factors in deciding whether to get a boy vs. girl dog?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not based in any research, but I think girl dogs are less aggressive. It always seems to be the male dogs exerting dominance and humping, etc. at the dog parks we frequent. Our girls (our dogs and fosters we've had) tend to seem more submissive and just generally easier to socialize as a result. Could be completely anecdotal, and we've just gotten lucky but that's my two sense.

I think you're probably seeing a lot of intact male dogs (and/or other male dogs' reaction to that one annoying intact male dog) at the dog park. It's a real issue around here, unfortunately - DH took our younger dog to the park this weekend and said it was all unruly, oversized intact labs & doodles.

So true!!!

People are now opting to not neuter their dogs until 1 year plus based on questionable research. As such, you are seeing a lot more hormonal behavior in male dogs and a lot more dog fights.

My male dog (and he's big) was routinely getting humped and harassed at the park by some pretty wild dogs. The other problem at our dog park are people adopting older dogs knowing nothing about their history and just bringing them to the park and not supervising. There have been a few pit mixes causing fights.

Our dog trainer highly advises against the dog park. We live near a dog park and I would say about 95% of the dog owners in our neighborhood avoid it like the plague. They do have dogs they known in the backyard for free play and socialize on walks.

If you read enough studies with open eyes, you see the limitations of many. What is true is that once the poor behavior becomes engrained, it's hard to stop the wandering/marking/aggression. I would do it before it got out of hand.

[Anonymous]

Marking is a really bad habit. Not all male dogs do it, but very few female dogs do. Many male dogs know to only mark outside, but some don't know not to do it indoors. They are unlikely to mark in their own house, but I would hate to have a dog that would mark in stores, friends' homes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Eh, I think it should come down to personal preference - for some reason we always get girl dogs, but I can't explain why. Practically speaking, there are pros and cons to both, but they can surprise you (I have a girl dog that lifts her leg to pee - it's a dominance thing). As noted above, all dogs are wonderful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve always had male dogs and I find them to be dumb and sweet. We now also have a 1 year old female lab mix and she’s the smartest dog we’ve ever had but the most challenging.

I’m partial to males but I love them all!

I’ll add that our female is spayed and she humps our older boxer. Her female litter mate is also a humper apparently.

[Anonymous]

I've had a lot of dogs and my experience is that males tend to be more attached to their people. Our girls have all loved us and have been great dogs, but the males are the ones that immediately get in your lap and sleep connected to a human.

[Anonymous]

New poster: what is so bad about marking to pee? I grew up with 2 male dogs and they lifted their leg a lot outside but they never ever peed inside anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster: what is so bad about marking to pee? I grew up with 2 male dogs and they lifted their leg a lot outside but they never ever peed inside anywhere.

It isn't really bad, but it does slow down the walks since they want to stop more often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros for female dogs are they squat to pee rather than lifting a leg. Also, they are slightly less likely to want to stop and pee twice per block.
Pros for male dogs are that the neutering is less invasive and generally less expensive.
There are no negatives to either, since all puppies are wonderful.

I had a female dog who cocked her leg. She was a hunting dog who had to learn to be a pet and go for walks when I adopted her. My friends all had male dogs so I think she learned from copying them.