# Male dog only mates with one of my two females



## katie2021 (Apr 20, 2021)

Hello, I have 3 dogs, one male and two females. The male(Roy) is 2.5 years, one female (Lucy) is 3 years and the other(Lola) is also 2.5 years. Lucy has so far had 2 litters, but Roy has never mounted Lola. There is also tension between Lola and Lucy. Lucy never wants Lola near Roy. We did not expect this. We thought Roy would be a happy man with 2 girlfriends that get along.
How can we help Roy notice Lola too?

thank you.


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

You should get all of your animals spayed or neutered instead of playing matchmaker!!!


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## Honey Maid (Dec 25, 2020)

hm


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## Buckelke (Sep 4, 2019)

Sounds like Roy is picky and Lola just isn't his type. Or he isn't picky and Lola doesn't want seconds....


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

I've heard (read in a book about an anthropologist who let her group of dogs just do there thing) that the head bitch controls any breeding. That may be why your male is not interested in the subservient bitch.


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

I'm gonna reiterate that your dogs, unless health tested and titled or evaluated by a professional, should not be bred!!!

Are you serious?

What is it about your dog that makes her breed worthy? Hips and elbow x-rays are a minimum. These days though, where full genetic screening is available come on, do it! Then you know. 

And so does everyone else!!! Good for all if your dogs truly should be breed worthy, curses you just tryin to make a buck by breeding whatever...


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## Aly (May 26, 2011)

Though I fully agree with your larger points, @Tim, I'd suggest a somewhat gentler approach. (YMMV). OP _just _joined the list and we don't know how much experience she/they have with dogs, in general, much less training and/or breeding, and what resources are available where they live. As framed, OP's questions are concerning (yikes!), but we also don't know the larger cultural context in which these questions arose. 

So, @katie2021, tell us about yourself: What's your experience been with dogs, in general, and GSDs in particular? How did you obtain your dogs? What's their temperament like? What are your goals for them (sport/competition, show, family life)? How did you decide to attempt breeding? How do you know that your dogs are healthy and structurally sound enough to be bred successfully? What health/physical screenings have you done? What will you do with any resulting puppies, if the breedings are successful? Why do you want/expect your male to breed to TWO females? I hope you've not fallen for the worn out trope of "...witnessing the miracle of birth." What's the *plan *here?

Just a few things to consider ...


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

My intact male was actually bonded to my spayed female and had little interest in breeding another female. He still let me know the girls were in heat, which was awesome but he was not interested in doing the deed which was also awesome.
Also in fair warning, he tried to kill my younger intact female when my old girl died. Literally tried. Grabbed her by the head and was shaking her. Took two of us to get him off her. 
There is a reason real breeders discourage bonding.


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## katie2021 (Apr 20, 2021)

tim_s_adams said:


> You should get all of your animals spayed or neutered instead of playing matchmaker!!!


Wow....have you considered that I actually love puppies... plus Lola is actually not a happy dog...I thought this forum is for dog lovers????


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## katie2021 (Apr 20, 2021)

Aly said:


> Though I fully agree with your larger points, @Tim, I'd suggest a somewhat gentler approach. (YMMV). OP _just _joined the list and we don't know how much experience she/they have with dogs, in general, much less training and/or breeding, and what resources are available where they live. As framed, OP's questions are concerning (yikes!), but we also don't know the larger cultural context in which these questions arose.
> 
> So, @katie2021, tell us about yourself: What's your experience been with dogs, in general, and GSDs in particular? How did you obtain your dogs? What's their temperament like? What are your goals for them (sport/competition, show, family life)? How did you decide to attempt breeding? How do you know that your dogs are healthy and structurally sound enough to be bred successfully? What health/physical screenings have you done? What will you do with any resulting puppies, if the breedings are successful? Why do you want/expect your male to breed to TWO females? I hope you've not fallen for the worn out trope of "...witnessing the miracle of birth." What's the *plan *here?
> 
> Just a few things to consider ...


Thank you Aly. Am in Uganda, where no one really cares about dogs....so we do not have a good dog support system. Our vet brought us these dogs from different families when they were puppies. My family loves dogs. So we get most of our information from the net like now. 
We read that we could not breed them until they were atleast 2 years old. Now as I said we are very dog lovers in Uganda, the few of us are always in want of these Gsd puppies.
So things like screening etc, are not common this side. 

Thanks


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## Chloé&Buck (Jul 1, 2020)

As far as I know, there's not much you can do in that situation. Each of your dogs have a status in the group, Roy and Lucy have apparently formed a "couple", while Lola is kind of the third wheel... 
You can add as many females you want in the pack, that doesn't mean the male will mate them all.
Even in large packs of stray dogs or other canid species, only a few individuals actually mate.


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## Aly (May 26, 2011)

You're welcome @katie2021 and Welcome to the forum!

You'll find that this group runs the gamut of knowledge/experience from absolute newbies to long time owner/breeders, professional trainers, and competitors (in sport and showing). You'll also find that many members hold _very strong_ opinions about _many _things --- not necessarily limited to dogs or even GSDs come to that.  Differences in stylistic expression notwithstanding, you also can also expect to encounter _cultural _differences in how dogs are conceptualized, how they're valued (or not), how they're included in family life (or not) and how they're managed (or not) day to day. Even in the US, where I live, you see wide variation in whether and how people incorporate dogs in their lives. When you factor in cultural differences, the variation widens.

