2 females vs. 2 males

I need some opinions. The lady director at the rescue (CSR) stated that 2 females are worse to own together than 2 males. I was always under the impression that 2 males would be worse. (In fact, in the Great Pyrenees breed, it states in their breed books to NOT have two males together.) She stated that the males will just posture and show teeth, but one will back down while the females will get into a bloody fight. Anyone have any experience with this?
Sue

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***Save a life, ADOPT***

Sudilar, I haven't had the problem with two males or two females. However when we tried to adopt a little female Schnauzer, my female schnauzer would stare at her but no reaction and my male schnauzer tried and did attack the little schnauzer we were going to adopt four or five times. I believe our schnauzers are so close or were acting like a pack. We had to give up the idea of taking the little schnauzer in for her sake.

[This message has been edited by jackiesdaisy1935 (edited April 17, 2001).]

As always, all dogs are individual and react in different ways accordingly. I would, however, agree in general.
I have worked with many kenneled dogs as well as pet dogs. Dogs, especially when castrated, in a two dog situation tend to sort out the pecking order and live with it. Two bitches that really decide that something needs to be sorted out between them can keep up the bad feeling for years!
In dogs it is usually apparent pretty quickly which is the more powerful animal and the weaker saves his skin by being submissive. Bitches that fight seem to take a lot longer to decide who is the weakest, they are more determined and they NEVER forget!
Stud dogs are an exception in that they have something to fight for and it is totally natural to go all out in that environment to win.

In one of my dog behavior classes, an interesting analogy was brought up by the instructor. She said to think back when you were younger and in school. Males tended to push each other around a bit and get into fist fights every so often. Females rarely fought but when they did, it was bloody.

She said the worst combination is female-female. It can be uglier than male-male. I believe this to be true from what I've seen but there are also exceptions to every rule.

If there is a notable size difference in the females, then dominant fighting issures are less likely to occur because usually alpha will go to the bigger dog.

If you wanted another girl dog, I think you could definately work it out. Maybe get a submissive one. Reece and Harley get along so well because Reece is very very submissive and Harley is very very dominant.

Good Luck

I don't know how pertinent this info will be, but when I did my volunteer work at wolf park, I learned a lot about wolf behavior. We absolutely had more male wolves in the main pack as opposed to female wolves, because of the rivalry that develops between the females. The lady that you talked with is correct in that "the males will just posture and show teeth, but one will back down while the females will get into a bloody fight". I have experienced this with wolves. Females are very competitive with other females. There was an occasion at the park where we had to remove one of the female wolves because she nearly killed a pack member. Rarely will an alpha female "allow" another female to mate or have pups within a pack. Usually only the alpha pair is the pair that mates and has pups in a pack. Packs are usually extended families. At the park, we did have a very rare occurrance when we had 2 litters of puppies one year. But, after all was said and done, the alpha female took role as mother of all the pups.

Well I am certainly far from an expert but I did have two female poodles at one time. Our miniature was here first and then 3 years later we adopted a standard. The miniature was definitely the alpha dog. They never fought, but I noticed the miniature called all of the shots about when they would play, and even out in the yard the standard followed her around. I was wondering if the dog that was there first could have something to do with who is boss since it considers the home it's turf.

From what I have read
on the Akita list I am on,
As a rule of thumb, none of the rescues will place same sex Akita's together.
As for less dog aggressive breeds I have
never had a problem with same sex females
in my house hold as long as one was
of lower rank. I would assume it would
be the same with males.
Wolflady,
I found your post very interesting/informative
on you observation about wolves. : )

No expert me, that's for sure. But, I've always had 2 female dogs at any given time. One, however, was always a lab. Don't know if that makes any difference, i.e. type of breeds getting along well together. I was thinking that maybe because labs are known for their gentle temperment, it might have made a difference. My Cody and Star (husky/shep and lab) get along great. They can eat and even share bones together without fighting! Interesting that 2 females are considered the worst combo! Guess we're all a little biased thinking the males would be more aggressive!

I could never get another female with Felice around. mybe if it was real submissive. but I have two males. they get alone most of the time but they are known to fight over food or other objects. or if they play too ruff