Mixing 2 Desexed Male Dogs With An Entire Male

[mumsy]

We have 2 desexed males, and we are going to a cousins farm for Christmas. We were told our dogs were more than welcome, but I found out the other day that he has a 8 month old British Bulldog who is still not desexed. Having never been in the situation before, I am looking for advice as to whether this could end in disaster. Apparently he is a lovely dog with a great nature and both or ours are good. Any advice would be great.

[Blonde_Phoenix]

From my experience I don’t think there is as much to worry about as people think, it seems sometimes people think undesexed males are raging with hormones ready to rip into any other male they come across. I’ve had three entire males and a female at my place for a BBQ with no issues. My feeling is it comes down more to the individual dogs than desexing status. It might be a good idea to have a chat with your cousin to get an idea of how well socialised their pup is and if he has had any issues with other dogs in the past.

I would also suggest if possible aranging an introduction for the dogs beforehand to determine how they will get along. It could get pretty stressful if introductions don’t go well in the midst of all the other dramas of Christmas get togethers. Secondly I would have a backup plan i.e. is there a way to separate the dogs for the duration of the party if necessary.

I have also seen taking the dogs to meet at a neural place first before returning to the resident dogs territory work quite well.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Blonde_Phoenix

[Gayle.]

I have a desexed male and female, and an entire male and female, all live in perfect harmony. Not sure why you'd expect there to be a problem.

[Jumabaar]

Are your dogs used to going and visiting other dogs in their homes? Is his dog confident with dogs visiting?

I have taken my entire male on many playdates and not had a problem. I did have a crate to pop him in if there were any issues or he was getting excitable and stoooopid. So long as you have a way to separate them if they don't get along then I don't see why not. If you don't have an easy way to separate then it could make the day a little stressful. A way to separate is also handy to give the BB a break as he is only a baby and will need time out.

[mumsy]

The reason I was asking was when we went to adopt our second dog not too long ago, because he was a male and so was our first dog, every time I asked about a male dog, the first thing I was asked was whether our male was desexed.When I answered yes, almost everyone of them said "oh that's okay then".We will definitely bring the crates down with us so we can separate if necessary or just get them out of our hair!!

[IggyLover]

Isn't it usually 2 females that are more of a problem as the females are always trying to dominate and be top dog?

[Gayle.]

Entire males aren't all raging, fighting balls of fury. Mine isn't anyway. He's sweet and lovable and outgoing and friendly with other dogs. He instigates play nicely and displays good manners around other dogs.

I find the dog of mine most likely to cause a fight is the neutered female, it seems she has trouble reading other dogs body language.

[jacqui835]

I too own a male entire dog (doberman cross rottweiler) and he is fine with other dogs. Most females love him, desexed or entire doesn't matter. Males well to be honest, some desexed males don't seem to like him. They will harass him a bit, follow him around and often have to be shown off (but this is from someone who spends a lot of time at dog parks with not so many responsible owners). We were told a few times back when I used to go to Centennial Park all the time in Sydney that the problem with having an entire dog wasn't that they would attack attack other males, it was that desexed males would attack them. But if the dogs have all been well socialised and get on with other dogs, there's no reason there should be any problems. My dog is good friends with a male desexed labrador, belonging to some friends of ours. They had met once at the park, had a good play, and now they happily hang out in our backyards when we see each other.

[Blonde_Phoenix]

The reason I was asking was when we went to adopt our second dog not too long ago, because he was a male and so was our first dog, every time I asked about a male dog, the first thing I was asked was whether our male was desexed.When I answered yes, almost everyone of them said "oh that's okay then".We will definitely bring the crates down with us so we can separate if necessary or just get them out of our hair!!

That is interesting, I can see how that line of questioning could lead you to worry. I wonder if the question was asked more to determine your 'responsibility' as a dog owner.

I think it's a shame that perception is out there, mostly because people seem to think desexing is a magic bullet to solve behavioural issues. We had one guy at training whose entire male would always react aggressively towards my boy (also entire). So on advice he got his boy desexed to 'fix' the problem. He was hugely disappointed when of course it didn't work, and I don't blame him after hearing the advice he had received from people who any regular person could consider an 'expert'. I think what people missed was the dog was on the fearful side (he was shy of human strangers also), to me this dog was simply reacting out of fear. My boy is larger than him (apparently he'd had issue with large dogs in the past) and also shaggy so it is difficulty for other dogs to 'read' his eyes, this dog just didn't want to wait to see what my boy wanted to do he wanted to be on the front foot.

I'm neither anti or pro desexing, every pet I have had up to our current pup has been desexed and it definitely has a place preventing unwanted litters of pups.

[juice]

I think it depends on the dog, my friend has an entire male BB, who try's to mount anything he comes close too, including people.

[Blonde_Phoenix]

I think it depends on the dog, my friend has an entire male BB, who try's to mount anything he comes close too, including people.

I think that is more to do with training. When I was a kid we had a desexed female who would do exactly the same thing, I believe this was because we never did anything to correct her. In fact we thought it was funny as kids and would encourage the behaviour .

Or current boy has gone through a bit of an experimentation faze (with his blankie not people). I used loud irritating noises to distract him from his task, he seemed to pick up that humping was a no no pretty quickly.

[raineth]

I think his temperament, socialisation, training, and the 'savvyness' of the owners are probably more crucial factors as to whether they will all get along

maybe you should ask them how he goes with other dogs?

[idigadog]

IMO, it really comes down to personality and temperament. We have 11 entire males living here together with no issues.

Two weeks ago we had another breeder here for 5 days with her 3 entire males and 2 bitches in season and just this past weekend we had 10 extra dogs in the yard, 5 of which were also entire males. Sure they were all very excited and vocal to start with but once they introduced themselves and realised that I wasn't going to let them get away with any shenanigans, every one of them just went about their business as per normal.

For what it's worth, we always had more trouble with our bitches than our dogs. I think that if both of your dogs and your cousin's dog are well socialised, well behaved, even tempered boys, then they will probably have a fat time together :D

[mumsy]

Thanks everyone!

[HugL]

I found ages can also be an issue. Only problem I've had with mixing all males (entire & desexed) was between 2 who were similar age. We just watched and reinforced pack order depending on whose house it was and it didn't become an issue.

As suggested, can you get them together beforehand so Christmas Day will have one less thing to worry about.

Good luck

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Don't forget to introduce them on neutral territory - you are taking two desexed males onto an undesexed male's territory which could be a real issue whether the dog was desexed or not.