Multi dog question - Page 1

I have another question for you guys today.  I have read a few horror stories here about having two females in a home.  How bad is it?  I am buying another dog and trying to decide between a male and a female.  Currently have a female.  She is pretty alpha for a female.  1 YO  By the time the new litter I am considering is ready she will be almost 1 1/2 YO (dogs were just bred)  Do you guys think this would cause any problems in the house or should I go with a male instead.  I expect because of the breeding and my pick number that either the male or female will be high drive/ alpha type dog.  Will they just establish a pack order later on or will it be a constant battle between the two.  Guess I should also say these dogs will be around the house not in a kennel or run all day.  My fears are the male will get to my female when she goes into heat as well

Thanks for any opinions

From my experience and talking to others on this forum, I would  not  have 2 alpha females in the same house unless I had the ability to always keep them separate.

I have 2 females now, mother and daughter.  Mother is very laid back, with not an alpha bone in her body.  Daughter is somewhat alpha; more along the lines of a drama queen and always wanting to be the center of attention.   They generally play well together.  They are never left unsupervised (has my full attention, no distractions on my part) together and their play times are limited to about 10 minutes.     That said, they do have their arguments.   As soon as the 1st cross word/growl comes out of any mouth, play time is immediately over and they are separated.  So far this is working out very well.  Due to the stories I have heard from others, I will never trust them alone together, though.  Bitches are bitches and will fight to the death.

It also helps that I have been teaching both of my puppies the "Zen" command. I have both the daughter above and her brother.  Now both of them can get into some bad arguments.  Cirberus, my girl, will pick until someone does what she wants (rather funny to see).  Max, my boy, tolerates her picking to a point.  Eventually though, he has enough.  Their play time is even shorter (more to the bonding with me part than with how they get along), if it occurs any.  As soon as I see the anger, they get the "zen" command.  They both go to a separate area and go into a down command.  Right now, this is working better for Max, as he is laid back.  Cirberus will go into the down, but belly crawl over to me or Max to continue with play time; such the drama queen and pain in rear.

For me, it is not that hard to keep Cirberus separated during heat.  She has her own kennel outside and has her own crate/room inside.  We have only gone through 1 cycle though and she is only 11 months... The next cycle may be more of a challenge.  I intend to have her spayed at about 18 months, so hopefully it will not be too bad.

Rose, mom, was very easy to keep separated during all of her heat cycles.  We live in a rural area with coyotes, so she has to stay inside the full 6 weeks during her cycle.  As soon as one of my males would start peeing over her scent, that would be my clue that her cycle is starting and in she comes.

Good luck
 

What's your purpose for another dog?
Two females are going to fight...competition for attention and basically space. Not a good idea if you don't have a kennel to keep them apart.

Your female will be about the right age to be spayed when the new puppy comes home.  Is that your intent?  If so, male puppy is my recommendation, as you will have better luck in having peace in your home with 2 alpha dogs.

If you do not intend to have spayed, I expect you intend to breed at some point.  For this I will say, most females (my laid back one included) will not tolerate any other female around while she is pregnant and has the puppies.  There are exceptions to this rule, but very rarely.  Once Rose became pregnant, any female dog received an immediate growl and even female humans, except for me, was looked at with that look that said give me space.  This is coming from a dog that never met a stranger and would rather lick someone to death than show any aggressiveness.

It can be done but only if you keep them separated when no one is home. I have multiple females living together and they do not fight but someone is here to watch them and only certain ones can be let out together to run and play. But it can be done with due diligence on your part. I have had and do have males and females who don't get along so it really is not a cut and dry situation. You must be able to read your dogs. IMO.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I kept 2 and later a 3 female american bulldog together for about 12 years and i did have a bunch of dog fight, some very serious where i thought a dog might not live. But somehow they never did kill each other. Old age finally got them. But it was a major pain in my ass. I had fights when other people didn't listen to me and keep the dog properly seperated. Because when Ivy and Maggie crossed paths it was never for good reasons. Now at the same time i also had a male who was low man on the totem pole. He never got into fights. And he was way bigger then any of the females. One being his mother. The other a sister and the third an unrelated female. I could not give away the trouble maker because i could not trust others to be responsiable for her or other dog's safety.
You'd be better off ot keep a pair and if you don't have awesome dogs have them spayed and neutered. Saved a lot of trouble and stitches.
Good luck

My spayed female GSD is a jealous, obstinate bitch who has hated Bosco (male GSD) from day one. She would have killed him as a puppy if we hadn't kept them completely separated for the first 6 months. Bosco is very tolerant of her antics but we never leave them unsupervised; he outweighs her by 35 pounds and could crush her like a bug if he was so inclined.

In the early days, my tiny living room contained an ex-pen and two crates. Thankfully, it only contains one crate now.

I've 5 females and a male that run together-3 I do keep an eye on-if things think about getting iffy only takes a verbal warning from me-rarely do I need to make further corrections.

i have only ever had two spayed femailes/.   When the older one passes away, we say we are not getting any more dogs, a few more days pass and out we go to get another puppy, and always a female. And then we think, maybe something other than a shepherd, and then we find a shepherd puppy. We bring her home and there has never been a problem.My husband is the alpha male in the family and we have never had a problem. I remember one time Cali growled at the puppy Tara, but my husband growled much louder. Cali never growled again. Remember who the boss is, who pays the mortgage and whose rules the dogs must live under at all times. If you are at all worried about what is going to happen, maybe you should rethink your plan.