Dog Aggression: Female vs. Male

[genevieve]

Just interested to see if males or females tend to be more dog aggressive, or if they are both equally so.

Genevieve

[SteelFistVelvetGlove]

Equally so, Females against Females, Male against Males,, in my opinion.

[Fred]

Generally speaking, I've heard that males tend to be more dog aggressive, but females fight fiercer (with the same sex).
That said, Tursa has been dog aggressive since I first got her at 14 weeks, whether the other dog is eyeing her up or not.

[ChrisG]

Equally so, Females against Females, Male against Males,, in my opinion.

Yep, agree with you.

[slamm]

Dog aggressiveness is a matter of raising/training a dog with some manners or lack there of.

So it's more of a raising/training issue than a gender issue.

My opinion,

Sam

[genevieve]

Sam,

Think the average human being (ie me) is capable of raising a Presa to not be dog aggressive?

I am well aware that my current one is chicken shit and far more tolerant (one might even say... Dogo) than the average Presa. What I want to try and figure out is if I do get a second Presa it will be the right decision for my lifestyle.

Young, single female- alpha, open minded with training
Do a lot of hiking- dog can't eat other dogs while out hiking
Live in a relatively rural/ rural- suburban area
One female Presa
Would like to do dog fostering (can't eat fosters)
Have people with thier dogs over frequently
Go places where people have dogs frequently

Genevieve

[slamm]

Well, it's possible.

I have three females that all get along well. Of the three any two can be kenneled together without much if any problems. Problems usually only stem from feeding together and they are eating without a human observing, if we stand there and watch them no fights. After food is gone, no fights.

But I am talking about a pack here. They should get along most of the time, if you are in charge. Remember, if you are the alpha the dogs below you don't really care what level they are on, just as long as you instruct them on who is on what level very, very, very clearly.

As to you fostering other dogs, that is a large variable you are throwing into the mix. If you have two presa buddies and the "stranger" dog does something they don't like, not good.

Just from my view, keep your one presa and foster more dogs, just an idea.

For practice, foster a fiery little pit for a week or two, they aren't any different than a presa when it comes to other dogs and the pit will be free and smaller, and if it doesn't workout get rid of it.

Myopinion,

Sam

[SteelFistVelvetGlove]

Would like to do dog fostering (can't eat fosters)

Can Drink Fosters though!! :ok:

[dan_hoover]

Yes, "fostering" (I don't like that term for some reason - too anthropomorphic or something) with presas can be done.

Now, granted, Elvis (fawn male, has been, up to this point, totally fine around other dogs - so no problems - very soft-tempered in that regard).

Zerlina (brindle female) is picky - "rude" dogs (in Slamm-speak) can get her pretty bent out of shape if I let her go there - so as a rule I keep her under tight control when there are strange dogs around.

Anyway, it's a long backstory which I won't get too far into, but this summer we got rooked into fostering a pitbull (bud, black male) who was literally a day away from taking a dirt nap. We took the presas to do a meet and greet at the shelter. I figured we'd be off the hook and have a clear conscience because they'd surely try to beat the hell out of each other. Well, wouldn't you know it, we walked them together for a little while and they all got along perfectly, right from square one. It kind of blew my mind how smoothly it went. The whole thing was just disgustingly cute. It was like a Disney movie or something. So, against my better judgement, I caved.

We had the the three of them living in the house together for about six weeks. We never left them alone together, obviously (Bud and Elvis were a wrecking crew once they'd start playing) and crated and fed Bud in a separate room.

I could walk the three of them together on-lead, with no problems once I got Bud up to speed on the procedure. The only problem is I had to be triple-aware of any other dogs around as the three of them together were definitely not cool with other dogs - one getting fired up would tend to set the other two off pretty good - nothing bad ever happened, but I know my limitations - two presas, no problem - add one pitbull and you can never take chances.

Buds time with us was actually really nice in that the three of them in the yard together would tire each other out with very little participation needed on my part, just a watchful eye.

Anyway, Bud got a permanent home with a nice young couple with a female pit and they all moved out to the woods of North Carolina. Just about the best possible end result I could've imagined.

So the moral of the story, I guess, is sure they can get along - if you make sure they get along (duh).

Oh, by the way, I'll never foster another dog again - the last time just went way too smoothly and I'm sure to screw it up if I try again.

[slamm]

If I read that right, you did a very, smart, important thing when introducing the presas to the pitty (any dog or breed). You did it away from the presa's home that can be pretty critical when introducing two or more dogs that have a the potential for a little fire to start. It takes the edge off of their "guardy" thoughts, because there isn't really anything to guard except for you and if you don't act like there is any problems the dog shouldn't pick-up that there is one.

My opinion,

Sam

[genevieve]

Great pics, awesome story.

I love this breed, I love the pits. I don't want to set myself up in a situation where I am putting either my dog(s) or someone else's at risk. It is good to see that it CAN be done.

No one is allowed to laugh, but my parents have territorial, dog aggressive Standard Poodles at home. They still push my Presa's buttons, but she pretty much does the canine version of laughing at them and then ignores them for the most part. Having my old roomate's pit home for last Christmas vacation was a different story... He is no push over. After they worked things out the first day they all did OK as long as they were supervised to preserve the Poodles from themselves. There was a lot of Poodle rolling going on for the duration of the visit though (why does it always seem that the smallest female dog has delusions of grandeur?).

Genevieve

[Linn]

My experience is that males tend to be more dog aggressive than females. I feel that it is easier to make two or more females go togheter, then it is to do the same with males.

People that have more then one dog often have 2 females or one of each gender. Not two males.

The presa is more dominant in general than many other breeds, and when 2 presas start to fight it more often results in a vet visit.
I just cannot compare a fight between 2 presas at home and a fight between 2 of my chinese crested ;)

[dan_hoover]

If I read that right, you did a very, smart, important thing when introducing the presas to the pitty (any dog or breed). You did it away from the presa's home that can be pretty critical when introducing two or more dogs that have a the potential for a little fire to start. It takes the edge off of their "guardy" thoughts, because there isn't really anything to guard except for you and if you don't act like there is any problems the dog shouldn't pick-up that there is one.

My opinion,

Sam

I should probably emphasize that the whole endeavor was much more involved than just having them meet then going home with everything fine.

Every step of the way, we just operated under the assumption that in any given circumstance, these dogs were inclined to try to kill one another unless we ran a tight ship. Therefore, until the preponderance of the evidence indicated that it was safe to move along to the next step in getting the pit integrated, we took it really slow and cautiously, making sure that a bad situation never had a chance to present itself. A certain degree of paranoia can be healthy in these situations, I think.

Oh, and for what it's worth, all three of them were fixed and our female was the top dog by a mile - so I'm sure that helped mitigate the sort of problems you tend to run into with two males.

But as I said before - yes it can be done. There's some work involved, for sure, but in this case it was worth the trouble.

[Drazhar]

and when 2 presas start to fight it more often results in a vet visit.
I just cannot compare a fight between 2 presas at home and a fight between 2 of my chinese crested ;)

how could you? you cant compare 2 dogs to 2 rats :)