Puppies were born... but they are all boys. Sell me on boys

[Julie Billingsley]

If you've been following my puppy quest, you know that I was eagerly awaiting the birth of my future puppy. I've had my heart set on a girl, had a name all picked out, and was soo anticipating my pup. The puppies were born today, and sad for me, all 5 are boys. So now I'm faced with the decision of waiting for a girl or getting a boy. The problem with waiting for a girl is that I couldn't find any breeders that have an expected litter. One is planning to breed in the fall, but most are waiting until next spring, so waiting for a girl is a gamble. On the other hand, I could have my choice of boys.

So, tell me what is better or worse about boy dogs. I need to really think about this and want to make the right decision. The breeder says boys are much sweeter than girls, and that unless I'm breeding (which I won't) that I would be happy with a boy. What do I do?

[ColleenSwerb]

I've had both boy dogs and girl dogs. I think it depends more on the individual dogs personality than their sex. We had a boy dog who was biggest mush on the face of the earth, but so is Tiger.

[Julie Billingsley]

and this is the older brother of these pups.

[Julie Billingsley]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

I've had both boy dogs and girl dogs. I think it depends more on the individual dogs personality than their sex. We had a boy dog who was biggest mush on the face of the earth, but so is Tiger.

So Tiger is a boy? Do you feel weird scrapping the dog with lots of flowers if it's a boy?

[Traci Reed]

LOL Tiger is a girl

[Traci Reed]

I had a male Rottie growing up and he was the sweetest dog ever...it really depends on the dog.

[Shawna Clingerman]

My doggy is a boy - and i don't think there is anything that makes him difinitively "boyish" (other than peeing on EVERYTHING in site when we're outside... but that may just be a dog thing more than anything). Gus is a love muffin, seriously the most affectionate dog ever. He can be a little barky/territorial with other dogs, but from what I have read this is more of a socialization thing.

When we went shelter-shopping I was thinking we wanted a girl doggie, but I've never for a second wished we'd waited for a girl dog.

[ColleenSwerb]

No Tiger is a girl, that's what I mean. Boy and girl dogs, both huge lovey-dovey-mushes. It's the temperament and how it's raised, not boy vs girl.
I don't even scrap Tiger with flowers and stuff, but that's just me. It's not like the dog cares how you scrap it, lol, scrap it how you want.

[hollyxann]

I've had 2 male dogs, and 1 female. Each dog is different and their personalities are all different.

My 2 males were both larger dogs (1 german shepard and 1 lab) and they were big babies. Great protectors but also big babies. I had my german shepard from the time I was 3 til I was 16. He was seriously my best friend, we did everything together. My lab was the same way but he was more of my dads dog.
Now my female dog, Shelby, is a terrier/sheltie mix. Talk about PITA and whimp. lol I swear though she is the smartest dumb dog ever! She's very "outspoken" and very spoiled. Definitely a female. While I love my female, I kinda preferred my males.

I think you'd be happy with either a male or female. It really just depends on if you want to wait for a female.

[BrattyMeg]

I have a girl dog and boy dog of the same breed....(aussies)

my boy dog is 1000xs calmer and a bigger baby than my girl dog (he's older than she is by 4 years)....however my girl dog has her sweet moments and is way more protective

I would have been happy with another boy dog when we got her but I'd read with their breed to only have 1 boy so they don't fight for dominance.

I think boys are cheaper with vet costs, etc...neutering is way cheaper than spaying here

[Robin Carlton]

We love and prefer boy dogs here. They just seem way more mellow and sweet tempered to us. We have both a boy and girl right now (golden retrievers) and our boy is soo sweet and laid back, where our girl is a bit more neurotic tho she's awesome in her own way. They're just like people really :P So Julie, do you like men or women more?

[BrattyMeg]

Originally Posted by Robin Carlton

They're just like people really :P So Julie, do you like men or women more?

kinda made me giggle lol

[Sherri Tierney]

We have always preferred male dogs (and cats!). Right now we have two female dogs but we didn't choose them because they were female. The oldest was a stray that we took in. We didn't even check the gender before we took her. The youngest we purchased (only dog we've ever purchased) and fell in love with her before checking to see if she was male or female. If we were to have a choice among two dogs of the same breed we'd probably go with a male. They definitely seem to be more laid back.

