Two male dogs can't live together??????

[mandyblur]

Hey everyone,

I was showing my neighbour some pictures of the puppy were getting in a few weeks, she noticed he was male and said that two males can't live together (we already have a 3 year old male working cocker and wanted a pal for him)

Now.............as far as i'm aware - no matter what genders you have together you will always get the odd disagreement?

I find it hard to believe that this myth is still going on..................or am i wrong and is getting another male a bad idea? I've had two males before and very rarely had any issues!

What's your thoughts?

[padandmurph]

Hi we have two males one who is 9, the other is 7. They are the best of friends, in fact if one is at the vets or groomers, the other gets quite upset.
I'm sure you will be fine having two boys x

[Ninasmum]

Many years ago we had a male cocker & a male Golden Retriever.  Our Goldie was about 18 mths old when we got Sam, the cocker.  They always got along absolutely fine.  Our Goldie was pretty laid back with a wonderful temperament & accepted him immediately, even when as a pupster he had Sam hanging off his ear's. 

Our current boy Alfie would def. accept another boy, as he also is very laid back with a fab temperament.   
In fact he would probably prefer a boy to our girls. 

I do think its a myth that a male can't live with another male & its more about their personality/temperament etc. 

[Judith]

I agree, it's down to the dog not really the sex. Maybe harder if they were the same age as would be rivals but if one is older they should naturally fall into place. Keeping the heir archy in mind when feeding etc is the only thing really.  Good luck though

[cangrejo]

I have Charlie who is 2 and Dexter who is almost 9 months. They are the best of friends and just love each other. I get the rare handbags at dawn moment but it's all noise and over in 5 seconds.

I have always fed Charlie first as he was here first.

[dizzytrish]

I have two male crossbreeds, and they get on fine.
but, my sister has two males, and although they are fine together on a walk etc, they will not share the house or garden together, and have to be seperated into their own areas.
I agree, it is down to the dog and their individual temperaments

[michelle123]

Me too, we have two dogs about 6 months in age apart - one is entire, aside from the odd food issue, we have no probs at all

[LurcherGirl]

4 dogs here, in the past they were 4 males, now they are 3 males and 1 girl. Never have any problems here after an introduction period where they work things out... It's the individual character that counts more than the gender.

[BillysMum]

i have 2 males a year apart. Billy is still entire and occasionally tells alfie off if he trys to push in for cuddles but alfie's such a woose he lets billy get away with anything and doesn't grumble back. I think like the others its down to the individual and how you train them, rather than their gender.

[seaangler]

It will be all female not living together next...and i have three femails....And of course one more female if you include the wife

On another note i have loads of friends with all male dogs in there house holed...and all get on well together...What myths..

[minimoo]

 years ago i had 2 males a boxer and a dobie and they were fine together when we were there but couldnt be left when we were out, i now have a 6yr old girl and a boy of 18 months and a 9 month old boy, they wind each other up but thats because of their ages, but they love each other and Milo the youngest follows Bailey about and copies him, its like he really is his big brother 

[DinkyDewi]

I have two boys and there's only 6 months between them. Fergus was entire when Dewi arrived and this caused no issues either.

They are both now castrated.

I personally chose another male as Fergus would not then have 'his own' bitch. There's no competition with new dogs because Fergus doesn't have the urge to protect Dewi.

We've got a full on bromance going on here

[elaine.e]

I have 2 males. William is castrated (for medical reasons) and is 7 years old. Louis is entire and 2 and a half years old. They're certainly not best buddies and never cuddle up together or play together, but they tolerate each other well and I don't have any problems with them beyond the occasional bit of grumpy jealousness from Louis if he thinks William is getting too much of my attention. But that's mainly down to me being a one person household at the moment so the dogs have to share me.

I also had 2 entire male Cockers together before my current 2. They occasionally played together but never snuggled up together.

As others have said, I think it's down to the individual temperaments and characters of the dogs. The one thing I've always been warned against is having 2 litter siblings, either both male or both female, as that can cause problems when they reach adolescence and on into adulthood. I knew somebody who had 2 Doberman litter brothers, both nice boys, but one had to be rehomed at about 1 year old because they were fighting so much. I also knew somebody with Labrador litter sisters who were fine together, and someone with Border Collie sisters who fought silently and with purpose and one had to be rehomed.

[ladylola]

I have three of each,any spitting the dummy out is always the girls. Never had a problem with the boys.

[Nicola]

I would also say it definitely depends on the dogs in question. I've had two males (Alfie and Rodaidh) who just didn't get on, they fought badly and I had to rehome Alfie in the end for both of their safety and my sanity. This was over 3 years ago now and they actually saw each other last week for the first time in about 18 months and the reaction was still exactly the same as it always was and we had to separate them quickly before it escalated, they just don't like each other  

However, both of them have been and are ok with other male dogs; Rodaidh (who is entire) has stayed with Helen several times while I've been on holiday and other than a bit of grumbling he and Jarvis (also entire) are fine together. I also have friends at work with male dogs who we walk with every day and are over at our house all the time and I look after them sometimes if they're away and Ro is fine with them, once he gets to know them he's very tolerant. We currently have my friend's rather crotchety 10 year old male Collie staying with us until Wednesday and they're absolutely fine together. I don't know if I would have another male dog permanently at this stage but that's probably more a case of once bitten twice shy (and purely hypothetical as I don't actually want another male dog just now!).