Do you think males or female dogs make better family pets?

[Alexandra]

We are looking for a new dog. We have been looking at various options but I have heard from some family members that we really need to consider a male and that they make better family pets. What I have heard is that females are (generally) more aloof. What do you all think about that?

Thanks

Alexandra

[Joker]

We love our little guy!!:001_smile: He is awesome with our girls and very affectionate. Growing up we always had male dogs so I actually don't have any experience with a female - so I guess that's not too much help. Good luck!

[Impish]

I've always preferred male dogs. When we went to get our last dog, we told the breeder we wanted a male.

 

Well, we got there. One puppy was dancing all around us, loving on the kids, flopping on its back for tummy rubs, etc, while the other 2 pups ignored us and hung out under the porch. So, of course, being halfway bright, we took the pup that was lovin on us...the lone female of course :lol:

 

Temperament over gender every time.

[jenL]

Growing up we had a female dog. My parents searched specifically for a female when adopting because "females have better dispositions than males". I don't know if that's true, of course, but they believed it! :tongue_smilie: I know plenty of people who had/have male dogs, and they were/are wonderful.

Edited October 6, 2009 by jenL

[LauraGB]

I don't know that there would be a difference based on sex. Breed and whether they are neutered or spayed, yes, but sex?

 

Growing up we always had male dogs. We've chosen female dogs for our family because I don't want them peeing on my shrubs:D.

[Denisemomof4]

I used to, because females were all I'd ever had. I now have one female and two males, and ALL three are SUPERB dogs.

[mama2cntrykids]

I would base my pick on temperment too. I've had both male and female dogs and I really don't prefer one to the other. For me, it's a temperment thing...

[Remudamom]

Temperment. The two best/most trainable/loving/loyal/die for you dogs I've had have been a male and a female.

[Tammy]

males want to 'mark' everything they see......yea....and even the fixed ones! When I take my friend's male dog for a walk.....all he wants to do is piss on every pole/tree/twig/mailbox/etc.

 

.

[Samiam]

We always have females. I have heard that because of their natural mothering instinct, females do better with children. But I also choose females because of the peeing thing, ie marking territory, and also the "humping" thing that male dogs do. Our female dogs have never done that to my children, although I know that females do still do that "action" as it is often a power thing, not a sexual thing. On the other hand, we watched a male dog for a friend and he was constantly trying to do that to my children. Last week we visited my sister, and her perfectly wonderful, calm Lab kept trying to do that to my children too. So no boy dogs around here.

[IdahoHomeschooler]

I will ditto this. I swear, mine keeps drops of urine in reserve in case he might come across something to mark, because he can always squeeze something out, regardless of how many times he just went before.

[gingersmom]

 

Temperament over gender every time.

 

 

:iagree:

 

That being said I have only had male dogs. And female cats. Weird.

[greensummervillian]

Some males will hump and constantly mark their territory on walks, but that's not necessarily the case if they have been neutered. I've had good luck with male and females. Our last two dogs have been neutered males, and they have both been sweet, obedient, and wonderful with children of all ages. The first one was neutered as a young pup, and he peed squatting just like a girl. The one we have now was neutered later in life. He lifts his leg and marks his territory a little bit, but much less than when we got him.

[Whereneverever]

We prefer females- they don't spray. :tongue_smilie:

[orangearrow]

We've pretty much always had males. We have 2 male dogs now and just got a female puppy a few months ago. She's around 7 months old now and Soooooo lovey. I absolutely adore her.

 

The plus side to the female is that she doesn't hike to pee on things outside - we can take her on a walk and she doesn't pull to want to stop and pee on things every 5 minutes (and our little male dog is neutered and he still does this) - and she will never have the urge to dry hump a guest at our house (which, again, our neutered male will try sometimes on unsuspecting people...). :001_huh: All good points (and it makes me wonder why we've always had male dogs in the first place now that we have her! ROFLOL!!)

 

But - temperment over gender definitely. If given the choice between two sweeties, though - I'd probably lean female now.

[Tammy]

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[TravelingChris]

WE have had mostly males. Yes, they do like to pee often. On the other hand, one of the females we had didn't want to eliminate. THat caused problems too. In fact, it was much more annoying like when we were travelling. There is never any problem getting the male dogs to eliminate when travelling.

[Ellie]

I've had both, and frankly, I can't tell a gender-based difference.

[Audrey]

We are looking for a new dog. We have been looking at various options but I have heard from some family members that we really need to consider a male and that they make better family pets. What I have heard is that females are (generally) more aloof. What do you all think about that?

Thanks

Alexandra

 

 

I think neutred males make the best pets.

 

Oh wait... you meant dogs.

[LibraryLover]

My dogs are female and they are sweet dogs and awesome watch dogs. I never thought about it.

[Elizabeth Conley]

We lean strongly toward females.

 

We have absolutely no interest in a watch dog whatsoever. We don't allow the dog to bark at people. We don't want a dog that is defending our home and yard as his turf. We lived with our golden retriever in a small Okinawan village with no yard. Boy were we glad she was a true lady. Over the years our dogs have been sweet to the mailman, the trash collectors and all our neighbors. They've never attacked people who seemed not to belong in the community or barked and snarled at people coming up the walk.

 

When our dogs are pups we teach them to go to the bathroom when and where we ask them to. Happily, female dogs don't make a production out of this. They just squat and pump bilges. I've had to take care of male dogs before, and I find their urination habits really inconvenient. It takes them the entire length of a 30 minute walk to pee. They place a teaspoon here and a teaspoon there, all over the route. Never mind how the owners of all the properties along the way feel about having urine splashed on their plants and mail boxes. I find this socially embarrassing.