[marlathrall]

I have a boy dog... He's a big sweetie and a total lover. Seriously, sweetest thing ever. He's actually currently sitting between my husband and I on the couch. He's a 130 lb dog, who think's he's a lap dog. lol.

[scrappinnewbie]

I'll chime in.... I was previosuly very involved with Golden Rescue, so I have been around a lot of dogs. All three of mine have been males. In the Golden breed, the males seem to be more eager to please. They want to make their owners happy. The females on the other hand, were a little more aloof. They were glad to please, but didn't do it quite as eagerly. They also wanted to rule the roost and were a little more moody.

It is funny, that the females were adopted much more quickly than the males. I never really understood it. I would take a male over a female any day of the week. Now... the females did tend to mature faster than the males, but once the reached maturity.... (roughly 2 years old)... I prefer the males. I think many of the families thought a female would be "motherly" and thus they were more popular.

I would encourage you to chat with the breeder on the male vs female traits of this breed. Get their input and do some additional research on the web. Oh and yes... all my dogs have been neutered. The females were also spayed.

Good luck, Julie. I know you must be a little disappointed as you were ready for your little girl.

[Paula]

I have three dogs all boys.

We have a golden retriever/german shepherd mix and he is such a good dog. He potty trained very easily and is my big baby boy! LOL He is very mild mannered and loves people.

Our second one is a beagle/lab mix and he is stupid. He will be outside all dang day and come in and pee/poop in the house no matter HOW much time he spends in his crate for punishment. He has started to be aggressive towards people, and we've been debating on what to do with him.

Our last one is a Cairn terrior and he is a little cutie and is completely potty trained at eight months old. He is such a sweet dog, but man is he a yipper. He is a very easy going dog and loves people, especially if they scratch his head. LOL

[Julie Billingsley]

So, what about humping your leg? And the smelling of the crotch (people, not other dogs) that all boy dogs seem to do? Or do girl dogs do that too?

[Traci Reed]

I've never had a humpy dog, mine have all been neutered....ALL dogs sniff crotches.

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by Paula

Our second one is a beagle/lab mix and he is stupid. He will be outside all dang day and come in and pee/poop in the house no matter HOW much time he spends in his crate for punishment. He has started to be aggressive towards people, and we've been debating on what to do with him.

We had a lab mix that would do this. Ours was female but none the less, she would be outside for hours and come in and go potty in the house. Nothing we tried to do stopped it. It got to be ridiculous. Then she started to become aggressive towards people. At first it was her protecting us, if you said 'ouch' she'd bark and growl at who ever was close to you. She was so protective over the kids but started to scare people. Then when my littlest one started to walk she would growl at him. We had to rehome her. She also became aggressive with other animals. She'd chase down the cats and attack them and when we adopted Jinx the two would get in to horrible fights, even with muzzles on. They tore each other up pretty bad and it was always ms grumpy (named Jersey) that started it.

[Sherri Tierney]

Even in males that aren't neutered I've never had one hump legs. And, like Traci said, they ALL sniff. Its just how they are. My females do it as much as my males have.

[Paula]

Oh, mine don't do that, but they've been neutered. They will hump stuff when their little "manhoods" start to drop, but once you get them neutered, they stop.

My dogs don't sniff at people's crotches, but I know some do, even the females.

Are you planning on breeding him? You can train him not to hump/sniff. My sister has shi tzus that she breeds, and they trained them not to hump/sniff.

[Paula]

We're thinking of rehoming him because he gets aggressive to the family members he sees daily. He will be laying on the couch next to me and I'll reach over to pet him, and he starts growling and bearing his teeth. He's even snapped at me a few times too.

Originally Posted by Sherri Tierney

We had a lab mix that would do this. Ours was female but none the less, she would be outside for hours and come in and go potty in the house. Nothing we tried to do stopped it. It got to be ridiculous. Then she started to become aggressive towards people. At first it was her protecting us, if you said 'ouch' she'd bark and growl at who ever was close to you. She was so protective over the kids but started to scare people. Then when my littlest one started to walk she would growl at him. We had to rehome her. She also became aggressive with other animals. She'd chase down the cats and attack them and when we adopted Jinx the two would get in to horrible fights, even with muzzles on. They tore each other up pretty bad and it was always ms grumpy (named Jersey) that started it.

