Do you prefer male or female dog?

M

Mom2Melli

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All things considered from training to personalities to family dynamics to health to potty training to apparent wee willy winkies to absolutely everything . . .

Do you prefer a male or female dog and why?

IF I then stated it was to be a golden altered and privately trained for service work for my mom's friend with MS (bracing, fetching, and eventually mobility steadying) -- would you prefer a male or female dog?

I am also thinking of my future addition. Not sure if two girls would butt heads in the worst way or get along well and gang up on my poor shepherd boy.

Just curious . . . my mom's friend who has MS that is progressing is in line for a litter requesting a girl but a male from a previous litter is available and I suggested she may consider him but she has only had girl dogs in her past (all of two or three dogs in many many years). Her son is in line for a litter with another breeder and wanted a girl but it is taking so long that he recently switched to first available male or female.

Me . . . I have been blessed (or cursed) with two pistols of females and three easy-to-to-live-with males. The girls are like having a human friend with whom I have established a working relationship while the boys are always the snuggle-babies. Give me the boy any day over a girl. Personally.

I would love, though, to encourage this lady to either jump at the male or hold off for a female which would be June before birth to even see if a female is in the litter and then August or September before being available.

Likely this fall I will be shopping for an addition and so I also am thinking about myself too with this question.
 
I have lived 4 females(2 shelties, 1 Lab and 1 Jrt/beagle mix) and 2 males(shelties) I prefer males.

All females have been pistols. They certainly appear to have there own agenda and they are lovely dogs but they need to know why on everything. Diva and Ember even sassed back. Diva told me on a regular basis what an idiot I was verbally. But here is the thing, explain what you want properly and the girls will work their hearts out for you, no backing down, no goofing off, deadly serious. It is just getting to that point that is the challenage. In the initial training if you don't show them what is in it from them they will pick up their toys and go home and sometimes with the flip of the middle paw. I would say that they are less snugglely or affectionate because Jazz the Jrt mix and Diva were my biggest snugglers. My JRT mix did NOT like other females. She tolerated Ember but she was quite old. I did have a couple hell of bitch fights with my dads Lab and after the last one they could never be in the same room again.

My 2 boys are more natural go with the flow guys. They question me less. If I don't what I am doing , they patiently wait for me to get my act together and then try to do what I ask. The most I get is a roll of the eye. Both of my guys have good work ethics but they are goofs when not working. I have met some males that were such goofballs that they didn't take what they were doing seriously. I have been fortunate to not any "male" issues except a little puffing and huffing at other boys.

I choose the gender of my pack based on the personalites of the resident dogs. But given a choice male is what I would pick but I have never regretted my girls. I want a male next but depending on timing it maybe a girl. I would not add another male to my house with Justice.

Breed makes a big difference thoug. For example, I love Dobes but I would never get a Dobe male. Big goofballs who brains slowly come in the mail. DObe girls have a better rep as more solid workers and from what I have seen that is the case. I also prefer Golden females to males. Male Golden are goofy nutballs for many years. They are love sucks if you like that sort of thing but as a working dog I would prefer a female. Others will have different opinions.
 
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Dr. Shelli -- I hear you on it. Thinking to my Aussie girl especially, once we had our relationship nailed out (after teeth in me about 7 or 8 times) I counted on her entirely. I spoke to her as adult one on one and not parent to child like the boys. I don't think Melli and I have really reached it yet, but as we are training every day I see her meshing more with me. As I start agility, scent, and additional obedience all within the next month I need to keep in mind our working mindset. I think it will be much more successful and fun if I keep her personality in mind. In any case, she sure loses her mind if she upsets Daddy and it rips her heart out. I hate the "wait til your father finds out" concept, but it has worked with both girls. The boys just always let me lead and I find it more peaceful. Let me be the global thinker for us all (husband included) and we get things done right and quickly!

Golden boys are indeed big goofs. People have told me their goldens were goofs until about three. Fortunately, she is thinking ahead. She is deteriorating slowly and the dog can step into the role doing smaller tasks at first like fetching until she gets to the point with a full-fledged SD. I will be interested to see if she picks the male or waits!

As for self. I am not ready to add just yet. Melli and I have some things to do. When the time comes, I will know. It will be a male though because Shay would like that most.
 
Ok, my preferences are.. complicated. I prefer females. There is only one (main) reason why. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but from when I was born until I was 8, my family had labs. The last one we had was a male, the only male my family has ever had, and he had a screw or two loose. He attacked me out of nowhere on Christmas Eve when I was 8. I was sitting on the swing in the back yard, he came over and I was petting him and talking to him. I picked his paws up like I always had. All of the sudden he knocked me off the swing, bit and scratched at my head. There might have been other factors that caused him to do that, but I don't remember and I was the only one in the back yard with him. I was in a tucked position facing the ground so I only had scratches on my head that my hair covered. It wasn't bad, but I was traumatized. After that, I was too afraid to be around him or go in the back yard with him. My parents waited about a month to see if I would get over it, but I didn't. They made the best decision they could for their family and gave him up to a no-kill shelter. My heart breaks a little when I think about it because I don't think he meant to hurt me, he was just a dumb dog. After that my family got a female Sheltie and we've had females ever since.

