# Can mother and daughter live together?



## susan.msp (Apr 30, 2012)

Hello all, I have a question that someone who has raised females together in the past can hopefully answer. 

I currently have 5 GSD's on our farm. Santana (3) Zada (3) Finn ( 18 mos ) Ira and Hera ( 4 mos ) 

Little background, I totally lucked into getting Santana. She came from a very nice breeder, I used to go to and look at thier website often. They were always posting video's about thier training program, lots of info on bloodlines, working ability etc. I liked to look but knew my husband would never let me pay that much for a dog, so I window shopped  

On our farm we have a small Dairy, Brown Swiss cows and Nubian Dairy goats. We have since sold the entire herd of goats to concentrate more on the Swiss herd, but we used to compete in shows and did very well. At one of these shows that we traveled to, coming back from lunch there was a couple leaning over our pens looking at the goats. He said he was a dog trainer/breeder, had always supplemented his puppies with goats milk but it was very expensive and he was considering the idea of adding a few milk goats to his operation. So he was visiting various shows. He was impressed with my girls, they were in tip top show condition..." what kind of dogs do you breed?' GSD...I'm immediately interested. He tells me the name of his kennel and OMG it's the one I had visited online several times!!! It took about 6 mos but we worked out a deal, he got two does and I got a puppy. She is everything he said her genetics should assure her to be. 

When she was 6 mos old, I took in a rescue, Zada. For the first year they got along fine, they were about the same age. After that it was all downhill. Awful fights. They are both now 3 years old and must be kept separate at all times. Our daughter lives in a small guesthouse on our property and Zada spends most of her time with her, but we still have to be careful on the rotation. 

We had Santana bred and she had 6 beautiful puppies. Didn't make a dime on them, her pre preg testing and prenatal care was a small fortune, stud fee etc and then 4 of the puppies went to family members at no cost :wub: We didn't really account for getting attatched to them, we decided we would rather see them in good permanant homes than make money and not know where they were. We also decided to keep our breeding program in the barn and have her spayed. Ira and Hera are her puppies that stayed here. 

So here is the question, eventually, will Santana and Hera eventually become enemies like Santana and Zada did? Will being mother and daughter change this? both females will be spayed. I don't want a repeat of Santana and Zada and i am wondering if i am setting myself up for failure. 

I hope not, we are really enjoying both puppies. My husband and I have a contest going to see who is the better trainer and who the better dog. I have Ira and he has Hera. Such good natured and fun competition. He is winning...Hera is light years ahead of Ira, he is such a do de do kinda puppy but Hera is very driven. Still fun 

I have heard many times the the two girls wouldn't have fought if we had been the leaders. I'm sorry, I just don't think that's true in this case. Both girls have excellent manners and are eager to obey every command you give them. They love to work. Zada is the best cow dog I have ever owned. You teach Santana something new and she eats it up. i don't understand how we could have so much control yet be unable to control this aspect. I would really like to know your opinions on keeping mother and daughter together long term. Thanks so much


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## 4TheDawgies (Apr 2, 2011)

Spaying will help quite a bit! 

Bitches are called bitches for a reason. They will fight to the death. I have two females that absolutely never get along anymore. 

One of them just hates all females, she is a bit unstable herself. She's from a poor background in genetics and is spayed. She has thyroid problems and allergies as well as severe arthritis in her elbows. 

Her and the other female used to tolerate each other. But as the other female built her confidence in the pack it went downhill. 

The other female is totally fine with every other dog except for the female with problems mentioned above. 
She has a daughter that we own who is just shy of a year that she loves and plays with. I also have a 15 month female that she adores and plays with as well. 
Will that change as they age? Maybe, probably. They are all intact and must be separate during heats. 
Since you are spaying yours, the hormones won't be there anymore and it is likely they will stay friendly with each other. I don't think it will change the original opinion of the dogs they already dislike though.


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## Nikitta (Nov 10, 2011)

When i had Zena bred, I kept pick of the littler, Sirie. They got along fine except for a certain behavior that was entirely my fault. Zena used to put her mouth over Sirie's nose. I thought is just a dominance thing. What I didn't realize was Zena was biting her harder and harder every time until Sirie couldn't stand it any more and a fight broke out. I was the one to blame for this. After that, I didn't allow Zena to ever do that again. Other then that issue though, being mother and daughter, they got along fine.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I don't know that spaying will help. It really depends on the bitches. Arwen and my brother's bitch who was a year older were put together, and after a couple of months, WWIII. They had to be separated, they were 2 and 3 years old. 

For two years I kept my brother's bitch for him. 

Arwen had Babs and Jenna. She was always fine with Babs, and after about a year started giving Jenna trouble. Jenna is a natural alpha. Babs is not. Most of my dogs just accept Jenna as over them and there is little trouble with her, though I really do not leave them loose together. But Arwen would have fought with her if I let her, maybe would have hurt her bad. 

A friend of mine had a bitch and two of her pups, and every so often they get into a nasty fight. The pups are 4-5 now and the dam 6-7. They were all spayed, and still same deal. It just depends on the bitches. Spaying a bitch removes heat cycles, and bitches can be bitchier when in season, coming into season, going out of season. But the rest of the time they are still bitches and spaying doesn't change that.


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## deldridge72 (Oct 25, 2011)

I have 5 females and one male-two are siblings-they have a bond-I bought their dam shortly after buying the youngest-they had a very special bond- but the dam was indifferent to her eldest.
My oldest girl likes to think of herself as dominate and my young high drive female wants to be-no fights but several nips, but then my pack knows that I will not tolerate misbehavior and when I speak that's the end of it or . . . Now with my young mix-well she's something-still convincing her that's manners are needed.
Never had problems when my old male was alive between the boys either.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

In general, it's tough to have two bitches in the same house, spayed or not. It really takes takes the right dogs and the right owners to make it work. I know people that have made this work, but way more that it didn't work and they had to get rid of one of them or keep them permanently separate.


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