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by Paula

We're thinking of rehoming him because he gets aggressive to the family members he sees daily. He will be laying on the couch next to me and I'll reach over to pet him, and he starts growling and bearing his teeth. He's even snapped at me a few times too.

That's scary! I'm sorry that you are dealing with this. Its so hard to have a pet that has become part of the family suddenly change like this. I tell you, we got rid of Jersey 5 years ago and I still hurt about it. I've never had to rehome an animal before and it was heartbreaking for me (and for my daughter who still cries about it) but we didn't have much of a choice. We couldn't risk one of the kids getting hurt.

[DawnMarch]

We have a boy dog and he's just a big goofball. We had him neutered early and he has never tried to hump anybody (although as I've mentioned elsewhere, he does on occasion have an odd affinity for his dog bed -- maybe because it's tan and fuzzy like him ). Anyhow, we're happy we got a male dog -- he's sweet and definitely wants to please.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by Julie Billingsley

So, what about humping your leg? And the smelling of the crotch (people, not other dogs) that all boy dogs seem to do? Or do girl dogs do that too?

LOL. My childhood dog was a female and she had a teddy bear in the house that she "abused" often. She never humped our leg, but that poor bear....

I think the humping thing is their way of displaying dominance. It has nothing to do with the sex of the dog.

My most recent dog was a male and he was such a momma's boy. Such a MOOCH. Much more affectionate than my female dog was, and followed me around like a shadow. Insanely attached. He was more active, too, that's for sure!

[Robin Carlton]

Originally Posted by YepBrook

I think the humping thing is their way of displaying dominance. It has nothing to do with the sex of the dog.

This is exactly right. My dogs do this to each other him on top her on top when they are getting really ornery with each other. It's just their way of saying "I'm in charge" only with my dogs it's like "Im in charge!" "No.. I'm in charge!" "Noooo, I'm in charge!" until I yell at them and tell them "knock it off, I'm in charge" and then they are good again.

[Joy2Scrapbook]

We have had a few dogs over the many years of our marriage, all labs. Two boys and three girls. The boys were more protective than the girls. All of our dogs have had different personalities. One of the boys was a perpetual teenager, always testing the limits with us and didn't like other dogs much. He was the only one to hump or sniff people. Most of that stopped once he was neutered. I believe it is personality that matters most, not gender. Although boys do tend to pee everywhere and it can be a challenge to keep a nice garden. Our girls we could always train to go in one spot on gravel.

[Sherri Tierney]

My rabbits are the same way. We have two females (litter mates) caged together and they go through that. My daughter tells them "stop playing boy!" LOL

[ColleenSwerb]

Yea, humping is a dominance thing, not a sex thing. Tiger is CRAZY dominant and will often try to jump other dogs. We've broken her of humping people though.
And all dogs sniff crotches. That's how they greet and know each other/other dogs, so they naturally do it to people too. With training you can mostly break that habit though too. It's not too bad.

[LJSDesigns]

I have three boy dogs and they are all sweeties. Julie, my best suggestion would be to visit the dogs and see if you bond with any of them. I had my heart set on a girl dog once, but when I went to pick her out, I instantly bonded with a little boy one and took him home instead. I've never regretted it.

[Julie Billingsley]

well, you all have been really really helpful. So, I'm seeing that gender doesn't determine if they are humpers or sniffers, and males tend toward being sweeter dogs than females in a lot of cases. The peeing all over everything isn't a quality that I love, but it's not a deal-breaker because I don't have a wonderful garden anyway. So.... a boy just might work out for us. I'm going to keep thinking because I don't want to regret this decision. If I do get a boy, I still will be scrapping it with all the girly fro-fro though.

[emmasmommy]

Originally Posted by Julie Billingsley

So, what about humping your leg? And the smelling of the crotch (people, not other dogs) that all boy dogs seem to do? Or do girl dogs do that too?

we have a girl dog...and she humps everything.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by Julie Billingsley

If I do get a boy, I still will be scrapping it with all the girly fro-fro though.

