand, are more likely to quietly co-exist without all the theatrics of pack order ... but when they decide to fight, they FIGHT.

Personally, I prefer one male and one female ... both altered, of course. No same-sex competition and pack-order issues.

[stacwase]

Originally posted by binka_nugget
She mentioned that two female dogs can bond and become the best of friends while two male dogs might only co-exist in the same house and not care for one another. I don't know if that has any truth to it but my boys seemed to have bonded quite nicely (after LOTS of fights over alpha position).

That seems to describe Max & Jake quite accurately - they tolerate eachother, at best.

My stepdaughter (not the one with the kids) got a new puppy last week and brought him over. He's already neutered, but still I didn't know if he'd make it home in one piece - honestly. I had to lock Max in his crate until they left. I think a third male in our house would put both of my boys right over the edge.

[Cincy'sMom]

I heard/read different things differnt places. In terriers, they say two males aremore difficult. Others say two spay females have the least cahnace of getting along. I think the bottom line safest is male/female. Of courseit will always depend onthe dogs...mymom has two male terriers, and I knw many, many people with multiple spayed females. Unfortunatly no rule is absolute.

[Moose]

Moose and Barrett are both neutured males and they get along great together...especially considering that they normally only live with eachother when I am home visiting my parents or over summer/winter/spring/fall break. However since I've been unable to have Moose with me in my house at school, he has been living at my parents house with Barrett for a few months now and they get along wonderfully.

As others have said, I think it depends on the dog...some are gennerally more submissive than others, and some are more relaxed about the whole thing. :)

[Pam]

I've had two of the combinations you mention (female/female and male/female) both with success. I have never had two males at the same time so I can't comment.

[FizzGiggs_Mommy]

I have three males all living in the same house and have never had a fight. Belive it or not all of my boys play together share all of there toys eat out of the same bowl drink out of the same bowl (sometimes all three at once) I have astablished the Alfa role during training and all three have gotten there GCC award.

[ramanth]

I'm sure it varies from dog to dog. :)

Kia's obedience trainer told me that she'd do better with a male dog of similar age if I ever thought about getting another dog. She can be very headstrong with females. :)

[micki76]

For us, male/female or female/female works best. Chester doesn’t tolerate males at all. He gets along wonderfully with Millie, but barely tolerates Aneko. :confused: Millie and Aneko sleep next to each other and have never had “words”. So I think it really depends much more on the dogs, rather than the sexes involved.

My SIL’s female has picked fights with both Chester and Aneko. Millie basically gets along with everyone, lol.

[K9soul]

I really think it varies from dog to dog and also breed to breed. A golden retriever and collie both tend to be less territorial breeds so more likely that they will easily co-exist with either sex and do good. I think shepherds tend to be more territorial and so often do best with male/female. These are generalizations of course and there is never sure-all way it will go. My two male collies lived in perfect harmony. Tasha and Tommy do as well but Tasha is more aggressive and Tommy extremely laid back and perfectly happy to accept his place in the pack.

I'm not really sure how huskies tend to be, but I think I've read in a few places of female/female being problematic sometimes. I'd guess male/female would do best but I'd research more on the breed before making an actual informed recommendation.

One of the better dog breed books I've looked at that gauge each breed's (mainly AKC breeds) tendencies is called 'The Right Dog for You' by Daniel Tortora. It gives a scales for each breed on their territoriality, obedience trainability, good with kids, good with strangers, if they are good guard or watch dogs, etc. It even gives a different rating for puppymill types of the breed. I've found it to be pretty accurate.

