Ok so we have Holly who is a 1 year old Mastiff bitch and we are now looking to get another dog to keep her company but not sure if its best to get another female or to get a male.

We are planning to get a Victorian Bulldog, so he/she will be alot smaller than Holly, also we DO NOT plan on breeding them, Holly is going to be spayed after her next season, and we will neuter the new pup too.

We originally wanted another female just because we think they are easier to train and handle but we have been told by a breeder that getting another female may result in some dominance problems.

Does anyone have any advice on which sex would be better?

Also whats the best way to introduce a new dog into the house? Currently Holly is spoilt rotten by us all as she's so loving and adorable , and also a little clingy, and I have a feeling she's going to be incredibly jealous at not having all the attention all of the time.

Thanks in advance!

I think getter a male dog would be better, as the breeder you spoke to is right - sometimes having two dogs of the same sex can cause dominance issues. As for females being easier to train, i wouldn't agree with either but i guess it depends on the experiences you've had.
Sorry, no advice on how to integrate them though!

agreed, we have 2 females at the moment and we have had a couple of dominance issues, though we try to ensure our older girl is top dog by feeding first, fussing first, she has treats first too. we never had the same issues when we had a male with her, they just lived side by side.

our neighbours have 2 males, and they get along most of the time but they do fall out. they also try to keep the older dog top dog but it doesnt always work.

I have a boy and a girl, and the youngest dog which is the girl is the dominent dog. She is always putting Bailey in his place !!!

Im considering getting a 3rd dog at the moment, and i have no idea what sex to buy.

Two dogs might fight, but it is generally all 'fur and handbags', rarely is there serious damage.

Two bitches however, if they take against each other the fights tend to be serious.

I've known lots of people with same sex pairs/groups that get on fine. I do however know one pair of bitches that used to fight a lot (though it stopped temporarily when there was a male Rott in the house) and ultimately one killed the other.

I went for a boy-girl combo and it worked fantastically. We then got another dog, and there were a few food guarding issues - Buffy could take food from Hansel's mouth but Murphy wasn't to even look at Han's food! But despite the noise, there were never any bites. And a bit of work and a castration later, they are fine.

As for intergration, we didn't have any problems with Buffy as she was 8 weeks and Murphy took to her immediately. Hansel was 7 months so we kept him in the crate for a few minutes so they could get used to the scent then let him out being ready to step in if need be. Buffy took to him straight away and him to her & Murphy just seemed politely interested but not that bothered.

If you have any concerns, keep them seperate but able to see & smell each other (staregates, crates) or introduce them on neutral ground & take it from there.

If Holly is good natured & good with other dogs and you are getting a puppy, my guess is it will be love at first sight.

Don't envy you two robust puppies paying full on in your lounge It'll be a joy to see though

I've also heard the same ~ that 2 males will posture, shout & pout a bit, but there is less likelihood of any real damage if they fight. But 2 females can do serious damage to each other. But I think this is mainly if you have 2 entire females as the most common cause for this sort of aggression between 2 females is when they are coming into season & they may guard desirable resources as if their lives depended on them!

Provided that Holly is spayed & that you wait for a while, & introduce another spayed bitch, you may be ok. I've got several friends with female rescue dogs that were spayed when they met & they've been fine together. But in this sort of scenario it all boils down to the particular dog's temperament, sociability, past experiences etc etc rather than the sex of the dogs. So you may find that Holly won't be best pleased about having to share her home with another dog whether male or female! Or maybe she'll be glad of some company......?

Thanks everyone for the replies so far, I think the general consensus is for us to get a male.

Holly is absolutley brilliant with other dogs, she has never shown any aggression towards anyone or any dog, even when she's been nipped by other smaller dogs trying it on (hilarious sight seeing a tiny dog try it on with my beast of a dog!!). However this has always been on neutral territory like the park, we've never had another dog in her house or garden, and mastiffs are known for being territorial.
The problem also is that Holly doesn't quite understand just how big she is, so when playing with other dogs she's bowled them over without realising.
Even now she still thinks shes a lap dog despite being 9 stones!!

We plan on leaving the new pup in her cage so that Holly can check him out and gradually introduce them together with full supervision, I think holly will see him as a new playmate as she is sociable herself and we just hope she doesn't sit on him accidentally!!

I can only agree with the other posts on here. My O/Hs sister has two females and there is definitely a bit of jealousy between them, although they get on well, no fighting as far as I know. However, they tend to form a pack and pick on any other dogs (like my poor Cav) and when we go there they have to be in separate rooms. They go berserk if anyone passes the gate too.

[quote=wench;38158443]Thanks everyone for the replies so far, I think the general consensus is for us to get a male.

Holly is absolutley brilliant with other dogs, she has never shown any aggression towards anyone or any dog, even when she's been nipped by other smaller dogs trying it on (hilarious sight seeing a tiny dog try it on with my beast of a dog!!). However this has always been on neutral territory like the park, we've never had another dog in her house or garden, and mastiffs are known for being territorial.
The problem also is that Holly doesn't quite understand just how big she is, so when playing with other dogs she's bowled them over without realising.
Even now she still thinks shes a lap dog despite being 9 stones!!

