Posted: 2/16/2012 8:16:24 AM EDT
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I have zero experience with girl dogs. All of my dogs have been male accept for one female we had when I was 12. From that age I had little to do with the raising of that animal other than to feed and train her when I was older. What are the medical/vet stuff that I need to know that is different from a male? Spaying difficulty and cost? What else is there? Thanks |
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I have 2 spayed dogs now. Both are clingy but great dogs! They just want affection and don't want to disappoint me. I can open the front door and they won't go anywhere unless I go first.
I'd only had boy dogs before. Males tend to want to roam more, even the neutered ones. And they wanted to mark, even the neutered ones. But I am by no means a dog expert. Just a guy who will always have a dog around. |
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At the moment we have two males. One 7 year old Lab and a 2 year old Cane Corso. We have been talking about a female Corso as our next addition. More or less this is what the wife wants and I have yet to get any real reason as to why  . Anyways, I do not remember there being any issues with having a female dog but that was over 30 years ago. I may ask our breeder what to look out for ? |
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When it comes to scraps with other dogs... males fight for status. Females fight for keeps. This. Also, they can throw a lot more attitude at you, particularly in dominant breeds. I'm so tired of that, my next pup is going to be a male! There is another version of that saying. Males fight for breeding rights.... females fight for breathing rights. I have 2 females right now and an old ass male. The 2 females do not fight, but they have killed anything that wanders in the yard. The body count is getting impressive. I have seen the two of them pluck a possum off a 6' fence and tear it to pieces in a matter of seconds. Now I have no experience with Corsos, but I imagine that there will be a change of the guard once you introduce a female into the mix. |
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I imagine that there will be a change of the guard once you introduce a female into the mix. A good number of times, when a girl is introduced to a house with a boy (or boys), I've seen the girl start being bossy and bitchy to the boys. They put up with it for a while, and she got worse and worse, until finally the boys decided that enough is enough, and let the girl know that they're not putting up with her crap. After that, it was much more balanced. |
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Talk to your vet about spaying when you bring her in for shots. I have a couple of females and he wanted to see them after they had gone in season once. Then, we brought them in - they spent the night and came home and pouted for a day or so. After that every thing was just fine. |
| Bitches tend to be slightly smaller, more 'stay at home', and get along with kids better (not always but usually). They also don't display 'marking behavior' unless they are very dominant and tend to be better watchdogs if what yiou want is a warning. If you want a furry missle to hammer a bad guy at 0300 without a command, you will be happier with a male. Otherwise it's a wash IMO. |
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Bitches tend to be slightly smaller, more 'stay at home', and get along with kids better (not always but usually). They also don't display 'marking behavior' unless they are very dominant and tend to be better watchdogs if what yiou want is a warning. If you want a furry missle to hammer a bad guy at 0300 without a command, you will be happier with a male. Otherwise it's a wash IMO. Depending on the breed this could be right or totally wrong. My female 50# Chessy is twice the threat as my 80# male. She is a all business and loves me unconditionally. 
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| A lot of it depends on the breed, but if you plan to neuter or spay early it won't make much of a difference. Many behaviorist believe, and so do I, that people generally do better with dogs that are opposite the sex of the owner. A lot of men are drawn to male dogs because they typically have a blockier more muscular build and if you do bite sports they typically perform better. However, in general men do better with female dogs and women do better with the male dogs then guys do. |
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Bitches tend to be slightly smaller, more 'stay at home', and get along with kids better (not always but usually). They also don't display 'marking behavior' unless they are very dominant and tend to be better watchdogs if what yiou want is a warning. If you want a furry missle to hammer a bad guy at 0300 without a command, you will be happier with a male. Otherwise it's a wash IMO. Depending on the breed this could be right or totally wrong. My female 50# Chessy is twice the threat as my 80# male. She is a all business and loves me unconditionally. That is not the breed...it is the dog, and they are all different. I had a GSD bitch that was like a chainsaw, but most will not be, Still, I prefer girl dogs for pets, boys for work. |
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The breeder/handler in my office has told me that almost without exception, a bitch to bond with a male owner than with a female owner.