Here are the scales it gives for Siberian Husky (again these are generalized and individuals can differ of course )

Indoor activity: very high
Outdoor activity: very high
Vigor: medium
Behavioral constancy: high
Dominance to strange dogs: medium
Dominance to familiar people: medium to low
Territoriality: low
Emotional stability: high
Sociability within family: very high
Sociability with children: very high
Sociability with strangers: very high
Learning rate: high
Learning obedience: low
Learning problem solving: very high
Watchdog ability: medium
Guard dog ability: low

Btw if anyone is interested in what it lists for other breeds I'd be happy to share :D

[EssTer]

My experience is better to keep female/female, not male/male, but I think male/female is very good too ;)

[Glacier]

I have no luck with female-female matches. Our first three dogs were males--two altered, one not. Never had a problem. The fourth was a female--again no problems. The fifth another female and all h@ll broke loose. Massive girl fights, huge vet bills, Kayleigh almost killed Sleet on one occasion. (all my girls are altered)

My males fight occasionally, but they fight different than the girls. The males stop when the other dog submits or they get whatever it was they wanted (toy, food ect) They rarely do any serious damage, usually nicked ears are the most serious injury. They posture lots, tons of noise and talking, but very little real fighting.

The girls fight to the death--even the submissive ones. I rarely intervene if the boys are having a tiff. I always break up a girl fight. They will not stop until the other dog is completely incapacitated. I keep all my females in seperate pens, where they each live peacefully and happily with several males. I will never again have this many females. (i have five right now)

[pupslover]

in my experience, i feel male/female is best.

growing up my parents had a female shepherd and a female carin terrier. these two grew up together and were never apart. they were like bonnie and clyde (truly bonnie and sarah)

one day, however, something just snapped and they went at it. close to being fatal they had to be separated forever. so they were locked to separate perimeters of the house. accidentally, they were let out at the same time and bam. it was like they totally remembered. they just attacked each other. unfortunately the carin terrier didn't survive. lungs were punctured and we had to put her down.

i have a 6 mos old female sheperd myself now and a 10 mos male retriever. they've been together since babies and i haven't had one problem. they are soooo great together!

my mom now has another 4 mos old female shepherd. when putting the 2 female shepherds together, there was slight gression shown. so now we watch them carefully.

i think it mostly depends on the breed of the dog and their background. i've heard of instances where people have 2 males/ 2 females and all is well. i tend to feel safer with the male/female combo however.

[Shelteez2]

Originally posted by pupslover
i've heard of instances where people have 2 males/ 2 females and all is well. i tend to feel safer with the male/female combo however.

That's another thing with these "rules". If you follow them you can only have 2 dogs. I mean if female/male is the best than you shouldn't add another male because then you'd have a male/male relationship as well. Same goes with adding another female. I still stand by the fact that it has a lot more to do with the personality of the dogs than the sex. :)

[Tonya]

In my opinion, male/female. I think they're less likely to fight over roles.

[pitc9]

when I was younger we had to females, and they ALWAYS fought.

Now Sierra and Buddy... they have been the VERY best of friends since the second I brought Buddy home!

:D

[aly]

There are so many variations that it usually just depends on the individual personalities of the dogs. That said, female/female relationships generally tend to be the worst because when they fight, blood will usually be drawn. If two males fight, they get over it a lot quicker. Generally speaking, male/female would be the best because there will likely be no struggle for dominance with the opposite gender. Of course it could happen, but most likely not.

When you don't want struggles between your dogs, its always best that there is a significant age difference (at least 2 years), size difference, and gender difference. Or at least 2 out of those 3 things.

But I would just go by Nebo's personality and what you think he'd do well with.

[pupslover]

aly...What kind of pup is that in your siggy? Its way cute! And those eyes...beautiful!

[Amber]

I feel that spayed females get along better

[Cataholic]

Originally posted by K9soul

Indoor activity: very high
Outdoor activity: very high
Vigor: medium
Behavioral constancy: high
Dominance to strange dogs: medium
Dominance to familiar people: medium to low
Territoriality: low
Emotional stability: high
Sociability within family: very high
Sociability with children: very high
Sociability with strangers: very high
Learning rate: high
Learning obedience: low
Learning problem solving: very high
Watchdog ability: medium
Guard dog ability: low

Btw if anyone is interested in what it lists for other breeds I'd be happy to share :D


Hey, I would LOVE to know about St. Bernards!!! Thanks so much for the offer.