I don't want to say that I will never get a male. And I certainly don't want to say that I won't get a male because I'm afraid he will attack me.. because that's not the case. I just haven't had a male and prefer females because of that incident.. but no need to psych-analyze that lol. My next puppy I will probably say "no preference" in gender, especially because I think Missy would do better with a male. Although if I had my choice between a male and a female like I did with Missy, I would probably pick female if they both had personalities I was looking for.
 
well, I've only had two girls and my preference had been boys since I never wanted to deal with an intact female. but both girls were spayed before they came home so it wasn't an issue. Five boys (two non-shelties) and they have all been momma's boys in one way or another.....
Destin should have been a girl (Callie [girl], Cranberry [boy], Dixie [girl], Jocu [boy], Destin [boy]) but we were also supposed to wait 2 yrs before the next puppy:winkgrin:

so at this point, individual personality would be the factor rather than gender...
 
That makes me so sad Jess041. I am sorry to hear what you went through. I am glad you could overcome and still have a dog though.
 
Well, I have always had little girls, but I did end up with my dear boe-zo and he is definitely more of a cuddle bug! I'm not sure if it's because of his old age, but this is just what I have found. Good luck!:biggrin2:
 
Jess041 said:
Ok, my preferences are.. complicated. I prefer females. There is only one (main) reason why. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but from when I was born until I was 8, my family had labs. The last one we had was a male, the only male my family has ever had, and he had a screw or two loose. He attacked me out of nowhere on Christmas Eve when I was 8. I was sitting on the swing in the back yard, he came over and I was petting him and talking to him. I picked his paws up like I always had. All of the sudden he knocked me off the swing, bit and scratched at my head. There might have been other factors that caused him to do that, but I don't remember and I was the only one in the back yard with him. I was in a tucked position facing the ground so I only had scratches on my head that my hair covered. It wasn't bad, but I was traumatized. After that, I was too afraid to be around him or go in the back yard with him. My parents waited about a month to see if I would get over it, but I didn't. They made the best decision they could for their family and gave him up to a no-kill shelter. My heart breaks a little when I think about it because I don't think he meant to hurt me, he was just a dumb dog. After that my family got a female Sheltie and we've had females ever since.

I don't want to say that I will never get a male. And I certainly don't want to say that I won't get a male because I'm afraid he will attack me.. because that's not the case. I just haven't had a male and prefer females because of that incident.. but no need to psych-analyze that lol. My next puppy I will probably say "no preference" in gender, especially because I think Missy would do better with a male. Although if I had my choice between a male and a female like I did with Missy, I would probably pick female if they both had personalities I was looking for.
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You know I have met more than a few Labs with screws loose both males and females. I grew up with them as well and there is a reason I don't have them now.

I was bitten unprovoked in the face by a GSD in Oct of 99 my first year as a veterinarian. I was standing by the front desk in the vet clinic writing on a clip board and the dog launched himself from 5 ft away 5 ft straight up and latched onto my lower jaw and held on.I never saw him coming, my first clue was growling in me ear. I had to pry him off with my hands and he bit me in the hand as I dropped him. He was a light colored tan with a black saddle. It took over 2 yrs to stop shaking when I work with GSD and even today 14.5yrs later when I see a GSD of the same color my heart starts racing until I tell myself to knock it off. Fears are fears and it is not something you can control.

Just so you know I do like GSD. One of my favorite dogs of all time was a big male light colored black saddle(ironic) named Alfie who I knew from 2 yrs-14 yrs(I met him at 14 yrs old myself as a kennel worker and eunthanized him as a vet) I cried as hard as his owners.
 
Given the choice, it'll always be females for me. I don't like goofy, clingy, or having to wait for the brain to be delivered. The girls are generally stronger willed, will roll with whatever I ask, and mentally are much more mentally together at a younger age than the boys. We joke about my boys mental capacity. At 2.5, he does not have it together nearly as much as my girls do by this age. He's very driven, but not always there yet mentally. Same with my last male. Didn't grow a brain fully until he was 4.
 
Mom2Melli said:
. I think it will be much more successful and fun if I keep her personality in mind. In any case, she sure loses her mind if she upsets Daddy and it rips her heart out. I hate the "wait til your father finds out" concept, but it has worked with both girls. .
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I am the only one here so my girls have no one to run to.

Ember used to do the I hate you, I hate you, stomp, stomp, slam routine like a teenage girl. I used to make her come back or put her on leash so she had no option but to work though the exercise we were working on. Then I would get the "its too hard" complete with if she was a human, wrist backwards on the forehead and heavy breathing and sighing. Mind you I would do nothing but wait and watch her have her fit and then encourage yes you can, just try.
She was positively trained too least you think I was hard on her. I just won't let her quit.

Once she settled down and actually tried she got things super fast and she never forgot. Silly girl learned utility scent article in 1 week start to finish. Not kidding.
 
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