# Male or female



## 3ymum (Oct 12, 2021)

We are planning to get a puppy in a year time, at the meantime I am searching for the breeders and will discuss this matter with him/her but would like to know a general opinion regarding the gender.

I don't have any preference for the gender but husband grew up with female his whole life and he prefers female as he doesn't want the humping/marking. 

But we have a female and I have heard GSD female to female aggression. I understand every dog is an individual and has its own personality but I would like to avoid any possible issue.

Husband seems to against the male but I would wait and see when we talk to the breeder.

What do you guys/gals think?


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

what’s the breed, temperament and age of your current female?


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## 3ymum (Oct 12, 2021)

Fodder said:


> what’s the breed, temperament and age of your current female?


Thanks for the reply. Current dog is a husky/gsd, 2.5 years old. She loves dogs and would like to play with them all (something we are working on it while we are out for a walk to stop her trying to get to other dogs). She is very gentle at first if she gets to meet other dog, even small puppy but she likes playing rough. She was a very timid and nervous pup when we first got her but she is gaining confidence everyday.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

I would highly recommend a male. It’s much easier to deal with opposite sexes.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I have two males and they don’t hump and mark.
Do yourself a favor, get a nice male,have the breeder help you pick him.
Oh, and by the way, humping is a dominance thing, females do it, too. It’s up to you to train and let them know this is unacceptable behavior.


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## Buckelke (Sep 4, 2019)

We have always had a male and female and it is peaceful more or less. Ours are shelter dogs so some are 6 or 8 years old when we get them. NO puppies. Each individual dog has it's own personality. Jake (m GS) found Ellie (F gs) to be an annoyance after he lost his little PB buddy, Max. She would literally torment him until he showed her his big white teeth, then skulk off to her bed. No biting or anything like that. When we lost Jake, we brought home Lucky (m gs) who was very docile and Ellie ruled the roost. When we lost Ellie we got Elke (F gs) who was pretty ambivalent towards Lucky. She could take him or leave him. But we lost him and replaced him with Buck. When we went to the shelter to meet him, it was love at first sight. A quick sniff and they ran off to play together. She enjoyed every second of herding him around the yard. When we lost him she went out every day and sat at the top of the driveway waiting for him to come back. A few months later we found Duke (m GS) at the shelter. He was younger than advertised and has grown significantly since then. They were both 90 lbs when we started, but Duke is now a huge 133 lbs. If you asked Elke she will tell you he's a big, dumb, silly boy dog. If a dog could roll her eyes at his behavior, she would. She's about 12 years old and he's very juvenile. But what I'm trying to explain is all dogs have a personality and they either like each other or don't. I recommend you choose a male and choose carefully, introducing them first to see how they react. Introducing dogs at the shelter I can tell you they do not always like each other or even the idea of another dog. We have gone home without several who just didn't get along with the dog we already had. It's definitely a process. Have luck.


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## 3ymum (Oct 12, 2021)

Bearshandler said:


> I would highly recommend a male. It’s much easier to deal with opposite sexes.


Thanks for the input! I don't want to deal with female vs female problem.



Sunflowers said:


> I have two males and they don’t hump and mark.
> Do yourself a favor, get a nice male,have the breeder help you pick him.
> Oh, and by the way, humping is a dominance thing, females do it, too. It’s up to you to train and let them know this is unacceptable behavior.


Thanks for the reply. That's what I think as well regarding humping/marking, that I can train him this is not acceptable. Husband grew up with female pairs and never had a problem so he doesn't want a male. 

As long as the pup is healthy and with good temperament, gender doesn't matter to me. Males tend to be goofy and females tend to be more serious, I don't have experience with male but I can see Buffy is a serious type.


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## 3ymum (Oct 12, 2021)

Buckelke said:


> If you asked Elke she will tell you he's a big, dumb, silly boy dog. If a dog could roll her eyes at his behavior, she would.


Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! Duke is definitely a handsome boy! I do want a big, dumb, silly boy, lol


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

"Growing up with female pairs" and having 2 female GSD is not the same thing. Stack the odds in your favor and get a male. If you get a high drive female, they will fight. And a low drive female, your current one will bully her.