[K9soul]

Sure Cataholic! I absolutely love reading anything I can get my hands on about dogs and the different natures of breeds :)

Btw, just for reference, vigor refers to how the dog performs activities, if he/she does most things gently/carefully or more strong/firmly.

Behavior constancy refers to how easily distractible the dog is.

Here is what is listed for St. Bernard, the puppy mill variety scale can really differ a lot from well bred. I'm just going to list well bred here.

Indoor activity: low
Outdoor activity: medium
Vigor: low
Behavioral constancy: very high
Dominance to strange dogs: medium
Dominance to familiar people: medium to low
Territoriality: low
Emotional stability: very high
Sociability within family: medium
Sociability with children: very high
Sociability with strangers: high
Learning rate: high
Learning obedience: medium
Learning problem solving: high
Watchdog ability: very high
Guard dog ability: low

[aly]

Originally posted by pupslover
aly...What kind of pup is that in your siggy? Its way cute! And those eyes...beautiful!

Thanks! She's a Husky/Shepherd mix that I fostered. She just went to her new home for Christmas :)

[wolfsoul]

I think it really depends on the dogs. Take Leather for example. She is very very aggressive and will not tolerate other dogs. Yet, once she gets used to the dog, she becomes very attached to it, and she will be a good friend to the dog if it does not bother her. She grew up with my old female dog, Stitch, and they formed such a great friendship. When we moved, she formed a wonderful friendship with the neighbor's female dog Koda. She also had a nice female elkhound friend. I've only ever seen her get along with one male. She doesn't like males because they are too "sniffy" or they try to mount her. Years ago, when my dad was going to breed her, he had a Hell of a time with it. He couldn't find ONE signle male dog that could mount her wihtout getting attacked. :rolleyes: I'm glad for that.

I plan on having a catahoula leopard dog in a few years, and maybe a year or two after that I plan on getting another GSD. As much as I would LOVE two males, it's doubtful that it would work. Both are aggressive breeds and most of their breed don't tolerate members of the same sex.

[Cataholic]

Originally posted by K9soul

Indoor activity: low
Outdoor activity: medium
Vigor: low
Behavioral constancy: very high
Dominance to strange dogs: medium
Dominance to familiar people: medium to low
Territoriality: low
Emotional stability: very high
Sociability within family: medium
Sociability with children: very high
Sociability with strangers: high
Learning rate: high
Learning obedience: medium
Learning problem solving: high
Watchdog ability: very high
Guard dog ability: low


Behavioral constancy: very high

Good lord! This is sooo on point! If there is anyone within 50 miles of us, Binx won't even sit without repeated commands! :)

And, what is the difference between watchdog ability and guard dog ability? I have noticed that Binx would sooner walk off with a stranger than protect me...and, he barks nearly never inside. Mind you, I am not complaining, just commenting.
Thanks for posting this, I liked reading it.

[K9soul]

Originally posted by Cataholic

And, what is the difference between watchdog ability and guard dog ability? I have noticed that Binx would sooner walk off with a stranger than protect me...and, he barks nearly never inside. Mind you, I am not complaining, just commenting.
Thanks for posting this, I liked reading it.

The way I understand it, watch dog is the dog alerting you when a stranger comes around, by barking/growling or running up to get you etc.

Guard dog is how willing the dog would be to bite to protect you or the home etc.

I know Tommy is an excellent watch dog, but he'd be unemployed if his main job was to guard :p

[lovemyshiba]

Having 2 of each, I have to say that the only fight that scared me, was when the 2 females fought. Kito and Abbey had a bad fight last spring (my fault, I gave them yummy bones), but it was easy to break up. Jada and Abbey had a disagreement a few weeks ago, and I was scared to death, and they were much harder to break up. No one was hurt, besides a small cut on Abbey's chin, but it was scary.
Riley doesn't challenge Kito for alpha male status at all. He's so happy-go-lucky, he could care less, but that's just him. Jada and Abbey are under constant watch, because they are trying to outdo each other constantly.


