# Is it true that dogs bond better with opposite sex owner?



## RoninByDesign (Aug 11, 2017)

i've read this in a few places, for people who have owned more than 1-2 dogs, is this true in your experience or just a myth?


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

Myth, I've owned both and never noticed the slightest difference...of course, I'm an animal person, and bond strongly with any animal.


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

A total myth, in my experience.


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## RoninByDesign (Aug 11, 2017)

Muskeg said:


> A total myth, in my experience.





tim_s_adams said:


> Myth, I've owned both and never noticed the slightest difference...of course, I'm an animal person, and bond strongly with any animal.


okay so, what about the whole "girls are more serious and boys more silly" or the "girls are more protective of pack while boys more protective of the territory" what are the big differences (aside from physical) that arent myths?


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

Not a myth, in my experience. lol! My previous female shepherd worshiped my husband. My current female - same thing. My current male is a mama's boy. Obviously, it doesn't always hold true. It did for me and I have friends who have had the same experience.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I've actually seen it happen _a lot _in adoption placements_. _The canine boys attaching to their human women, the canine girls to their human men...I think there's something to it. It's not an "always" thing, but a "surprisingly often" things. I can't explain it.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Nope. I have a great bond with Deja. Dogs bond with whoever provides the good stuff; leadership, training, food and fun. Oh, I forgot consistency.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

myth. I have both sexes. They are all mine.

Seriousness is in the genetics. But I do find male animals in general more affectionate.


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

It is a myth or a misconception. Dogs bond well with those that treat them kindly, fairly and lovingly. Gender doesn't matter, IMO.


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

I think it's a myth. 

I prefer females, and mine have always preferred me - over my father (when I lived at home) , over my boyfriends (when I was a young adult out on my own), and my current females objectively prefer me over my husband (though they have a great bond with him). Whatever life stage I've been at, they've always been "mine".


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

wolfy dog said:


> Nope. I have a great bond with Deja. Dogs bond with whoever provides the good stuff; leadership, training, food and fun. Oh, I forgot consistency.


I do EVERYTHING for my dogs. I'm the leader, trainer, groomer, feeder.... The male adores me. The female adores my husband. lol!

Don't get me wrong. They are both bonded to me, but my husband is clearly my females' favorite person. I'm OK with that. (Like I have a choice.) HA!


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

have owned a handful, have trained a lot. bond is mostly the same, but relationships can vary... personalities matter and affect dynamic.

Outside of my dogs at work, Gia loved both genders, Keystone too, Coda (female) liked women, Tilden likes women.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

They know who the primary care giver is the one that puts the most effort and time into them regardless of male or female. My experiences my males have a tendancey to be more needy and girls are a bit more independant.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Jenny720 said:


> My experiences my males have a tendancey to be more needy and girls are a bit more independant.


Yep, same as with the humans :grin2:


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## Deb (Nov 20, 2010)

I haven't found there to be a big difference with males to women or females to men. I have found that the males tend to be more 'velcro' while the females more independent.


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## Venus694 (Aug 10, 2017)

I think it's a little bit of both. I'm a woman with a female gsd and we have a great bond. They get attached to the person caring and loving them of course, but in my own experience my gsd goes crazy when she sees my bf. She loves him and my bf had a male pitbull who was so affectionate with me. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

I've never met a dog that didn't like me, male or female. Because I really like all dogs...period. I think it's the stats on this downplay the differences in people's attitudes toward cross gender dogs. And by cross-gender I don't mean trans dogs, LOL, that's a subject that for another time.

But I seriously believe that if people see this cross-gender difference in bonding, it's more a reflection of the person than it is the dog.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

it might be true for a number of people but in my household it isn't. My big boy and my hubby are like peas in a pod and my she-pup is definitely my dog. Granted we both get love and affection but I can see the joy in my boy's face when he gets to play with my hubby. ( I suspect it is partly because he can really test his strength with him where as he holds back when he plays with me ) My she-pup is all about doing stuff with me.


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

So OP - basically, it depends on the person and the dog. lol!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Stevenzachsmom said:


> Not a myth, in my experience. lol! My previous female shepherd worshiped my husband. My current female - same thing. My current male is a mama's boy. Obviously, it doesn't always hold true. It did for me and I have friends who have had the same experience.


