Females and Males

[Catu]

Speaking of Mythbusters...

 

I've always owned female dogs with the exception of a stray male dog that owned me when I was a girl and my mother didn't allow me to have dogs yet.

 

The case is that I've heard often than the bonds between a male dog with a female owner and of a female dog with a male owners are stronger and for what I've seen I'm inclined to believe that it is true.

 

What have been your experiences with your female or male dogs? I'm just talking about the bonding between you, not other topic as heat, marking or other differences between genres.

[Guest amylobdell24]

I've always heard that, too - but I'm closer to my female dog than I ever was with my previous or current male - but maybe she's just a really special dog - everyone has 1 or 2 of those in their lives, I think. Or maybe it's just that I haven't had my male (puppy) as long, and haven't developed as much of a bond. I'm sure there's folks who have had more dogs than me who can more accurately answer this question!

[smileyzookie]

I dont know lol. I've only had females...

[OurBoys]

JJ and Jake are the 1st (& 2nd) males I've ever had. My mom use to believe females were more lovable and male dogs always humped so we always had females growing up and I just carried on. After adopting our boys, I believe it's all about personality and not gender. But that's just my opinion.

[INU]

I don't know if it's true for all but it's definetely true with me. I think it's MY preference. I like female dogs/cats. I always wanted a female dog and I have the strongest bond with her. My male dog bonded with my husband and no matter what I do, my husband is always going to be his favorite person on earth.

 

I've always had the strongest bond with my only female cat (that turned out to be a boy after all) who never liked male humans. It could be just the way I treat them.

[Root Beer]

When we first got Maddie she completely bonded with my husband and was very standoffish with me. I suspect (although I don't know) that her former "daddy" was a lot nicer to her than her former "mommy" was. I never treated her badly, but she didn't really show the same affection for me that she did with my husband.

 

That all changed when I started training her. Very soon after I started taking her to training classes, she started to show preference for me. She's still a "daddy's girl", but she has a very strong bond with me.

 

Sammie was always a "mamma's boy" until my husband took him along on the truck for 2 months. By the time that ended (due to hot weather), Sammie was officially a man's dog!

 

So, with mine I've seen that the one who focuses more on the dog seems to end up with the stronger bond. Speedy and I have the strongest bond of all and I know that's because we have done so much training and going out and about together. I think he would have bonded just as strongly with my husband if the tables had been turned and he had been the one to train him.

 

I think it depends more on the dog and the total of circumstances than just on male/female or female/male. Of course a personal preference on the part of the human can make a difference, too.

[Rosanne]

This comes up a lot among agility people. Lots of people that I know say boys bond more (these are mostly women talking!) and are snuggly blah blah.

 

Well, I have 2 female BC's in the house right now, and 1 boy. Um . . . I really couldn't say who's bonded most with me, but I think it'd be the 2 year old girl. My male just spent a week with my herding instructor, and yeah he missed me, but he wasn't freaked out or anything to see me go.

I think it depends a lot on the individual dog. My mom has 1 very VERY sweet female BC who loves to snuggle, and 1 female BC who likes to acknowledge your presence and then go lay on her own.

All 3 of mine are friendly, and all love me. It's my thought that the boy is just too wiggly to snuggle. THe middle girl is very sweet, and acts most bonded to me (and my boyfriend!!), and the youngest is the most likely to sleep on your lap.

 

So. . . anecdotally among my mother's and my BC's. .. no conclusion at all!

 

I always thought the "males work better" or "females work better" discussions to be really silly. But the bonding thing also comes up a lot, and I think it's all theory and anecdotal in that category too.

[Becki's Boys]

I've had mostly boy's my whole life. Star is the first female I have had in awhile. The Boys were always very bonded to me, but Star seems to be too so I really can't make a comparison.

[Bo Peep]

I think I bonded with my females better.

