# As female GSDs generally dominant over males?



## mosul210 (Mar 23, 2012)

Hey folks lately I've been seeing a pattern - or perhaps its always been there but I have not put much attention to it. I'm noticing that most of the time it is the female that is dominant over its male counterparts. I even see this in the wolfdog community. I'll happily sit back and hear what everyone elses experience is.


----------



## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

I think it really depends on the dog, rather then the sex. I've seen dominant females AND dominant males


----------



## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

I've noticed this, but its not really dominance and more of a "I'll allow this behavior because you're a female and it might lead to ____." Males generally don't have anything to prove to females, they aren't in direct competition with them for mates, so why bother? My boy will pretty much let a female do whatever she wants, there is no worry about dominance or being the stronger one.


----------



## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

Out of curiosity because we only have one male. Will males go after & fight a female? I'm not talking about defending themselves in a scuffle but actually go after a female?


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

In my experiences the female is the one in "charge". I would prefer to have males, but sometimes things just don't work out that way


----------



## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

Courtney said:


> Out of curiosity because we only have one male. Will males go after & fight a female? I'm not talking about defending themselves in a scuffle but actually go after a female?


I've only seen unstable males do this. Mine would never, but has gotten "growly" and in scrums with other males. Fearful, DA, or other problems can lead males to go after females, but those generally will go after anything that moves.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Courtney said:


> Out of curiosity because we only have one male. Will males go after & fight a female? I'm not talking about defending themselves in a scuffle but actually go after a female?


In all my years of having dogs(both sexes together) I have seen one fight between a male and female. A 120 lb lab and my 51 lb female...I was filling up the food container and he got over excited(he was only in the house for about a week)..it was a very short fight and the male started it but the female put him in his place...never so much another growl or dirty look in either direction.


----------



## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

martemchik said:


> *I've noticed this, but its not really dominance and more of a "I'll allow this behavior because you're a female and it might lead to ____." *Males generally don't have anything to prove to females, they aren't in direct competition with them for mates, so why bother? My boy will pretty much let a female do whatever she wants, there is no worry about dominance or being the stronger one.


I agree with this. Girls are just moody girls and boys are like, "She's at it again, sigh" and steer clear.


----------



## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

Courtney said:


> Out of curiosity because we only have one male. Will males go after & fight a female? I'm not talking about defending themselves in a scuffle but actually go after a female?


The shepherd that attacked my female puppy in a dog park was a male - came after her from 40 feet away and pinned her against the fence.

The golden that came out of the water at a leashed dog beach and attacked her was a male. 

The dog that growled and lunged at her at an off leash hike with friends was a male. The other dog did attack her and she pinned him.

The little terrrior on an extendable leash came over and bit her - male.

With all the bad dog interactions we have had, they have all been males. Not one with a female.

Non of these were fights and non of these invovled vet bills or even injuries.

I wonder if my female is somehow marked, or as their owners say "They don't like GSD" (all except the GSD owner who didn't say a word.


----------



## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

Caledon said:


> The shepherd that attacked my female puppy in a dog park was a male - came after her from 40 feet away and pinned her against the fence.
> 
> The golden that came out of the water at a leashed dog beach and attacked her was a male.
> 
> ...


Again, you don't _know_ any of these dogs and they are all random instances. From what I've seen at my GSD club, the males and females seem to get along better and the males that bark at the females, bark at everything. The males that are clearly discussing dominance, don't bother with the females. The only time I've seen my boy get rough with a female was when she was coming into heat (I don't believe the owners knew she was in heat, otherwise she wouldn't have been at the dog park), and one when she was just out of her heat. I could tell by his body language and the way he was acting that something was up. Otherwise, he'll say hello and frolic with any female, he'll let them do whatever they want to him.


----------



## Dragonwyke (Jul 21, 2011)

i have 3 males, and 1 female. my males are 2 gsds, 1 non gsd, my female is a gsd/husky/husky-husky/wolfdog cross. now ALL of them will wrestle and squabble and "fight" like crazy, they love it. they play very very rough. it's shocking to most people who see it, they're always telling me i should break them up, i just laugh at them. it's not like these guys are poodles, lol. 

sasha (female) is usually the instigator of rough play, hard chases, sky leaping, and she will really get these guys going too. but when she decides enough is enough, that's it. she's smaller than Banshee n Hugo, but i've seen her knock these two down and stand over them finishing everything in seconds when they don't know enough to quit when she says so. Quincy my little mix breed, stops the second she growls to. lol he's not as stubborn, but he is alot smaller, too. 

i always, in all the years i've kept dogs, had only 1 female in my own personal pack of dogs. but then, i don't individualize my dogs either. my dogs are kept, live, and treated as a pack and there is always 1 alpha after me, and it's always been female. 

dw~


----------



## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

I Have 2 males and 1 female. My female is not the leader....but both boys love and respect her. She always says when enough is enough. I've never had a fight involving her. She will rough play as well if not harder than the boys.