Same here. My husband and I have had 4 females and one male GSD in the past 30 years. I do all the training and feeding, and every single female has been a total daddy's girl. That's not to say they didn't also love me, or that the didn't obey and work for me, because they all have. 

I have a very strong bond with Halo, who is my flyball racing dog. People have commented on it numerous times at tournaments - how much she loves me, how focused on me she is. But if she _had_ to choose between us, she'd choose my husband. If he comes to a tournament to watch her race, he has to hide because if she knows he's there she will go looking for him. 

Keefer adores my husband, but he worships me. His whole world revolves around me. :wub:


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Magwart said:


> I've actually seen it happen _a lot _in adoption placements_. _The canine boys attaching to their human women, the canine girls to their human men...I think there's something to it. It's not an "always" thing, but a "surprisingly often" things. I can't explain it.


That's what I think too. There are obviously plenty of exceptions but it does happen a lot, more than can be explained by simple co-incidence. 



wolfy dog said:


> Nope. I have a great bond with Deja. Dogs bond with whoever provides the good stuff; leadership, training, food and fun. Oh, I forgot consistency.


But that doesn't explain why I'm the person who does all that stuff, and while I've always had a very good bond with our females, my husband has always been their favorite person. What's funny is that both of us prefer females too.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Stevenzachsmom said:


> I do EVERYTHING for my dogs. I'm the leader, trainer, groomer, feeder.... The male adores me. The female adores my husband. lol!
> 
> Don't get me wrong. They are both bonded to me, but my husband is clearly my females' favorite person. I'm OK with that. (Like I have a choice.) HA!


Yes! For us, anyway. Although Halo also adores me and Keefer also adores Tom, it's just the opposite gender has the slightest edge in terms of affection and bond.


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

I am much more popular with my female - until 'Daddy' comes home.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Our girls prefer me over my wife and Zoey was "her" dog for training, walks etc... Zoey became glued to me and still is. My wife then got Ranger at 4 months old. She worked with him to, but he loved everyone. He has since gravitated over to the dark side with me and the girls. My wife now has Ollie and he is all hers.


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

All of our animals have always picked me over my partner, except for the rabbit. The rabbit doesn't like me, and I chalk it up to accidentally static shocking him on the butt one of the first nights we brought him home... oops. But both of my parrots, one who is male and one who is female, clearly pick me over him. Our current female GSD pup is also very much so my dog over his. His WGSL female also loved us pretty equally despite me coming into her life only half way through, but affection wise she was much more so with me. But I think that's because I always showered her with love and have always been happy to sit on the floor gently petting or giving bum rubs and the like. 

I've always wondered if the sex of the breeder makes a difference, especially if the breeder spends a lot of time with the pups as they grow. I also think whoever "plays" more with the pup or interests them/engages them in those first few important weeks when they come home makes a difference. My partner was unable to spend a lot of time with Ryka when she first came home, whereas I had two weeks off for just the two of us. It created a pretty strong bond, and now that my girl is 5 months she's just starting to show affection and excitement towards my partner. She used to brush him off for the longest time and only show excitement/affection to me.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

My definitely are more bonded with me. They look to my husband when I'm gone, but he might as well be invisible when I'm home.


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## Deb (Nov 20, 2010)

I'm not sure I know how to say this, but I'll try. Maybe someone else will understand and be able to say it better. I think there are some people whom animals are more drawn to, they are the people who can walk up to the dog that would bite most other people and have little problem with the dog. They're the 'natural' trainers, dogs want to please them. They're confident and love dogs. I think most people have a little of this, and some have it a lot more. For people like this I don't think gender of the dog makes much difference. Even if a person like this doesn't do much with a dog and their wife/husband/partner does all the feeding and training, the dog is still drawn to the other person. I think we all know people like this. Hope I'm making sense.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

I think you said it very well Deb.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

I have always had a close bond with all my dogs, but the females especially. I have always had hard luck dogs, so maybe that's part of it. But Sabs came to me as a 7.5 week old pup and she waged an all out assault on my heart. I did not want her, she was for husband and son, she had another plan and would not be deterred. 
Perhaps some of it is that I really don't like boys, of any species:grin2:I think most of it is that I adore those quirky, bitchy, do as I will, personalities. I had better luck with mares when I was still riding as well.


