Same sex pairs...

PatchyNerd

Tourist
Heya!

A doggo shaped hole just opened up in my life recently! I have been looking into keeping same sex pairs (probably female, the neighbors dog is not spayed.), but am very confused about how they'll get along. I have read articles that tell me they will fight (even had experience there 🙃), and others that say they'll be fine with training. I've even met same sex pairs that get along fine, and their cute togetherness was unbearable 🫠. I don't know who to believe though.... Give me all of your anecdotes, research theses and opinions please!
 
What do you want to hear ? I had a gay pair living next to me with two large male dogs for several years until they sold the apartment.
 
As I mentioned above, I have had experience with a pair fighting, they were both spayed females. It was pretty bad. Above all else I am concerned with preventing that. Did the large males you speak of ever fight? There is an intact bitch nextdoor and I worry that could cause issues with fighting and training. If I get a male dog I suspect having a pair would be bad.
 
Some simply will not get along, other times with effort and care full exposure to each other they will develop into a pack.

I got a rescue lab, and one my girls who took most the lab mind set instantly attacked her, after some work (and discipline, for attacking the new girl) they became good friends and pack mates.

So it can be done, but if they simply do not like each other it will get worse trying to keep them together.
 
It runs the gamut, and much depends on the individuals involved. As offgrid says, it takes introductory work and careful planning in the beginning, and the first hours and days are where the bulk of your problems will be. But for any who'll insist on telling you it otherwise, eg. unequivocally that it cannot be done, I have the proof right here on my place that it can. I have five (yes count 'em, five) intact male dogs living together in peace, and one female, also intact. They fight when she's in heat of course, so she gets separated for that, but otherwise, the pack cooperates and lives together just fine. But then I also own a ranch, fenced for livestock, so we're talking free roam of small acreage in the country. Not a backyard, not an apartment, and never a crate. We're all outdoor animals here, myself included. They're never cooped up alone and bored 10 hours a day locked inside, they have free roam of this place. They get plenty of exercise chasing the donkey and each other, and that is key: exercise makes a world of difference. A tired dog is a well-behaved dog. They also live in peace not only with each other but with other species eg. cattle, hogs, and a donkey. And *ahem* it also goes without saying I'm a zoo, so those intact males are treated to regular intervals of release.

So, anything can be done. Obviously my conditions are ideal, but this could probably be replicated on a smaller scale in a suburban setting if you have a way to keep them exercised. Give us specifics on your setup, and folks will chime in, advising what you can do to help integrate a pack of same genders by what they have done. It'll invariably start with gradual, controlled introductions, kept short, upbeat, and repeated often. Just like training. Here again I'm at an advantage since I built a giant 7200sqft fenced habitat in my backwoods with smaller introductory pens sharing a fence wall with the habitat. This facility serves well to integrate new dogs where they can be in sight and smell of each other, living daily sharing a fence, until a week or more goes by and they're comfortable being neighbors, unfazed at the other's presence. Next steps depend on my temperament evaluations but I usually proceed to leashed introductions before that week is up, and eventually they are allowed off-leash time together in the habitat, supervised. When those tests pass, they are left in the habitat to live a few more weeks together unsupervised, and if they can cohabitate peacefully there, they are introduced to my existing pack one at a time. When everyone gets along, a new dog graduates, and is moved up front to the cleared acres to live with me and the existing pack. In this way I have built my current pack of 6 + take on fosters/rehomes for various lengths of time.
 
When it comes to females some are definitely prone to same sex aggression. From what I've heard from other zoos Huskies, Malamutes, Pitbulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds are especially prone to same sex aggression. Although that may need to be taken with a gain of salt.

I have a newfoundland and a mutt mix. For the most part my two get along fine and they consider each other as a part of the overall pack. They'll play, they'll romp, and sometimes they'll cuddle with one another. However, that doesn't mean they've been without fights in the past. Generally the only time they'll fight is over food. My mutt mix is a fast eater while my Newfie girl is a slow eater. Every now and again my mutt mix will finish her food and feel entitled to my newfie's food while she's still eating it, and a fight will ensue. The mutt girl is the aggressor despite being roughly 1/3 the size of my Newfie girl. My solution to that is to merely separate them while they eat (mutt girl goes in the crate) and only rejoin everyone once everyone is done eating their meals and have drank their post meal water.

Jealousy is another minor issue as well. While my mutt mix doesn't care if I have sex with my Newfie girl, my Newfie girl doesn't like when I'm sexual with my mutt mix girl. My Newfie girl feels entitled to the sex. A couple of heat cycles ago my Newfie girl even peed on my bed in protest a couple of times when I was trying to... let's just say... relieve my mutt mix girl's heat. My solution for that is that my Newfie girl goes in the crate until we're finished. Afterwards, no issues.
 
I'm looking to add a puppy to my 'pack' in the next few weeks. My current girl is spayed but the pupper will not be. Have you heard about this type of aggression between a fixed and unfixed dog? Does that make it worse?

Have the fights ever been bad? Like things would have gone wrong medically if you didn't intervene? If your dogs are allowed free run of your living arrangement when you are gone, do you trust them together when you're away or do you have to crate them?
Not too sure to be honest, both of my doggy gals still have their ovaries. Not only that, but my current two female dogs are actually my first dogs as well, so I'm working with a limited dataset. To complicate things further, some of my mutt mix's behaviors could be influenced by the fact that her previous owners were very neglectful and semi-abusive. I got both of my girls when they were adults.

The past fights haven't been too bad. Mostly my mutt mix will lunge, growl, and snap, but blood has never actually been drawn on either girl. She's only ever tried it (as far as I know) when I've been home, and it's only ever been over food. Now that I think about it, it's been over 1.5 years since she's last snapped at my newfie girl. Since I don't leave food out when I'm gone, neither human nor dog food, it's never really been of any concern. So yes, I when I leave, I leave them both out of the crate free to roam the home unimpeded.
 
Are you looking for 2 dogs or 1 dog? What does your neighbor's dog have to do with your potential dogs? If you adopt them together (as in, they come as a package, came from the same litter, etc) then they'll already be friends. You plan to adopt 2 different dogs from 2 different places?
I am only considering the possibility of two dogs, as I said above, I met a pair recently and they were adorable. I don't have the space to separate a pair of opposite sex dogs in the event of a heat, and my neighbors yard isn't fenced of too well, so I worry if I have male dogs that there might be problems keeping them away from his dog. (I should probably mention that I don't intend to fix them until later in life if at all) He also isn't very responsible about keeping her safe from males, so I will not take a chance there. I've also read so far that they can wind up fighting even if they are raised together. I guess doggy heat hormones are really strong 🤔. So long as training can prevent fighting, I'll consider two dogs a possibility. If there's anything that I come across that I can't deal with, I will get zer0 dogs 🙃.
 
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