We plan on leaving the new pup in her cage so that Holly can check him out and gradually introduce them together with full supervision, I think holly will see him as a new playmate as she is sociable herself and we just hope she doesn't sit on him accidentally!![/QUOTE

Holly will change a fair bit between one and three years as mastiffs mature a lot slower, you will probably find you need to spoil her a bit less and be a bit more assertive with her, especially when introducing a new dog, but female (mastiffs) are generally easier to handle than males although males are more laid back and will sleep all day whereas the females have more get up and go.

I agree with SM that sometimes two females will fight to the death when they have a problem they dont seem to let things go with each other whereas two males will by and large forget their differences

I have one female, one male and they get on fine. She bosses him about a bit but he doesn't mind..he's so laid back. She loved him when he was a puppy...really mothered him. And I introduced them to each other at my mum's house, so it was neutral.
The vet told me not to get two females because of dominance issues.

I'm going to have to get a bitch when I get another dog, as we are going to be allowing one litter from our Cav, so we can't get a male until she's done that and she's spayed, which won't be until she's about 3.

As long as they are both spayed I don't know of any problems, but I may be wrong...

The two bitches I mentioned (one killed the other) were both spayed so I wouldn't count on it.

Are you me
My youngest is a girl (6 months) called Tilly and my boy (Bailey) will be 2 in February. Tilly is the boss in our house.

I'm a breeder - I've got 5 bitches and we rarely have a cross word between them. Likewise, I know many multi-dog households who have two or more bitches living harmoniously.

If you get a dog - you don't say if your bitch is neutered - but if she isn't - you are need to be sure you have the capacity to keep them apart when she is in season.

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You should never consider getting another dog as company for your existing one - you should consider it because YOU want it.

Dog or bitch, you have to face the possibility that they may not get on - having made a lifelong commitment to both your existing bitch and the new pup - you also need to be able to deal with this possiblity.

Not necessarily - dogs when neutered give off a scent which can make them attractive to entire dogs, and can also cause friction with bitches, particularly bitches neutered early.

A friend of mine was going to bring in a female pup for the showring, so decided to get her oldest pet dog neutered - the previous harmony in her household between her eldest two dogs (dog and bitch - both neutered) no longer exists - and she is stuck with having to deal with that now, day in, day out

I've had various combinations over the years, never had any problems with girls together or indeed boys together but what has made a difference is size ! Two dogs of any sex of the same size seem very combative whereas one big/medium dog and one tiny has always been very peaceful - tiny one's have always ruled the roost and the big/medium one's done as the the little one's told them to do !

Gosh we have always extended our family for the dogs rather than us - Duncan is Mollie's dog and Mollie was originally Rosie's dog. Benny started off as my dog and we got Lucy for him and so on. Always worked out for us well one exception when one of the additions turned out to prefer her own company but one in 25 years isn't a bad average.

Hi,

we have 4 border collie bitches
We got each one because they stood out from the others in their respective litters and hadn't been asigned to other owners.

Our first dog was male and it lived briefly with 2 bitches.

we have had up to 5 bitches with no males.

What I am saying is we got the dogs I guess because they stood out from other dogs not because of sex, but have usually ended up with bitches.

all of our dogs have been neutered.

never really had any dominance problems. However our 2 youngest do posture a bit over toys but never had anything more serious

It seems there are always going to be exceptions to the "rules". It probably boils down to the temperaments & personalities of the dogs in question & these are formed partly from inherited traits & partly from upbringing, early life experiences & how they were reared, plus their existing lifestyle.

Another point to bear in mind is that the sex of the dog is determined in the womb & a female pup in the womb with many (or even next to) males can be sensitised by the androgens that determine the sex. So in these circumstances a female could have male personality/behavioural characteritics & vice versa for a male in a litter of predominantly females.

There are no hard & fast rules to know if dogs will get on together so it's probably better to ensure that the dogs meet on neutral ground & that initial introductions are managed properly. This will give them the best chance of getting on together & will give potential owners the chance to see how they react to each other. You may be able to increase the chances of a happy relationship by having dogs of the opposite sex & by managing the introductions but there's no guarantee of success either way.

Quick Update...

We eventually got an adorable male Victorian Bulldog, who is now named Cholmondley (pronounced Chumley and Chummy for short) see links below

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/o...y/IMG_0163.jpg

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/o...y/P1030605.jpg

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/o...y/P1030588.jpg

Thankfully Holly and Chummy got on like a house on fire as soon as they met and its only been 5 days but they are inseperable, they follow each other everywhere!
Holly is loving her new playmate and her motherly instincts have kicked in as she is so gentle with him. He's also a bolshie little Pup with absolutely no fear, using Holly as a climbing frame and playfighting with her despite Holly being 10 times bigger than Chummy!
They love chasing each other and today I saw Holly dangle a soft toy in front of him and egging him on to chase her with it, it was so cool

And yesterday holly went into her cage for a nap and Chummy followed her right in and shared the same bed together.. its was soooo sweet!

Thanks for all the advice, so glad we got Chummy, we've been wanting another dog for ages but wasn't sure if Holly would mind but in the end it was the best thing we've done

Thanks for all the advice.

They look adorable together & i'm so glad that they're getting on well & that Holly's loving your new pup!

It's great that Holly's initiating play sessions with Cholmondley & that they want to sleep together ~ I hope they grow up to be best buddies forever.

I've got a male & female labrador, about 6 months difference in age & I must say that getting Wilma was the best present I could ever have got for Barney. They adore each other, sleep together, play together, chew their bones side by side. It's certainly made my life easier as they'd far rather play tug-a-toy with each other than with me!