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## Tiptx4 (Feb 27, 2017)

Where did someone hear this myth from, I actually think Dogs who have rich owners bond better cause they spend more money on them and spoil them more Lol


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## Misha111 (Oct 31, 2016)

I have always owned bitches that have gravitated towards men which is a laugh as if they were relying the men in my household they would have died. I am the one who has done all the feeding, training, walking, vet visits etc. I think they have viewed men as 'Disney Dads' all fun, very little rules. That being said, if they have been ill, scared or just needed reassurance, I am the person they look for. And ultimately they listen to me above everyone else.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Since I've been with my husband, we have had 3 shepherds. I had my girl when I met him. She is almost 11, we have all been together since she was 2. To this day I have to tell her to go with him if he calls her away from me. If he tells her to come on with him, she looks at me, to me, and if I tell her to go ahead she does and if I don't, she will lay down next to me and refuse to be moved. She LOVES my husband, but I am her world. 

My adopted male loved my husband but I was his person. If I left town he moped till I came home. if my husband left he didn't act different.

My young male we got as a pup, my husband and i. he was to be my next service dog. I did everything with him and for him since day 1. I don't feel there is anything missing in my bond with him, we have a great relationship but I'd be lying if I didn't say he loves my husband more. I was at rally run thru's and someone looked over at me and said "he is a momma's boy, huh?" and I was like...."you should see him with my husband". 

So in our case...opposite sex bonding has not been a thing.

My girl is funny tho, if thunder scares her she does not run to me, she runs to daddy.


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## CarrieJo (Oct 1, 2016)

Deb said:


> I'm not sure I know how to say this, but I'll try. Maybe someone else will understand and be able to say it better. I think there are some people whom animals are more drawn to, they are the people who can walk up to the dog that would bite most other people and have little problem with the dog. They're the 'natural' trainers, dogs want to please them. They're confident and love dogs. I think most people have a little of this, and some have it a lot more. For people like this I don't think gender of the dog makes much difference. Even if a person like this doesn't do much with a dog and their wife/husband/partner does all the feeding and training, the dog is still drawn to the other person. I think we all know people like this. Hope I'm making sense.


Yea like my Sadie I feed her take care of her clean her she climbs in my lap like a 54 pound cat curled into a ball. But oh when dad (my hubby) comes in the room he jumps she jumps she climbs up to him and tries to love on him and he grabs her paws and dances and she is in heaven. I don't know she does put part of her top half in my lap as well to be hugged on and get scratches. Never had such a lover!

But yea birds are the same way. They will fall head over heals over someone and you will KNOW they belong together. Last bird I rehomed the bond was so obvious she asked about him and I was like you want him? I have had raised enough babies to see that instant bond. Doesn't always happen both ways! So the sunconure found his home. He was wooing her right in front of me! LOL nice to see it happen especially with an x breeder bird. But my friend and I would raise our breeders ourselves so it is nice when a breeder can go back to being a pet and still having a loving pet life when they have lost their mate!


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## CarrieJo (Oct 1, 2016)

Slamdunc said:


> It is a myth or a misconception. Dogs bond well with those that treat them kindly, fairly and lovingly. Gender doesn't matter, IMO.


Yea right believe me as a mom I take care of all the dogs love them and with some of them get more affection from me than their "master" but they still love my kid over me if it is their dog. Problem is when it's our dog they love daddy a lot. Although we did have a girl dog when the kids where growing up (it was my husband's dog) couldn't tell the dog that she belonged to my son period even though he was only 7 or so. Till the day she died that was her "love." Kinda nice seeing it happen to my hubby for once. Lol


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## LoboFloppyEars (Oct 15, 2016)

My guy has always been more affectionate with women.


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## Sheb (Aug 17, 2017)

I think most dogs will attach to their primary caregiver most, but perhaps if all things were equal the opposite gender might have an edge? Not sure, but in the flying squirrel community, it is sometimes suggested people get a flyer of opposite gender. Something regarding them smelling estrogen/testosterone. I feel like it doesn't make a huge difference, but I still prefer male dogs. Just my preference though. Also wonder if neutering/spaying affects preference.


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