The converse is true as well. Almost all the "dogs" at her house will bond with her, but not the bitches. She has almost 20 dogs living at her home right now. She's been in the business now for over 20 years. |
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The breeder/handler in my office has told me that almost without exception, a bitch to bond with a male owner than with a female owner. The converse is true as well. Almost all the "dogs" at her house will bond with her, but not the bitches. She has almost 20 dogs living at her home right now. She's been in the business now for over 20 years. This is true as a rule, which means not always. In the working type breeds (GSD, dobes, rotts, mali,) the males tend more towards being territorial, the females more individual protective. Someone said above if you want a flying piece of fur, get a male, not true. In these breeds, I have seen tons of aggressive females, they just are not as aggressive towards someone in their space. They are more likely to growl, become aggressive if someone is in close proximity to their family member. I actually prefer the females as a home/protector since they aren't as likely to cause a problem due to biting anyone who walks in the yard by protecting their territory. I believe the military and police will use males or spayed females (for the obvious reason) pretty much without distinction. I'm sure there are territorial females, and person protective males, these are just general observations and all rules are made to be broken, especially regarding animals. |
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From reading the other thread when do they go into heat? When is it safe to spay them? We are NOT having pups! Around here, the Humane Society spays/neuters ALL puppies before they are adopted, so they have to happen EARLY on the newborns. Neuters as soon as they drop, and I think that spays are somewhere in the 6-8 week range. My vet, however, won't do them before 3 months, if I recall. There may be some health benefits to waiting longer than that, but if you need to, you can spay awfully early. |
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The breeder/handler in my office has told me that almost without exception, a bitch to bond with a male owner than with a female owner. The converse is true as well. Almost all the "dogs" at her house will bond with her, but not the bitches. She has almost 20 dogs living at her home right now. She's been in the business now for over 20 years. Interesting, can anyone elaborate? |
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The breeder/handler in my office has told me that almost without exception, a bitch to bond with a male owner than with a female owner. The converse is true as well. Almost all the "dogs" at her house will bond with her, but not the bitches. She has almost 20 dogs living at her home right now. She's been in the business now for over 20 years. Interesting, can anyone elaborate? This has been true with my two weimaraners. We got them a couple months apart and have had them for 10 years. The female is my avatar. She has always been much closer to me than my wife. The male has always been more distant from both of us, but he does prefer her a little. They both follow my commands better than for my wife. However, we also have a a little dog that is a male. It isn't even close.... He much prefers my wife than me. When I come home he sits and sort of shakes his head while snorting lightly. Almost as if he was disappointed. When my wife comes home he goes absolutely nuts. |
I have had 2 dogs in my adult life, an intact Chocolate lab male and an intact fox red lab female. The male was very dominant and territorial and he ended up having to leave the family due to aggression issues that were (unknown at the time) thyroid related. My female is the complete opposite, very submissive and sweeter than any other animal I've had. She is fantastic with the kids (3 and 6mo) and shaping up to be a good hunting companion. She just turned a year old so hopefully she will start calming down and I know after her first litter she will slow down. From this small sample I will stick with females from now on.
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The breeder/handler in my office has told me that almost without exception, a bitch to bond with a male owner than with a female owner. The converse is true as well. Almost all the "dogs" at her house will bond with her, but not the bitches. She has almost 20 dogs living at her home right now. She's been in the business now for over 20 years. Interesting, can anyone elaborate? This has been true with my two weimaraners. We got them a couple months apart and have had them for 10 years. The female is my avatar. She has always been much closer to me than my wife. The male has always been more distant from both of us, but he does prefer her a little. They both follow my commands better than for my wife. However, we also have a a little dog that is a male. It isn't even close.... He much prefers my wife than me. When I come home he sits and sort of shakes his head while snorting lightly. Almost as if he was disappointed. When my wife comes home he goes absolutely nuts. Same is true for our Chessies. Both girls are much more attached to me then the wife unit and the boys are much more attached to her than me. They all love us both but there is one they are attached to more than the other. |
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From reading the other thread when do they go into heat? When is it safe to spay them? We are NOT having pups! Around here, the Humane Society spays/neuters ALL puppies before they are adopted, so they have to happen EARLY on the newborns. Neuters as soon as they drop, and I think that spays are somewhere in the 6-8 week range. My vet, however, won't do them before 3 months, if I recall. There may be some health benefits to waiting longer than that, but if you need to, you can spay awfully early. The Humane Society is concerned with population control - NOT about the individual heath and long term health of the particular dog... They will never tell you about any of the health risks associated with spay/neuter surgery and they will NEVER advise you to read any of the current studies that are readily available. You get only one side of the story from them and it is severely slanted. |
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When it comes to scraps with other dogs... males fight for status. Females fight for keeps. This. Also, they can throw a lot more attitude at you, particularly in dominant breeds. I'm so tired of that, my next pup is going to be a male! Agree with both. In addition, bitches can be needy and yappy. A dog is easier for me to get along with. I've handled many working dogs and the only time I got bitten, it was a hyper bitch. |
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