Gun Dog Forum

I'm getting a French Brit this spring and can't decide on male or female. I was leaning towards a male but my friend told me his male lab would hike his leg and piss in the house if not watched at all times. Is this common with all male gun dogs kept inside? What are the pros and cons of male FB?

Male dogs do not automatically mark/piss in the house, at least none of them that I know, or have owned. Out in the field though, you may have to sacrifce the first 5 minutes to let a male do his work lol!

Personally, I would rather take a chance at a male marking then dealing with the female issues, but that is just me?

I have had two male gun dogs and neither of them "ever" lifted in the house. Do to diligence on my part during potty training with each dog perhaps . I am sure it could happen but I would think for the most part it could be avoided.

I have 4 intact males in the house and marking indoors does not happen. But my dogs are setters, thus much more couth and fastidious than all other breeds
Outdoors in their yard, they follow each other around and try to wash away each others' scent. Then my little *female* terrier goes around and tops them all.
When working, the boys will empty out all they got in a few minutes, then it's all about work for them.

Some males need two housebreaking sessions. The first one comes as little pups and all is good until their hormones kick in, then they may need a refresher.

Your friend just hasn't completely housebroke the dog - by the sounds of it, the dog's gender has nothing to do with it. Most stories you hear about males peeing in the house, or humping everything, etc has nothing to do with what's between their legs and everything to do with their (lack) of training. Males and females make equally good pets and hunters. I prefer males personally as I have found in general they tend to be more affectionate. That's only in my experience. I also think they are easier to look after if kept intact - females are a little more work in that regard, unless of course you spay. That said though, I currently have 1 of each (my female is spayed as I do not deal with the mess well lol) and I would be more concerned about the breeding of a future pup than its plumbing. If I found a litter I wanted and there were no males, I wouldn't pass it up - I'd be snagging up a female. People generally just tend to like what they've always had.

CDN_Cocker wrote: If I found a litter I wanted and there were no males, I wouldn't pass it up - I'd be snagging up a female.

Well said. Hard to pass up on the genetics you have been searching for!

As long as you housebreak your dog correctly you shouldn't have a problem with marking the house.
Male Britts tend to be glued to your side. It all depends on the dog.

Great replies, I use a crate to house break is there a better method?

1gundog wrote:Great replies, I use a crate to house break is there a better method?

nope you're bang on

have never had a problem with male dogs lifting the leg in the house. They know to do their business outside

I bought a 2.5 year male that wasn't house broken. He learned real quick that wasn't acceptable.

Turbo doesn't mark in the house, or play that "run around and mark everything" game. Both are against my rules.

Which does better in home a FB or ES ?

Intense google searcher reveals FB wins out indoors

I have had both male and female dogs (2 of each), and I have to say I like the females better. Not due to marking in the house, but I do like how my female Brittany doesn't waste time marking territory while we are outside. she seems more interested in finding game birds than sniffing out where some dog lifted his leg. Just my two cents.

DudeRN wrote:I have had both male and female dogs (2 of each), and I have to say I like the females better. Not due to marking in the house, but I do like how my female Brittany doesn't waste time marking territory while we are outside. she seems more interested in finding game birds than sniffing out where some dog lifted his leg. Just my two cents.

X2

1gundog wrote:Intense google searcher reveals FB wins out indoors

Good luck with going that way - did that when I chose my english cocker, everything online said calm and quiet in the house. My dog is 2... and is incapable of laying down or not moving constantly lmao.

Congrats on the EB pup. They are fun little dogs. Where is the pup coming from? Below is a photo of my dads EB, she's from L'Etoile Du Nord Kennel.

We've only had one male and we never had a problem with him marking in the house. Like stated above he'd empty his tank the first few minutes out but never a problem in the house. We currently have a female but would like to try a male next.

1gundog wrote:Which does better in home a FB or ES ?

It will vary from dog to dog... I currently have two EPs, both are good in the house, but one is definitely an excellent house dog by any standards, the other is a little on the rowdy side.

Might be I'm doing it wrong but raising 14 of our own inside dogs in the past 15 years, and fostering over 50 dogs in the same time frame, the only dog that has ever "marked" in the house is my very own FIRST unneutered male. Everything else we have (11 other dogs) is either spayed or neutered. Every other dog is housebroken well (even the beagles, who infrequently come inside). It is frustrating, to say the least. This boy (18 months or better now) started peeing on everything about 3-4 months ago. Now he's humping everything too. I have been trying to do "the right thing" by keeping him intact at least until he's done growing - and really I was leaning towards leaving him intact forever - but this behavior is nasty.

