Male or Female

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oregon woodsmoke
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Male or Female

Post by oregon woodsmoke » Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:38 pm

Just because I am curious: Which do all of you prefer? A dog or a bitch to hunt with?

I ask because I notice in most of the ads for gun dog pups, only males are left available. I'm getting a Breton and, late to the party, I still get first pick male.

In my mind, it takes a lot of organizing to put together a hunting (or fishing) party. Every one has to schedule time off work well in advance and you have to find a time when everyone can get off work. Camping reservations must be made well in advance, often many months in advance, there is lots of planning and coordinating.

It would really be unfortunate to get it all put together and have the gun dog come into season for that week. it's not like you can wake up that morning and easily push the dates back three weeks.

The question is: why do so many people want females and don't want to buy males?

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BigTub
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Re: Male or Female

Post by BigTub » Mon Aug 16, 2021 5:38 pm

For living with, I say females: no marking territory and sweeter. We waited over two year to get a female. My breeder did not let his males in the house but the females were allowed. HOWEVER, if you have an intact female and want to run her in trials and what not, you just know the event is going to overlap with her cycle and may disqualify her. I have a 1 yr male and 2yr female -- both Britts. She is indeed sweeter but moody. He is a ball of fire. Will have to wait on judging the huntability.

Steve007
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Re: Male or Female

Post by Steve007 » Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:03 pm

I have owned, trained, hunted and competed with both for many years. I don't believe you can draw any conclusions based on sex. it depends entirely on the individual. And a serious male dog is not going to be lifting his leg on anything; he's out there hunt birds with you, just as a quality female is.

I suspect the fact that females sell faster than males -- putting aside the fact that some people want to breed -- is due to the fact that females are smaller and to the presumed assumption that males are harder to housetrain, which is not true if you are sensible.

There is a tremendous amount to be said for a high-quality well bred male. There is also a tremendous amount to be said for high-quality well bred female. People who claim one is better than the other based on sex are biased, remembering fine dogs they have had in the past, and being unwilling to change. It wasn't whether it was male or female; it was the individual dog that they admired. They draw the wrong conclusion.

PoorMansWrangler
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Re: Male or Female

Post by PoorMansWrangler » Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:43 pm

I own two males, happy with both of them, and they hunt just as well as the females. I chose males because I don’t want to deal with heat cycles, and having them fixed. And I have stuffed my males out, I don’t want to deal with puppies. Either way you will be happy!

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BigTub
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Re: Male or Female

Post by BigTub » Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:14 pm

"presumption that males are harder to housetrain" ... our female was difficult to house train. Our male came house trained, though he was in an outdoor pen/kennel all summer but he was older when we got him at about 5 months.

RayGubernat
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Re: Male or Female

Post by RayGubernat » Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:20 pm

I've had both and have had good dogs of both sexes and not so good dogs of both sexes.

My dogs are all outside dogs so the housetraining thing...I can't really comment. I only had one dog allowed in the house and that was an adult male (he was about five, I think when my Mom asked to have him brought inside) who required precisely zero housetraining. I think he understood that he grabbed the brass ring and was not about to screw that up.

The dogs that have given me the most trouble during training were the ones that were the ones that were smart, stubborn and feigned softness. I will say that a few more females had that particular suite of "talents" than the males I have owned.

Not all of them have been field trial material, despite being bred for that, but I made decent bird dogs out of each of them.

The point about having a female come in heat at an inopportune time can be a biggie if you only have one dog.

RayG

cjhills
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Re: Male or Female

Post by cjhills » Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:41 pm

It is way more about training than it is about sex. Female personalities are a bit different than males. No better or worse. My male puppies sell just as well and for the same price as my females. Maybe a little better. Recently we had a litter of 11. Nine males and two females. We had 5 female deposits before they were born. All were sold at 8 weeks.
Dogs don't need to mark.Training .........Cj

oregon woodsmoke
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Re: Male or Female

Post by oregon woodsmoke » Tue Aug 17, 2021 1:47 pm

I've never seen any difference with house training between the sexes. Difference in house training comes from how the pup was raised in the first home. Pups raised indoors with easy access to outdoors will be almost fully house trained when they go to their new home. Pups raised indoors with no access to outdoors are going to take a lot longer to house train. It doesn't matter if they are dogs or bitches.

In a dog's mind relieving the bladder and scent marking are not related activities in any way, and the two issues must be trained as separate issues. So once a dog is house trained you still have to watch for marking in the house and put a stop to that. If you can catch it the first time the dog tries, before a habit is formed, that is usually the end of it. Most males mark, but many females also mark and they both have to be taught that marking in the house isn't OK. Getting a bitch isn't going to prevent scent marking.

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greg jacobs
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Re: Male or Female

Post by greg jacobs » Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:21 pm

RayGubernat wrote:
Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:20 pm
I've had both and have had good dogs of both sexes and not so good dogs of both sexes.

The dogs that have given me the most trouble during training were the ones that were the ones that were smart, stubborn and feigned softness. I will say that a few more females had that particular suite of "talents" than the males I have owned.

RayG
Lol. Yup

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CDN_Cocker
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Re: Male or Female

Post by CDN_Cocker » Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:39 am

I've had lots of both but I tend to prefer males. Currently have 2 males that are intact and live in the house. In my experience I find males to be more affectionate and easy going than females. I wouldn't pass up a pup though based on what's between its back legs though but males get my vote. And like Oregon woodsmoke said - dogs only mark if you allow it. Just because you have a male doesn't mean it's going to mark everything when you're out - unless that is what you allow.

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