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## drparker151 (Apr 10, 2020)

My breeder has three females. Females 1 and 2 are best buds, females 2 and 3 get along and females 1 and 3 will fight to the death and must be rotated so they are never out at the same time. 

Get a male, just not worth taking the chance.


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## gsdeire92 (Aug 9, 2021)

We had 3 females, all different breeds happily together for 10-15 years. 2 sadly passed in the last year, weeks apart :/
Never once had a fight break out that im aware of.
My current 6 month pup is also female and getting along fine with the other so far, the little JR is boss tho ha.


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## 3ymum (Oct 12, 2021)

WNGD said:


> "Growing up with female pairs" and having 2 female GSD is not the same thing. Stack the odds in your favor and get a male. If you get a high drive female, they will fight. And a low drive female, your current one will bully her.


This is what I worry and why taking the risk. He thinks I am over thinking about GSD and if there is a fight, they will sort it out but of course with supervision. For me, I just want to avoid it from the start.



drparker151 said:


> My breeder has three females. Females 1 and 2 are best buds, females 2 and 3 get along and females 1 and 3 will fight to the death and must be rotated so they are never out at the same time.
> 
> Get a male, just not worth taking the chance.


Thanks! I agree with you! Hope the breeder can convince him. Anyway, we are going to get a male! I know it will be a while yet and I still need to control Buffy better before new pup, just the thought is so excited!



gsdeire92 said:


> We had 3 females, all different breeds happily together for 10-15 years. 2 sadly passed in the last year, weeks apart :/
> Never once had a fight break out that im aware of.
> My current 6 month pup is also female and getting along fine with the other so far, the little JR is boss tho ha.


Thanks for sharing! It's what husband views, he grew up with pair of Bullmastiff, rottweiler etc. But I don't want to chance it.


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## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

If your husband is really against the male, a female could work, but it just depends on the dog and training, I may be in the minority but growing up/currently we always had at least 6-10 dogs, all female except for one or two, all rescues, and they got along well, you just have to really pay attention to the signs and when they reach sexual maturity, which is when they wanna start fighting, it's happened maybe 3 times over the years but they were quickly stopped and corrected/separated until they learned to get along, after a certain period they functioned fine together, just make sure to always supervise and watch for signs of the interaction escalating, if that sounds like too much work, get a male.


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## 3ymum (Oct 12, 2021)

peachygeorgia said:


> If your husband is really against the male, a female could work, but it just depends on the dog and training, I may be in the minority but growing up/currently we always had at least 6-10 dogs, all female except for one or two, all rescues, and they got along well, you just have to really pay attention to the signs and when they reach sexual maturity, which is when they wanna start fighting, it's happened maybe 3 times over the years but they were quickly stopped and corrected/separated until they learned to get along, after a certain period they functioned fine together, just make sure to always supervise and watch for signs of the interaction escalating, if that sounds like too much work, get a male.


Thanks for the reply and shared your experiences which I need! It doesn't sound too much work as I am going to pay a lot attention to both of them anyway as I am not an experienced owner, still learning. Personally I really don't mind the gender but since I haven't had a male before, I am open to this. On the other hand, husband isn't. I set my heart on a male just to avoid the possible problem but final decision will be based on what the breeder opinion.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

3ymum said:


> Thanks for the reply and shared your experiences which I need! It doesn't sound too much work as I am going to pay a lot attention to both of them anyway as I am not an experienced owner, still learning. Personally I really don't mind the gender but since I haven't had a male before, I am open to this. On the other hand, husband isn't. I set my heart on a male just to avoid the possible problem but final decision will be based on what the breeder opinion.


“It doesn’t sound like too much work” is just not realistic.

Please do yourself a favor and search the female fighting/ same sex aggression threads on this forum.
You cannot prevent, control, or even break it up, if it becomes bad. Females will fight to the death, if one decides the other must go.
A responsible breeder would steer you away from owning two female GSDs.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

I'm on my third set of females. One was a GSD mix, the rest have all been GSDs. 

I've had male dogs as solos and males with females.

The relationship I have with males is different than that I have with females. Not better or worse, just different.


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