You could name him Cupid...

[iScrap]

I have no input as we don't have pets, but this thread makes me giggle. Especially the part about Brook's dog humping a teddy bear...

[Traci Reed]

My FIL has a female Chihuahua and she has her own stuffed animals that they bought for her to hump. Also, I used to have 2 male cats that humped each other so, um...yeah!

[FireWolf]

I'm not much help because I have 3 girls, a german shepherd, a bernese mountain dog and an 85% wolf hybrid, and I will NEVER have another male dog (or cat, either, for that matter). I've had serious bad luck with males in the past...ie: the one that attacked a horse and the one that kept starting fights between the girls and we had to rehome him because he was a howler and nothing we did or any training we went through would make him stop and the neighbors began really complaining.

[sczos911]

Henry was a humper at the very beggining, but now he NEVER does it. I think it is about training.
Well, obviously Henry is a boy doggie. A small neutered boy doggie who still squats like a girl and never pees on anything in the house. He's a protector but he loves to snuggle and cuddle and be a BIG baby.

[rachaelsscraps]

When I was growing up, we had two male dogs. They were really sweet and friendly. Now that I'm an adult, I chose to get dogs, and we ended up with two females. There is NO difference at all, they're just as sweet and friendly as the boys. None of our dogs ever humped anyone's leg. LOL but they all have jumping-on-people issues (problem related to the breeds they are all not a behavioral issue)

One thing to think about, supposedly dogs tend to get more attached to people of the opposite sex- so if you were to get a boy, he'd be more attached to you than hubby

[MissKim]

I have a boy dog. Chihuahua mix. He doesn't hump (neutered at about 1.5 years) and he's never sniffed a crotch. Mostly he sleeps. He does pee all over outside, but we just have a regular yard so I don't know why I would care about that.

I quite proudly dress him in sweaters, give him a girly little bed and he has a pink leash. Heck, his name is unisex (Hayden), and he's my dog, right? I can accessorize him as I wish. My son gives me a hard time, telling me the dog is humiliated, but that dog still adores me. He's so protective of me. If I go to bed early and he's sleeping next to me on the bed, he'll attack my DH when he comes to bed. Cracks me up.

[pomi]

We've got a male hovawart and he's a great calm dog, too.

You'll see when you visit the breeder. In a few weeks they start to show off their little personalities and you'll see if some of them (and which one) matches your family.

OK, now I wanna get another doggie. Pet threads are killing me. LOL.

[Amber Dixon]

I've had both boy and girl dogs and in my own experience with them, the boy dogs were always calmer and more lovable and also it always seems like they get more attached and take up more with an owner of the opposite sex too. I used to have 2 German Shepherd/Chow mix, a girl named Cassidy and a boy named King. King was (IS) the love of my life, seriously! He was the sweetest, most lovable and loyal dog ever. So calm and very attached to me. When I was preggo with my first he knew it and would stick by my side constantly and was very protective. Cassidy on the other hand was the biggest, goofiest, most hyper girl in the world. She was attached to my hubby. Sadly, they are both gone now. Currently I have a female full blooded German Shepherd and she's very attached to my hubby. She won't listen to a thing I say but all he has to do is look at her and it's like she knows what he's going to say before he says it. She's very hyper and energetic. We also have 2 St. Bernard puppies (they're 10 months old now), Griff (boy) and Molly (girl). Same scenerio with them as far as the boy being attached to me and the girl being attached to hubby. Griff is also very calm and lovable, and so sweet. I call him my big lover boy lol, but his sister Molly, she is his exact opposite.

Anyway, sorry to drone on and on about my dogs lol, Good luck with yours, whatever you choose... but truely, I would get a boy.

[ayaandjudah]

I don't know anything about dogs, but if I were to get one, I'd likely get a boy.

[Julie Billingsley]

Here is a pic of the litter

[4noisyboys]

Girl dogs love you.

Boy dogs are "in love" with you.

