Third Dog - dog or bitch? Your advice please

Hello there. We currently have two dogs, one GSD x Border Collie Dog, and one Greyhound x Border Collie Bitch. They are aged 8 and 6 and they get on well. The dog is the dominant of the pair. We are thinking about adopting a third dog from the local shelter and I am just cruising the sites at the moment.

I recall from my use of another forum in the UK that there was often lively discussion about the best mix of the sexes, and quite a lot of people held a strong view that you should only ever have one bitch in a mixed sex group. The comments were that dogs will rumble, settle their differences and then get on with life whilst bitches will fight with intent to wound or worse.

What do people here think? Anyone with experience of introducing a third dog or bitch? Thank you for your opinions :)

Well we have 2 spayed females and one intact male and they get on great. However out older female ( 9) is grumpy of any new comer and the male is very nee dog aggressive however will settle with females. My trainer has 2 intact males a neutered male and 2 intact females however the intact mastiffs one male, one female are aggressive at times the neutered male can be aggressive and the intact Boston's could careless. So it honestly I would say it depends. Since you are adopting take your dogs with to meet any potential dogs.

My doberman was introduced when our lab and beagle had been together for 4 years she was 7 months and after our male got over trying to hump her they are all best buds.

I have a spayed Pittbull and two male Chihauhau's. They hump her legs all the time. Good thing she is patient with them.

Personally? I find it the dogs (male or female) personaility and training - not just the new one, but of all three. Any dogs can get along with any other dog, it's just a matter of doing it right.

I have found this it's on an individual basis. At our house, the females have been the most "spicy" and the males the most laid back. I don't think that is the rule however.

It's all in introducing and TRAINING your dogs to get along. I used to believe that you couldn't mix genders, but my SIL fell in love with collies and she replaces same with same, and always keeps one male and one female collie at any one time. Right now her female is 12yo and the male is 8yo. She won't be around next year, so my SIL will get herself a female collie pup.
Same with breeds. My female dog (almost 6yo) is Husky x BC cross. Husky's are supposed to kill cats, but we introduced her to the cats when she was an 8 week old puppy, and she knows what the boundaries are re: cats, horses and chickens. ALL about training and trained behavior. IMHO, dogs love to have another one to play with. I cannot keep up with my two--the other female dog is just over 5yo--but they chase each other and play every time I feed and do outdoor chores. They ALSO are in guard mode whenever I finish at night, and it's dark. Usually, they'll check things out, but when they know I'm getting done, I find both of them laying down in front of the barn, by the gate, ready to be my watchdogs, should I need it.

Female dogs do better with a male new comer 9 times out of 10. Border collies especially are like this.

Thank you for your replies, you're all saying what I would have thought if I hadn't read those comments on the other forum.

Oh, and WSArabians, thanks for that Chihuahua humping Pittbull image. I think we'll have that burnt into our minds for the evening now

I agree about the training. If our male lab had gotten out more and had been better socialized I guarantee he wouldn't be as bad as he is. My parents baby him and angel where my dog ( doberman) goes everywhere and loves everyone haha.

You're welcome!
That ia mildly amusing... When they humped each other was disturbing... As they are full brothers and all... LOL

It really does all depend on the dog.

Here's the story. If you don't want to read it, it is summarized at the end.My family lived for a long time with two dogs - a young (Scooby, currently 5) miniature fox terrier and an old (Toby, currently 12) labrador, both neutered males. A couple of years ago, we saw an ad for a free entire 2 year old labrador dog. We went to see him and I fell in love with 'Bundy'.

Brought him home, and all hell broke loose. Toby and Bundy did NOT get along and, according to a pet psychic we contacted, he felt as though he was being replaced as Bundy was younger, more virile, and therefore more capable of protecting the family.

To make matters worse, we then took in two newborn puppies from a litter of 15, one male and one female. Bundy and Scooby were great with them both, but Toby hated them. Problems with Bundy were continuing, so we sold him and things started to settle. When we sold the male pup, things were back to normal - Toby adored the female puppy now that she was old enough to know when to back off. Sadly we sold her too, and are now back to the original two dogs.

If you couldn't be bothered reading that, one of my dogs hated having another male around, but loved having a female so long as she understood that he was old and got sick of her sometimes. My other dog couldn't care less and just loved having someone to play with.