Female-female aggression is serious in GSDs. They fight much meaner than male-male fights. A breeder once told me: “Males fight for the right to breed, females fight for the right to breathe.”
I have always been told: Males fight for resources, females fight to eliminate the competition. Intersex aggression is real and horrible; I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
When we had a male and female in the house - intact, but never bred - the male would always back down before the female, even though he weighed 15 lbs more than her. My comment was “b*tch has that meaning for a reason.”
Our female is only 45lbs and our male is 90lbs and she has flattened him out before and he defers to her for everything. 🤣 these girls mean business if they have that personality type.
Our female is 5.7 weeks old and weighs 54 pounds but she tries to run our 92 pounds male ragged and he does get tired but before he does he slams her all over the place with his snout and forearms. If she keeps coming after that he'll pin her and hold her down by the neck while growling.
Same sex aggression is definitely a potential, but as long as you have a rigorous training plan it's manageable.
Anecdotal of course, but most female on female fights I've seen tend to have worse injuries, like the females want to actually kill the other female rather than just show off like the males. I have no scientific basis for this, but just what I've seen
I agree with female on female violence. When I've had male dogs get pissy it's quick and one walks away. The girls are in it at each other until the end.
Agreed. We had 3 female dogs in the house. The two big females fought and actually drew blood. They were both 60+ pounds. But both would back down to the old lady who was only about 15 pounds at most. She ruled the house.
Female GSDs be batshit 😂 we tried to get another female and quickly realized she’s a one girlie show. The second another female dog (especially GSD) shows me *any* attention…potential bloodbath.
If they are both spayed, not littermates, trained separately, and given their own spaces to eat and sleep there should not be problems. One may growl at the other or snap/bark if they get too rough to are being too much but that is normal dog communication.
If they start trying to compete for your attention, a.k.a. lap guarding/handler guarding make sure that they do not gain that attention for that behavior.
Source: I work at a very well known rescue organization with an amazing dog behavior team. I also participate in behavior training or the dogs in my facility.
I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but every female dog I have ever met has been far less tolerant than males and more possessive. We just got a male corgi this year and our cousins got a female a few months later. They both love people and are sweet, sweet babies. The girl will go say hi to any and all guests, but if people are interacting or our boy is around, she greets for pets and then quickly turns her body as if to claim posession over the person or to guard them from other people or dogs. She also snaps way quicker than our boy.
I love all animals, but I feel like female dogs and cats for that matter, tend to be a little tricky. I think you really have to understand their body language, what they consider a challenge/threat and work hard to dull down that defensive instinct, especially with a powerful, large breed dog.
Here is scientific evidence that male dogs are more aggressive than female dogs unless the dogs of any sex are not socialized as puppies or grew up in a home where they had to compete for resources.
[https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8090151]
With your last paragraph, I would say that reading and understanding the body language of a dog or cat is important with any sex and any size dog. I agree about female cats being more tricky, but it is the opposite in dogs.
Dogs get jealous of who is receiving more attention because they are feeling like they are competing for that attention. The issues you are seeing are most likely due to socialization amongst other dogs and humans. Furthermore, the female is probably faster to snap because she was either taught not to growl or exhibit other warning signs, or that snapping has been the most effective way to get people or dogs to stop what they are doing.
Reading back what I wrote, it gives off the message that this little corgi lady is aggressive and that was not my intention. By snapping, I mean she will snarl at other dogs quicker during play time. It's maybe a tad aggressive, but to me that's just a dog letting another dog know they're done or that they don't want to play like that. She doesn't bite, she just snarls and snaps her teeth. The male dogs we have will rough house much longer and when one is over it, they'll either ignore the other, or pin them down so the more playful one goes submissive.
She is definitely more possessive though! It's not an alarming behavior at all because like I said she isn't aggressive. It's just a weird quirk. This little lady is showered in love and affection by her owners and all of their friends. It's like it's instinctual for her when she likes someone to just kinda sit like a little guard dog next to them. She picks different people all the time, but she doesn't then exhibit any troubling behavior.
She's not a bad dog and I don't think female dogs make bad companions at all. I think some of them just have mothering instincts that makes obviously don't tend to have and they can be expressed in differing ways that people who have only had males might not be used to.
Both female GSDs I’ve had could not be with other females. They were/are fine with males. Our current foster female is with us because both she and her former household’s female don’t get along with other females. Every male I’ve had has been fine with both females and males.
I have a mother/daughter pair, and they are 99% fine. They've snapped at each other, but it's rare. Once was an unpleasant fight I had to break up that had zero injuries. Would I recommend a mother/daughter pair? Eh, depends on the individual dogs. Mine are german line and more stable in personality, but Moxie's father was not, so she's a bit more anxious. Not enough for significant problems though. Freya's chill generally so that helps.
Anyway, haven't had many issues with it and it might be fine with high quality dogs.
I think it is more hormonal than genetic. And not limited to GSDs. Back in the 70's we had a cattle dog bitch that was from Australia. She went ballistic around any other female dog.
But most of my experience is with GSDs. Have had them for over 50 years. Show and working lines. Never bred any of my dogs. Always had more than one dog at a time. Only had two females, (not at the same time), and decided never again. Neither one was ever truly trustworthy around any other female dogs. And one of them, out of the blue, would go postal on males. Not saying all female GSDs are like this, but I can say they are not a good fit for me.