I am not a novice dog owner, nor do I have issues with crating/crate training. Up until this boy hit about 16 months old, we'd never had an accident in the house with him except for one time when he was 4 months old. It's a pain in the butt! So for those that will say it's no different than having a neutered dog, I will strongly disagree with you. I've had upwards of 15 inside neutered males and never had one mark in the house.

If a male dog marks in the house it 100% operator error. I have two males that free roam my house and I have only had a dog try to mark once, and while he was still mid stream I made him understand very quickly that it was unacceptable.

Deke,

I don't disagree with operator error, but never having problems with potty training, because I watch them like an eagle, it's been a giant pain in the butt how many times he tries to mark in the house. He's gone from a 100% potty trained dog to a pissing fool that tries to mark everything everytime he is in the house. It's very frustrating.

RoostersMom wrote:Deke,

I don't disagree with operator error, but never having problems with potty training, because I watch them like an eagle, it's been a giant pain in the butt how many times he tries to mark in the house. He's gone from a 100% potty trained dog to a pissing fool that tries to mark everything everytime he is in the house. It's very frustrating.

By your own admission, this is not a case that anything to do with potty training, since you say he was trained very well. And you are judging your whole opinion on just one dog, no matter how many other dogs you have. I have had many of both sexes that were not neutered but will admit I have never had one that has been. By your rules, if I now get a neutered dog and it marks, then I should tell everyone that neutering did it and never again. I can not determine why this is happening from here but there is a reason and it can be corrected once you determine why. Oh, and I did have a couple of females that marked but luckily not in the house and I had a male that decided if we went in the bathroom he should to but we got that corrected and all is peaceful again.

Ezzy

RoostersMom wrote:Deke,

I don't disagree with operator error, but never having problems with potty training, because I watch them like an eagle, it's been a giant pain in the butt how many times he tries to mark in the house. He's gone from a 100% potty trained dog to a pissing fool that tries to mark everything everytime he is in the house. It's very frustrating.

I'm wondering if there may not be a medical problem going on here? Urinary tract infection or something like that.

I prefer females. Spayed females. I've had males and never had a problem with them marking in the house. They did like to mark the firewood pile outside, however, and that didn't make for very pleasant firewood hauling. Plus it smelled bad till it dried or Burned up!

How do you make them understand really quickly they did something wrong? I just got s 5 yr old Brittany.

You guys got me thinking maybe a female is the way to go. My gsp is female

I've had two intact males, no problems with marking indoors.

My theory- though just a theory- I have had both females and males over the years and some great females- I have 2 males now- night time inside dogs. No Problems- Females are females- seem to develop a tad faster then they the become females (J'k) but males dogs revolve around the 3 h's- Hunting- Hungry- jusr easier for me to relate to that and deal with it.

1gundog wrote:Which does better in home a FB or ES ?

We have both. Both breeds can be pretty lively as pups but settle in nicely as they mature and have some basic training.

As far as male vs female, I think the non-housebroken male is just that and is not representative of the gender. I will say one thing regarding M vs F in Fr Brits and that is that some of the females are really small. To some people that is great, to others they are too small, so know your own preference and the line you are buying into.

pete2528ca wrote:How do you make them understand really quickly they did something wrong? I just got s 5 yr old Brittany.

Every dog is going to be different on the amount of punishment it takes to get something through their head. One of my dogs would only need a mean look and a quick smack on the butt to get the message, The other one however would need a bit harsher punishment. I tend to take it a little farther than I should for a first offense, but they usually understand that they dont want to make the same mistake twice.

I went with a female simply because with most predators the females are tasked with hunting to raise their young.
this probably applies less with dogs but nature has a pretty good streak going.

in the real world , only thing I can say is the female is less headstrong then the males I've had.
however that could also be breed diffrences

A couple things have changed since I started this thread.
First change I'm picking up my PP pup on May 20th.
Second it's a male.
Thanks for all the replies, I'm so excited to get this pup, will post pics ASAP.

1gundog wrote:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1429492691.493472.jpg

Haha!