When you come to a forum like this and raise a provocative topic like breeding, for example, you can expect push back from the majority of responders as you experienced. I would venture to say that much of the push back is in response to declines in health, (stable) temperament, conformation and physicality due to careless and/or irresponsible breeding. Loving puppies has nothing to do with it.

People, myself included, are concerned (outraged would not be too strong a word) about _what has happened and_ _is still happening_ to the breed. I grew up with GSDs, my grandfather kept and bred them occasionally; my father was a dog handler (GSDs again) in the army. However, I no longer go to dog shows (or watch them on TV) because I find it too upsetting to see what wins and, therefore,_ what will be reproduced in future generations._ It virtually guarantees that problems (in health, temperament, conformation etc.) will continue. 

Okay, enough lecturing for today. I did a quick google search for dog resources in Uganda. If you're anywhere near Kampala there are multiple resources listed, including the _Uganda Society for the Protection & Care of Animals. _I can't speak to how good/effective any of them are, but they seem worth checking out.

Also, I'd recommend reading through the thread linked below. It contains good, helpful information about considering whether and how to breed your dog.

*Should I Breed My Dog: *








"Should I breed my dog?" Flowchart


I saw this posted on another dog forum... Hopefully this can help illustrate to some people why they shouldn't (Or should!) breed their dog.




www.germanshepherds.com





Good luck.


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

katie2021 said:


> Thank you Aly. Am in Uganda, where no one really cares about dogs....so we do not have a good dog support system. Our vet brought us these dogs from different families when they were puppies. My family loves dogs. So we get most of our information from the net like now.
> We read that we could not breed them until they were atleast 2 years old. Now as I said we are very dog lovers in Uganda, the few of us are always in want of these Gsd puppies.
> So things like screening etc, are not common this side.
> 
> Thanks


Sorry Katie, Aly (as always) makes a good point. I should be more sensitive to cultural differences and I usually try to be. 

Understand please, that in my country we have to kill 670,000 dogs per year just in shelters alone, due to people breeding too many dogs that no one wants. So breeding is a sensitive subject!

Still, having said that, I apologize for my harsh comments. 

But I do still believe that Lola's unhappiness should be understood and dealt with without breeding her. Tell us, if you're still talking to me, a little more about her, her background, and her daily life and maybe we can offer some insights as to how you can help her.


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## Tennessee (Apr 13, 2017)

I have many potential comments I'd like to share but this is a family friendly atmosphere so I'll just say, stop being irresponsible and spay/neuter. 

If there's a market for purebred GSD's then truly educate yourself on how to run a successful breeding program, then import good quality breeding stock and go from there. GSD's are a balancing act of traits that are easy to mess up and make really bad dogs. Obsessive compulsive behaviors, uncontrollable aggression, allergies, joint ailments the list goes on. 

I'm sure you could find good dogs on the continent, plenty in South Africa for sure.


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## Aly (May 26, 2011)

Thanks for the nice compliment, @Tim, even if it may be undeserved. The point that I was trying to make is that clashes in underlying cultural values _work both ways._ You may have been blunt, but I wouldn't call it insensitive. OP posted a question about how to accomplish something (viz., the seemingly random breeding of two females, itself a cultural value) about which many here have strong, _negative _opinions (another cultural value). I'm not going to insist that either cultural value should predominate, that's what philosophers argue about. It's just that the contrast was striking to me and accounted for the (not undeserved) pushback that OP received.

Which reminds me. I was typing fast in my prior post and neglected to encourage @katie2021 to read through the entire forum entitled, _Thinking about Becoming a Breeder._ And to search for and carefully read the thread entitled, _Iceberg Breeders _(or something like that). Even if one is just thinking about arranging a "date," one time, for one dog (male or female), there's lots to consider in determining whether one _should _(another cultural value).


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

If your male isn't interested in your female, then take that as a sign that you should not breed her.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

You need to keep the females separated from each other long term if you expect to find any success.


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## katie2021 (Apr 20, 2021)

tim_s_adams said:


> Sorry Katie, Aly (as always) makes a good point. I should be more sensitive to cultural differences and I usually try to be.
> 
> Understand please, that in my country we have to kill 670,000 dogs per year just in shelters alone, due to people breeding too many dogs that no one wants. So breeding is a sensitive subject!
> 
> ...


 It is alright, after Aly explained it all, I understood why everyone was concerned. And I wish we had such information here too. Well, Lola, I do not know who are her parents are, the vet just brought her to us. As puppies, all three got along. But now Lucy intimidated her so much, she just keeps barking at her all the time. Lucy and Roy are always calm and playful. We lock them up during the day and they are let loose at 6pm till 6am in the morning. They were trained to bark at anyone unfamiliar. Yea , so Lola always seems alone. But i think we will let her be.


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## katie2021 (Apr 20, 2021)

Aly said:


> You're welcome @katie2021 and Welcome to the forum!
> 
> You'll find that this group runs the gamut of knowledge/experience from absolute newbies to long time owner/breeders, professional trainers, and competitors (in sport and showing). You'll also find that many members hold _very strong_ opinions about _many _things --- not necessarily limited to dogs or even GSDs come to that.  Differences in stylistic expression notwithstanding, you also can also expect to encounter _cultural _differences in how dogs are conceptualized, how they're valued (or not), how they're included in family life (or not) and how they're managed (or not) day to day. Even in the US, where I live, you see wide variation in whether and how people incorporate dogs in their lives. When you factor in cultural differences, the variation widens.
> 
> ...


 Thanks, will read about this.


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