It's funny sometimes just watching my males lick her face as she sleeps. My youngest male will even bring her his "baby" sometimes. ( he loves his stuffed animals)


----------



## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

mosul210 said:


> Hey folks lately I've been seeing a pattern - or perhaps its always been there but I have not put much attention to it. I'm noticing that most of the time it is the female that is dominant over its male counterparts. I even see this in the wolfdog community. I'll happily sit back and hear what everyone elses experience is.


My general experience is that MOST normal male dogs will put up with a great deal of "bullying" and pushing around from MOST female dogs.

Certainly many exceptions but i do believe that this is usually true.

My own unaltered male 4yo male GSD will usually put up with female dogs putting him in his place, but did once go after a female big black Lab who was staring at him and also growled at him as we walked by her.

Sort of like i would expect any normal adult dog to put up with a LOT of merryment from any small young puppies before taking any action. Not all adults will do this but i think that they should and would certainly expect my guy to act like that.


----------



## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Anybody see any diffeence in the behavior of altered versus unaltered males in their behavior toward females (spayed or not)?


----------



## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

My male is in charge, no doubt. He is picky about his personal space when dozing/sleeping and will make it known that he is unhappy with the female. She is NOT allowed to initiate cuddling with him, however if HE does the cuddling all is fine, the female does not care either way. My male is very, very laid back and will let a of of things slide in terms of dominant behavior. However, if another dog gets a bit too familiar with me, he reminds the other dogs he is top slot.


----------



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I have two spayed females and one un-altered male. One female is the dominant bitch in the pack, yet Karlo can pretty much get away with whatever he wants. He's never challenged, however. 
I think that it just depends on the personality of the dog, not so much the sex.


----------



## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Both my dogs are dominant toward other dogs but between the two of them, the female is the Alpha. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the fact that she was 3 years when we got Jazz at 8 weeks.


----------



## sportsman1539 (Jan 22, 2011)

From my experience at the dog park, males generally do not challenge a female. My female is a big time resource guarder and if were playing Frisbee and a male( any gender really) comes over to get involved, she'll snap at them and they steer clear most of the time. I've seen these same males get challenged by another male and its a totally different story. They usually do not back down and I have seen a few scuffles too. They really have no reason to challenge a female and that's probably the only reason I keep taking my female to the dog park because other dogs usually won't challenge her with the resource guarding so we havnt had any fights. ( she doesn't start fights, just tells other dogs in her own way to stay the heck away from her when she has a toy)


----------



## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

My little female is in charge in this house.. I don't think it has anything to do with sex though, she is just a *@&$(!


----------



## Syaoransbear (Sep 25, 2008)

Chrono's female friend(I just house, feed, water, walk her, and pick up her poops, she's not actually mine) is definitely not the dominant dog in their two-dog pack, but she's not a german shepherd. Chrono gives her confidence with other dogs so she is not submissive to them, but she still allows Chrono to dominate her. I feel bad for her because he takes her food all the time. He can even get her to give up her raw bones.

The people we go camping with have a female german shepherd mix named Sunder and she's very dominant, probably equally dominant to Chrono. She's also very territorial and a resource guarder. We actually can't have her and Chrono together at all. Chrono thinks he is the alpha dog and that's it, he doesn't challenge others or try to prove it unless another dog tries to seriously challenge him, but she picks fights and challenges him relentlessly and he will absolutely attempt to put her in her place when she tries anything. All 3 are speutered.


----------



## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

My female is definitely the boss in the house; however, my male is much more fearless and ready to challenge anything he perceives as a threat. 

If another dog aggressively barks at my female, she'll keep her distance (not that I would allow her to approach the dog anyway) and want to avoid that dog. My male, although still a puppy, puts his hackles up, growls and barks back and looks like he's absolutely ready to rumble in the same situation. He's very friendly to dogs that aren't aggressive though. 

When in the house, my male will put up with anything the female does. I've never seen him get angry with her. The female gets angry with my male somewhat often. When she doesn't want to play, she lets him know and he backs off immediately. When she doesn't want to cuddle, same thing. 

My male is goofy and appears to be fine with anything my female does. My female has strict limits with my male and doesn't hesitate to let him know he crossed those limits.


----------