 

The male dogs we've baby sat have all been obsessive humpers. They've humped the kids and adult ankles. Worst of all, they've urinated on valuable possessions. One of them was into urinating on my shoes, often when I was still wearing them. I'll never forget the look on my long suffering female Golden's face when the male dog we were babysitting marked her bed. She slunk into the bathroom, pulled the bath mat into the tub, and sulked there until I got rid of the interloper.

 

Our female dogs have been extremely loving and trustworthy with the kids and other animals. They literally wouldn't harm a hamster, and had excellent baby skills. Before I had kids I rehabilitated injured wild animals. The female dogs could be trusted to capture an injured animal quickly, and bring it to me without further harm. One of them brought 3 baby rabbits to me one by one, wet with slobber but entirely unharmed.

 

All of the dogs I've known who were good with their families but tended to attack other animals and people were male. To hubby and I, this is absolutely unacceptable. When we got our first puppy, we committed ourselves to proper socialization of the dog. We agreed that if the dog ever attacked anyone, she'd have to be put down. I personally know many, many people who have faced this pain with their male dogs. We don't know anyone who's ever had this problem with a female, although I'm sure it happens.

 

Male dogs may be 6.2 times more likely to bite than female dogs:

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf

 

All studies that track gender with dog bites reveal that male dogs are involved in more bites, but revealing exactly how much more likely is rare. Obviously, a lot of circumstances contribute to dog bites:

 

" a study in Denver of medically-attended dog bites in 1991 suggested that male dogs are 6.2 times more likely to bite than female dogs, sexually intact dogs are 2.6 times more likely to bite than neutered dogs, and chained dogs are 2.8 times more likely to bite than unchained dogs."

Because we invest so much money, time and love in our dogs, we are unwilling to take any unnecessary risks when it comes to breed, temperament or gender. We know what we want, and we know what we don't want. A female dog is somewhat more likely to have the traits we appreciate, and significantly less likely to have the traits we will not tolerate.

Edited October 6, 2009 by Elizabeth Conley

[vettechmomof2]

We prefer both for family.

Temperment is the big decision maker.

We have 2 males and 1 female.

Both of our males are trained to urinate on command, so no marking without our sayso and they follow that just fine. Both of our males LOVEs children, my male ASD sits in our 4-H meetings and we take him to nursing homes and a local foster home shelter. and no humping from eithe ro four males, again training is integrel.

Our female is the dominant dog in our home and will still occassional hump the other dogs.

 

Now, out neighbors female was atrocious but they let their dogs run free with no training. She would hike herself up to poop/pee on my Jeep tires(the top of the tires), chase us endlessly and bark non stop at us. When she attacked us my male dog defended us without injuring her and she never came at us again.

 

Temperment and training is what will get you a good dog.

[TammyinTN]

Our Lab and Bassett Hound were both males and super sweet. Our Border Collie is female and spoiled rotten. For us it was the face and disposition. ;)

[unsinkable]

neutered males

 

no, wait, females

 

no, changed my mind again. neutered males.

 

:lol:

 

Really, I think it is the breed, breed temperament and upbringing/training.

 

I've had:

 

neutered male black Lab (RIP, Manny, with all the tennis balls you've ever wanted and all the squeaky toys that never lose their squeak),

 

a rescue female Boxer that had been to breed until we got her (RIP, Ginger, in a land with no thunderstorms and where you always have companions)

 

and now a neutered male Jack Russell/Beagle mix ("Patch, stay!")

 

Either can be a very good dog. I've had no experience w/intact males.

Edited October 6, 2009 by unsinkable

[Lolly]

Hmmm, I've found the females to be a bit easier to train and less likely to have dominance issues.

[ciyates]

I grew up with female dogs and they were great. Our females were far more loving, protective and aggressive than the big ox we have now!

 

I have a huge male mutt that was neutered young. He is great and doesn't pee on everything. But he would be just as happy to get attention from our murderers as us! :D

[hornblower]

I think neutred males make the best pets.

 

Oh wait... you meant dogs.

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

 

For dogs, I agree with temperament over gender. I have one of each & have fostered a variety of genders. Honestly, I don't think you can make a whole lot of generalizations.

 

I would not make a decision based on gender at all, except if you have a slight size preference, as males within a breed tend to be larger.

 

My male is the most efficient bathroom boy - he just goes and is done. My female is the one who would mark the entire neighbourhood if I allowed it. She's also much more territorial.

 

Humping is usually a dominance thing. I grew up with a female fox terrier who was a dedicated humper...... For males, neutering is often suggested as a solution but if it's done too late &/or not combined with training, it will not work. I think that's why you meet so many humpers who are neutered - kwim? People did it thinking it would fix it & now you see that 'it didn't'; it's because they did it too late & thought it was all they needed to do..... Early neuter will often prevent it & you need to deal with the bhvr early on.

 

 

You might think males fight for dominance more but nothing beats a dominant *****. And the worst dog fights in the world are between two females. Males will generally not fight to kill. Females will. I went to a dog aggression seminar with Dr. Patricia McConnell and she said the most heart-breaking cases she deals with are with two female dogs living in the same home who are not getting along. Generally there is no solution - one needs to be rehomed or pts because they will escalate and in the meantime, they just bide their time until they can get at the other dog......

[Dobermom]

I have an intact male (not neutered) that is 8.5 years old.  He has been bred multiple times.  He has never marked or pee'd in the house.  He has never humped anyone.  I think it just depends on the dog & the training they have had.