NightsInWhiteSatin Posted June 24, 2006 Posted June 24, 2006 I know this is an unusual thing to post on this particular forum but whhhhhhhhhhy not eh!!!!! lol Well, I was wondering if i were to buy a male German Shepherd puppy and a male Border Collie puppy and raise them together....do you think they'd fight and never get on because they're both male?....and also later in life if i decided to start a family and have children and the dogs were still around...how could i expect them to take to this? I have done some homework apparently if both breeds are socialized alot whilst they're young they grow as friendly sociable animals who are loving and protective of their family. I've had two border collies before...one female who passed away and one male...i found the male to be more child loving and affectionate than the female...me and my sisters tend to give him lots of affection while we've been raising him...and it's made him the softest most affectionate dog ever...whereas the female we had whilst we were young children and werent so knowlegable on how to treat dogs therefore she wasnt so affectionate towards everyone but she was ok and nice and very obediant...kind of more placid...a mature mother type of dog. I'm asking because...i love dogs and in the future when i have my own place and im finacially able...i'd like to have two dogs...two because i believe whilst im not around they shouldn't be alone at home and should have eachothers company and plus the more the merrier lol. I just don't want to make a mistake in getting to males if they're never going to get on.
HokeyReligions Posted June 25, 2006 Posted June 25, 2006 I have lots of dogs! If raised together and they should be fine. No matter what the sexes of the dogs, one is going to be the alpha dog. I have a 100 pound german shepherd who came to us as an adult. He is not the alpha. My blind dog (mix of boxer and catahoula - also a male) is the alpha now because my older dogs passed away. Willy (the GS) knows he is low man on the totem pole and hasn't a mean bone in his body. Dogs will sometimes fight - especially if their individual personality style includes any sort of jealousy. Dogs are social animals and when raised together I've never had a problem. I do have a couple of 'problem children' in my bunch and because of that I have to keep them separated. Lucy was great the first few years she was here - she got on well and lovingly with the other dogs. Then one day she turned and attacked my oldest female dog. I had to keep them separated after that and it seemed no amount of training would change her - but she still loved and got along with my other dog - until one day I saw a look in her eye that I didn't like and she follwed him into another room and I got there just as she was going to attack. The thing with Lucy is that we picked her up as an adult and she had obviously been on her own a while and possibly (probably) abused. She began attacking the alpha's in the group -- after several years together. She never attacked the blind dog who we got as a puppy to be her playmate. Prior to this bunch though, I've never had any problems and I've had as many as 14 dogs.
RecordProducer Posted June 25, 2006 Posted June 25, 2006 I had two male dogs and both were a**h***s (Scotish shepard and a rottweiller), especially the rottweiller. The female rottweiller I had was an angel. The two rots lived together and were not particularly fond of each other, although they played together sometimes. He bit my mom awfully a few times so we ditched him. I think she didn't miss him at all, because she was my mom's dog and was always on her side. I'd take a female animal if I were to get one. With males, you never know. Two males killing each other is mostly prevalent in birds. We bought two parrots (male and female) when I was a kid. The male died under obscure circumstances. We bought her another partner and he died too. Then another one and he died also. Finally she ran away... many years later we realized that "she" was actually "he". He was also very aggressive, wild, and loud. He ate our wallpaper too. The other male parrots were wonderful, but they felt inferior in front of the alpha male parrot.
destination_unknown Posted June 25, 2006 Posted June 25, 2006 No matter what dog you have and how well you know it, you should really always supervise them with children. Again, socialising them properly and teaching them not to jump on people or mouth people from day 1 is very important. Many people let their puppies mouth their hands while playing when the puppy is very small and then wonder why the pup is breaking the skin when they turn 4 months old! Whatever mix of sexes you have there can always be in-fighting, but generally once the pack order is decided things calm down. I agree with the other poster that it is easier to get two used to each other from puppyhood. Some adult dogs just dont do well living with other dogs when they havent been socialised properly. I have had some adult combinations where continous fighting has occured and the dogs had to be kept separated. Collies and GSD's both need huge amounts of stimulation - your pretty brave! I often have strays and have had them eat walls, boots, chairs, doors, floors, (once a barbie that required major surgery !) They are both great dogs though and can really enrich your life but they do need at least a mile walk a day. I guess you already know that having had two collies !
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