Dog Or Bitch?

[eve]

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Presently, I have 3 bitches aged 12, 11 and 5 (all spayed) and young Toddy 1o months (who is still entire). Lilly who is 5 is definately top dog. We are planning a young / puppy addition a few months down the line. Foxy is in very poor health for her sake, we are waiting until she has passed to 'rainbow bridge' before taking on another young pack member. I am also waiting until Toddy matures as his nature may change once he becomes an adult male. He is still definately a puppy but sometimes raises his hackles at un-neutered large male dogs.

I have always had mostly bitches with 1 neutered dog as my pack. I always end up with one dominant bitch. I am considering moving towards dogs rather than another bitch. Does anyone have experience of how a mixed with pack 2 un-neutered dogs get on. Would 2 young dogs fight? I have not decided if a puppy or preloved youngster would be best. I quite like bringing on young preloved dogs but I would like a Cornstalk whippet.

So advice on adding another dog would be appreciated

 

[Esty]

Hi

Just to let you know my experience of two dogs together, though we don't have any bitches to alter the dynamic. My two are litter mates and are not neutered yet. They are 10 months old now and very evenly matched in terms of size. They were great together (just usual playfights)until about two months ago when they started getting nasty over food. One of them (Roscoe) is a lot slower at eating than the other and Grover went over to his bowl before he'd finished. Bad move. Horrible fight, hackles up, nasty snarling, going for each other, fortunately no injuries as I was there to stop it. But it was clearly very different to their usual playfights. Now we don't feed them together at all as it happened a couple of times even with hide chew treats. Yesterday it happened over a toy in the garden, very nasty to the point that when my son went towards them to stop the fight I shouted at him to stay away because the dogs weren't aware of anything but each other. I will say that even during these fights, I can take the toy/ food away because they know I'm boss but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they fight when I'm not there to stop it. I'm sure others will have entire dogs together and don't have a problem. We are seriously considering getting them neutered becasue I don't think there can be a clear top dog with my two, I think it will always be back and forth due to how evenly matched they are.

Having bitches as well may alter the situation so the dogs are less likely to fight among themselves.

 

[Hula]

Sorry can't offer any help here as I only ever have bitches and in over 40 years have never had any problems .

 

[~Annie~]

I've only ever had dogs, always a mix of neutered and unneutered, and to be honest I've never had any problems such as Etsy describes but have been told previously that litter brothers are more likely to fight. My whippets rub along very nicely with only the occasional bolshy moment that never escalates beyond a shouting match ... I certainly can't see why two boys couldn't live happily with your girls.

Annie

 

[twinkletoes dylan]

Hi Just to let you know my experience of two dogs together, though we don't have any bitches to alter the dynamic. My two are litter mates and are not neutered yet. They are 10 months old now and very evenly matched in terms of size. They were great together (just usual playfights)until about two months ago when they started getting nasty over food. One of them (Roscoe) is a lot slower at eating than the other and Grover went over to his bowl before he'd finished. Bad move. Horrible fight, hackles up, nasty snarling, going for each other, fortunately no injuries as I was there to stop it. But it was clearly very different to their usual playfights. Now we don't feed them together at all as it happened a couple of times even with hide chew treats. Yesterday it happened over a toy in the garden, very nasty to the point that when my son went towards them to stop the fight I shouted at him to stay away because the dogs weren't aware of anything but each other. I will say that even during these fights, I can take the toy/ food away because they know I'm boss but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they fight when I'm not there to stop it. I'm sure others will have entire dogs together and don't have a problem. We are seriously considering getting them neutered becasue I don't think there can be a clear top dog with my two, I think it will always be back and forth due to how evenly matched they are.

Having bitches as well may alter the situation so the dogs are less likely to fight among themselves.

if you decide to neuter then you must decide who is going to be top dog (favour this one treats and food first etc) and neuter the underdog, if you decide to neuter the other then wait quite a few months to give the new dynamics time to settle before doing it or you will have the same situation

 

[pat cope]

I have quite a mixed bunch. 9 altogether although they are not all on my picture. The two entire males, which are the big hairy one on the end and the red brindle with the yellow eyes will spar up to each other if they get jealous. Or if the big one stares at the other. They eat together and have bones side by side, but I would never leave them unattended.

 

[pat cope]

Back again. Grandchildren came and the dogs fall out who is going to get to them first and give them a good licking. The black bitch in the picture (unspeyed) and the dark brindle next to her (speyed) both want to be top bitch, especially with food. They couldnt be trusted to be left together if I went out. There is another unspeyed bitch (not in picture) who will bully them all if she is given the chance, but she is only a skinny little thing so is kept apart unless supervised. The rest of the pack are speyed or castrated. I think dogs are like kids. More than one and they are bound to fall out at some time. That increases the more you have. Lots of exercise to stop them getting bored is half the battle. If I do have to leave them I make sure that they are in their seperate areas then I dont have to worry. Looking at their picture I bet you think ahhhh !!!!!Angels. Look closer and you will see their horns. Good luck. Dogs or bitches, they are all lovely.

 

[eve]

Interesting, It looks like a lot is down to the personalities of the existing pack (and the owner). Fortunately, I am in no hurry. The present dynamics would probably suggest that a male puppy would be better as Lilly is definately the pack leader and has the others all 'sorted'. I will have to wait and see how Toddy matures in the next few months.

 

[jakers]

We now have 6 dogs - 3 male entire, 3 female entire of these 1 boy and 1 girl is a gsd and the rest are whippets, the gsds came first and the female is very definitely top dog -we have found that introducing the boys together as baby pups is far better - an 'older' preloved one is great but may not be accepted as readily as a young young pup. Our boys do jostle - mainly because our top dog tess lets one boy ( the whippet) get away with everything but doesn't let the older larger male gsd get away with anything.

We find we have a very strong pack leader in tess who sets all the rules for the doggy world in our house, the bitches get 'told' early on in there lives - more or less as soon as they start to push it wth her and the boys? well i suppose it depends on who she fancies!!

I would always favour a young pup being introduced into an existing pack, that way they tend to have less preconceived ideas of what behaviour they should display.

Hope this helps

Liz