K9soul--if that book includes Shiba Inus, I would love to hear what it says about them.

[wolfsoul]

K9Soul --- I'm assuming your book only does AKC breeds? Because I'd love to hear what it says about catahoulas. Can you do GSDs? Even though I know what they are like already, things like this are always fun. :) I wonder if it matches Leather.

[K9soul]

It's an older book (1980), not sure if it has been updated now or not. I've had it for quite a long time now. It only has AKC breeds that were recognized at that time, so it does have Akita but not Shiba Inu, sorry :(

For GSD, just going to list the well bred scale and not puppymill variety :)

Indoor activity: high
Outdoor activity: high
Vigor: high
Behavioral constancy: high to medium
Dominance to strange dogs: high
Dominance to familiar people: medium
Territoriality: high
Emotional stability: high
Sociability within family: medium
Sociability with children: very high (with puppymill varieties can go from very high to very low)
Sociability with strangers: medium to low
Learning rate: very high
Learning obedience: very high to high
Learning problem solving: very high
Watchdog ability: very high
Guard dog ability: very high to high

[KYS]

posted by K9soul: One of the better dog breed books I've looked at that gauge each breed's tendencies is called 'The Right Dog for You' by Daniel Tortora. >>>>>>>

I have that book too. :D
It also has information on grooming needs for each breed.

[K9soul]

Originally posted by KYS
posted by K9soul: One of the better dog breed books I've looked at that gauge each breed's tendencies is called 'The Right Dog for You' by Daniel Tortora. >>>>>>>

I have that book too. :D
It also has information on grooming needs for each breed.

Isn't it a neat book? I wish it had more breeds though. It has a bunch of various scales towards the back too, kind of a cross-cut like a territoriality scale and listing all the breeds that score low, then all the breeds that score moderate, etc. etc. It's really an excellent beginning primer for someone not familiar with various breeds, and just really fun to look at even if you are.

[wolfsoul]

I agree with all of those except sociability with family. GSDs are prone to seperation anxiety. In my own expereince, they definatly hate being away from "their" people. :)

[K9soul]

Originally posted by wolfsoul
I agree with all of those except sociability with family. GSDs are prone to seperation anxiety. In my own expereince, they definatly hate being away from "their" people. :)

Here is how the author explains the "sociability within the family" category. It seems to not have to do so much with how sociable it is with family as it does with how many close relationships it will form within a family, or how many people it is most comfortable being around.

Moderate is described as a small-family dog. "It will form a bond with a few others besides its caretaker, but these bonds will be weaker. It is uncomfortable in crowds greater than five."

A dog that scores low on the family sociability would be considered more a one-person dog. High would be the dog shares a bond equally strong with all the family members, etc.

[wolfsoul]

Oh, I understand now, thanks. :) I've found that to be true in Leather's case.

[clara4457]

Originally posted by Shelteez2
Well most any dog book you read will tell you that opposite sex pairs are more likely to get along than same sex.
I also read in a lot of books, and on a lot of websites (with people's personal accounts) that female/female fights are usually much worse than male/male. Of course there are always exceptions.

Most animal behaviorist will say that female/female dynamics are very complicated. Even though male/male pairings can create some jocking for position - it is usually manageable (i.e. haunch bits, leg bits, etc). What happens with female/female pairings is that months or even years go by with no issue until one big fight that ends up with one dog fatally injured (i.e. bites to the throat and abdomen). It is very hard to make generalizations - as all dogs are different. Just like some women get along great with other women, some women feel more comfortable with male friends.

Statistically - male/female combinations have a greater rate of sucess. That does not mean that you cannot have female/female combinations - it just means that you have to understand dog posture and what it means.