[Anda]

I've had a girl and I now have a boy. I was very close to Blackie, the girl, but without a doubt, she prefered my dad and even one of my male neighbours when it came to petting and attention. Especially after she was spayed. After she lost her sex-appeal to male dogs, she turned to humans She WAS a tramp

 

Ouzo is glued at the hip to me. Always been. Chris (my husband) is slightly annoyed at this since he is spending more time during the day with Ouzo than I am, but from when I wake up and go to work and when I come back and till I go to sleep, Ouzo is all about his Anda. He loves Chris, but he's definetly MY dog. Chris has been joking about getting a girl dog just so he would have someone to love him as much as I have

 

Ouzo even attempts to take Chris' place when my husband falls asleep on the couch: I wake up next to Ouzo, who's been sleeping with his head ON Chris' pillow and of course all legs in the air, then he turns his head to me and gives me corny in-love looks (he's not a cuddler!). But as I head out the door in the morning, and Chris is still in bed, Ouzo jumps on on my side of the bed and sleeps at Chris' feet!

[bcnewe2]

I think females are not as goofy lovers as males are. They're more…well, bitchy. Guess that's where the word came from Males seem more forgiving where females can seem to hold a grudge for a bit.

I have both and feel bonded to both equally. I think working them makes the bond the strongest. I guess that'd be any kind of working that an owner and their dog enjoy but personally I've really only seriously trained stock work so can only speak of that.

 

I have favorite dogs but it can change with the day. Mick was/is my favorite but now his younger sister is about as close. I think they're allot alike so it might be the family resemblance that I love so much. Mick also had a very rough start and almost died so I think that made our bond closer. But my heart dog is Jazz. She's old, crabby, overweight, backyard bred, bad elbows, and hips and all around not that healthy but the biggest heart you could ever share!

 

I used to say I’d only have females but now I say I’ll only have working dogs. Gender is incidental to me.

Kristen

[Beth G]

My last dog was a female and she was bonded to me, to the point of neuroticism. Popcorn is pretty bonded to me(does't care about anyone else) but doesn't fall apart if I leave the house the way my last dog did. So I guess it just depends on personality.

[Guest LJS1993]

You know I think the situation my fiance and I have with Freckles would be a good study to conduct. We both train her, take her to the dog park, run her around the ranch, and she sleeps in the same room with us both. Personally I think she tests my fiance more then she tests me for some reason. However I would in turn say that in some ways she is better behaved with my fiance. I think overall she has bonded to us both equally.

[RaisingRiver]

I've mostly had females, and while the males I've had tend to be more snuggly with me, follow me around the house more diligently, I've preferred and bonded to my females. I've discovered what a heart dog is with River.

[Catu]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

After deciding that to keep fostering Auca is too much traumatic for me and that I want her out of my life before it's too late (if it's not already) I want to have my and only MY dog that I know that could age with me until the end of its days.

 

I am pretty sure of what I want as my future dog (not a BC this time) and thinking of the said male dog of my infance the only thing in what I still haven't make a desicions is the gender. I like females pretty much, but as I'm not thinking on doing SAR this time the weight is not an issue and I wouldn't mind to have a velcro dog

[WyoBC]

I have only had a male that's just my dog but Sage my Mom's GR is a female and she's not nearly as close to me as Black Jack is. She never has been. He's pretty much my shadow where ever I go. He hates it when I leave and can't take him, and he won't go with anyone else unless I'm right there. He's really a cuddle bug too I think it's more each different dog than anything.

 

Male BC's are supposed to be more laid back and easy going arn't they?

[sandra s.]

I'm not sure. When I looked after Timmy (who was very much a male; some folks here would have stared at his balls in disgust all the time ), I found him less complicated to get along with than my female "borrowed" and own dogs. His one and only leader was his male owner. There seemed to be an empty space in his heart for a female that he respected and was respected by, and for a while, when we still could roam around outside together, I fit into that space.

I think I could have that kind of relationship with any male dog who has some pride.

 

With Kessie, there's more chemistry. It's not as natural that we would like each other. She's pretty and popular and a bully to her own species . Having gone through school as an uncool outsider, I should know better than to nurture such a creature. And I'm someone who has a lot of anger, which she fears more than anything in the world. I really don't know why we get along so well. But we do.

From my point of view, we've both had our trust blown to bits, and we're doing a good job of helping each other back on our feet. I don't know how she sees it. She got the one human out of a hundred on whom the lost-little-girl act doesn't work (gah!). Maybe that's given her some room to grow?

Whatever it is, I can't really imagine having an easy-going male anymore. But a male who's a character? Yes, I think.

So I'll join those who say it depends a lot more on the individual.

 

Btw, I love the new Black Jack siggy photos! His eyes shine so much. It's hard to believe that this is still the same discarded shelter dog.