Need Help

[Glacier]

I don't know much about dogs and I always thought that males were much more aggressive than females so this thread was kind of shocking to me but also informative.

I know with cats that the females are much more territorial than the males and if you have a lot of femles then you can also have a lot of behavioral problems. This is one reason I'll only have 2 females at a time and luckily both of my females have very different personalities so there shouldn't be any problems between them.

I also always thought that spaying and neutering animals would make them less aggressive especially the males.

Male dogs fight for dominance usually and for the most part, they quit when the other dog gives up--speaking of a one on one battle, a pack fight is a whole different thing. Males will look and sound like they are killing each other, but often do no actual physical damage. Most often they go back to being buddies once the "who's the boss" issue is resolved. I've only ever had one male I couldn't reintegrate into the main pack after a fight and that was a pack fight, not a dominance issue.

Females start to fight for any number of reasons, but they fight differently than males once they start. They fully intend to hurt each other and will not stop, even when the other dog is unable or unwilling to fight back anymore. The worst fight I've ever broken up was two female malamute mixes, littermates. If Stuart hadn't been home to help me, I have no doubt that Kayleigh would be dead. I've broken up 15 dog pack fights alone, but I could not seperate those two females. Females hold grudges. They tend not to go back to being buddies once they've had a battle. They tend to look for the next opportunity to try again!

I have 8 females in my pack. Only the seniors are ever left in the same area when no one is home to supervise them.

Altering an animal does not change the basics of their personality. It has many benefits and may calm things down. I couldn't keep unaltered dogs in the pack setting my dogs live in. It would be chaos all the time. A dominant male will still be dominant after the big snip. A female who doesn't like other females will feel the same way after she's spayed.

Interesting about the cats. I'd never heard that about groups of female cats and I dont' find that here. 5 of my 9 are females. My only one with territorial issues is a male! Course it is one of the girls that sets him off most!

[shepgirl]

I've never owned cats so what you described really surprised me...I always thought cats slept all day and were too independent to look at each other. I know lots about dogs, maybe I should learn about cats too....believe it or not, cats scare me and I have no clue why....lol.