[Andrea Gourley]

My doggie is a little boy, he had 'the chop' at 6 months and he has never displayed any humping tendencies. His tiddler is for weeing and nothing else, he wees on every bush and lamp post we pass on our walks but only because he wants the world to know that he's been there, once trained he's never had a wee in the house and to be honest he's a pretty sexless thing - he doesn't display any boy or girl tendencies he's just Haggis He's the softest babyish little ball of white fluff you'll ever come across and as I type this he is lying on the back of the sofa behind me with his head and chin on my shoulder giving me snuggles and kisses, I can't imagine that a girl dog could be any more loving than her is

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by southernmother

I've had both boy and girl dogs and in my own experience with them, the boy dogs were always calmer and more lovable and also it always seems like they get more attached and take up more with an owner of the opposite sex too. I used to have 2 German Shepherd/Chow mix, a girl named Cassidy and a boy named King. King was (IS) the love of my life, seriously! He was the sweetest, most lovable and loyal dog ever. So calm and very attached to me. When I was preggo with my first he knew it and would stick by my side constantly and was very protective. Cassidy on the other hand was the biggest, goofiest, most hyper girl in the world. She was attached to my hubby. Sadly, they are both gone now. Currently I have a female full blooded German Shepherd and she's very attached to my hubby. She won't listen to a thing I say but all he has to do is look at her and it's like she knows what he's going to say before he says it. She's very hyper and energetic. We also have 2 St. Bernard puppies (they're 10 months old now), Griff (boy) and Molly (girl). Same scenerio with them as far as the boy being attached to me and the girl being attached to hubby. Griff is also very calm and lovable, and so sweet. I call him my big lover boy lol, but his sister Molly, she is his exact opposite.

Anyway, sorry to drone on and on about my dogs lol, Good luck with yours, whatever you choose... but truely, I would get a boy.

Interesting that you say that they tend to be drawn to the opposite sex. We haven't noticed this in our family. Our first dog together was male. He was DH's dog, no doubt about it. He liked me but he LOVED DH. The second was male and he didn't really choose one of us over another. Our third was female and she was the same way, no real preference. Now we have two females that have both chosen ME as their person. Jinx chose me even though I didn't like her at all when we first got her. It took me a good year before I started to like her. I think it was because she was thrust on me with DH bringing her home from work like that and I had wanted a puppy, not a full grown dog (and I didn't want a female and I didn't want a big dog). None the less, she took to me right away even though it drove me crazy. Now she's still my dog. She sleeps by my side of the bed, follows me constantly when she's in the house and is like my little side kick. When we got the westie I had read about westie's choosing their 'person' to bond with. I was so hoping that she would choose one of the kids because I wanted my kids to have a close bond with the pets that way. Nope, she chose me. If I'm sitting down she's trying to sit on my lap.

However, our male cat chose my daughter as a kitten and our female cat (who we thought was male at the time) chose my son.

[lizzyfizzy]

i know nothing about dogs but i do know that the older brother to your potential pup is gorgeous! best of luck, chickie.

[Sharon Kay]

Originally Posted by Julie Billingsley

So Tiger is a boy? Do you feel weird scrapping the dog with lots of flowers if it's a boy?

I've NEVER scrapped a dog picture with flowers ... we had girl dogs growing up and we had a boy dog with my family ... and they were never scrapped with flowers ... never even thought of putting a flower on a dog page...bones maybe, but not flowers.

[LJSDesigns]

Originally Posted by Sharon Kay

I've NEVER scrapped a dog picture with flowers ... we had girl dogs growing up and we had a boy dog with my family ... and they were never scrapped with flowers ... never even thought of putting a flower on a dog page...bones maybe, but not flowers.

I've scrapped my little guys with flowers on more than one occasion. I also use flowers on pages about my son, my dad and my husband. Flowers are too pretty not to use for everyone.

[misfitinmn]

Julie, omgahhhhh are you trying to kill me with a sweet pic of a litter of fuzz-balls?! I don't even WANT a puppy! But I neeeeed a furball!!

We have a boy dog. We adopted him when he was around 3 or 4 years old. He's never peed in our house (until recently, but he's getting old and it doesn't happen very often) and he doesn't hump...people. He has a giant rhino stuffed animal that is his "lover". We found it at a garage sale & my hubby bought it...we had no idea the feelings that would develop!

Have you decided to go for a wee boy fluffy puppy?