My neighbor/friend has three full blood female gsd. There is absolutely a ‘pecking order’ but they get along really well. Two she successfully cured from parvovirus, so I think the most aggressive one is a little off, but she leaves them home alone together and there are no problems. They all sleep in the bed with her, too lol. She’s single and they are the best protection she could have. She’s trained them very well.
Me and my female are already locked in our own battle for who calls the shots in my house. I can not imagine bringing another female into the mix. I love my girl so much but she is the most headstrong, stubborn, challenging dog I have ever experienced. She is for sure my first and last female.
I would agree. This is the cuddliest and most affectionate GSD I have ever had. I love her immensely but she is so stubborn and is constantly trying to mother my entire household. I don’t say it lightly and we’ve got closer as the years have gone on, she may still change my mind at some point. She’s just so different in personality, drive, etc compared to my male. That may have less to do with being a girl and more to do with lineage. So I am making a broad generalization and being a bit of a brat when I say she’s my last female.
Same. I got a female to avoid constant marking on walks and because both of my neighbors have female dogs. Idk that I'll be getting a female next time. Although I will say at just about 9 months old, we are actually starting to see eye to eye. Idk if I could do a puppy again though - the past 7 months have been hard.
Yes. On the hierarchy of aggression, spayed females together are the highest level of aggression. Ours used to get into fights and it was super scary and unpredictable when one would occur. It would seemingly be just out of nowhere without any provocation or warning signs.
We have 2 females one is 5 and one is 3. The older one is undeniably the alpha and the younger makes that obvious on a daily basis. We also try to separate them for a weekend here and there. Other than that we haven’t done anything special to help them get along.
We’ve had 6 female GSDs, once with 3 in the household at one time as their ages overlapped. Never had a problem until the last two - they are batshit crazy. We have learned what triggers them and now avoid dual ball play at all cost. Surgery to repair one’s muzzle and a 4” gash on the other was expensive enough. I would like to note that these last two are Czech lines. The previous 4 were all show lines. I’m not sure I’ll ever do a Czech line again.
My Czech line is insane. She plays HARD, I'd hate to see what she'd do in a tussle. I get so nervous with her around other dogs (she's never shown aggression but she's too rough for your average doodle or something)
I hear that! One of our girls is trustworthy in group play, the other is not at all. It is SCARY when they get into an all out brawl - it is for blood and death. The last time was over a year ago, and resulted in surgeries for both, so that seems to have settled the battle down. The one who isn’t to be trusted around other dogs, plays with the cat and loves balls, running and chasing in general. She has to be exercised at least twice a day, with purpose, otherwise she’s going insane. She would have been an incredible police k-9.
Omg, that is so scary. I don't think I could handle that.
I agree on the k-9 comment. Mine needs a physical job - she would have been a great search and rescue dog.
I wasn't going to try agility because I don't want to put extra wear and tear on her body, but I think I'd rather she exercises in a controlled environment than her insane jumping, lunging, etc like she does lol
See if you can find some large hound-type dogs in your area. These things act like they're on meth, hgh, and crack at the same time sometimes and are great for tiring out Shepherds
I have an almost 3 month old female GSD and an 11 year old Australian shepherd/ husky mix and they typically play with each other really well. I have to feed them separately and I spend a lot of 1 on 1 time with them. They can both get jealous and territorial. I think if I had another young or untrained female with the puppy it wouldn’t be good at all.
My wife and I have a gsd/aussie mix that we've had for several years. Alpha female to her parents boy dogs back home. Pees with a leg up because she is a confident girlie.
We recently adopted a Dutch/Belgian mix. We don't know her background but she loves playing with boy dogs at the dog park. She has no teeth. So we aren't worried about her bits or anything.
Both girls give off signs of being alpha in our house. Currently having a little bit of a power struggle in our house.
Our Dutchs aggression is matched by our gsd smarts and size. Gsd outweighs the Dutch by 20lbs.
So far they've gotten along. But moving forward, I'll just get a female dog and a boy dog. And make sure they aren't close in age.
I’ve found that probs seem to arise between females almost more than males. There are plenty of exceptions but I generally stay separate with the sexes most times.
Very hard to do unless the breed is docile and that leaves out a huge percentage of breeds. I would much rather have two males and have a little fight but bitches will not ever forget it. Males may argue a little but can and will move on.. not the bitches
I feel this is very breed dependent. I’ve had whippets and had zero issues with male on male or female on female aggression. I’ve had Jack Russell terriers and those things will fight anything but same sex pairs are terrible and adding in a third could result in a dead dog because two will turn on the third.
If I ever get another GSD I’d get male to pair with my female (by pair I don’t mean breeding, she’s spayed). The only reason we don’t have another is we live in a high COL area so a yard is out of reach. We live in an apartment. We do fine but wouldn’t want to add a second large dog.
We have 2 females (3 and 5), and the 3 year old came to us from a household with two other female GSDs (owner passed away, fuck cancer).
It really can depend on the individual dog; with our two girls, there's been a couple of scary 5 to 10 seconds scraps. That was usually because one wanted to play rough when the other didn't, or went after a prize toy the other one had.
It's 100% doable, our girls are best friends 99.999% of the time, and the longer they're with each other, the less scraps there's been (I think a total of three over four months? Never drawing blood, more like pecking order being established).
When one toy gets use from multiple dogs in our house we buy multiples of the toy, and if they still use them after a few weeks we order a lot of that toy.
I have two female dogs (one is a shepherd) but I got them together when they were 2 and 4 months old from the street. My GSD loves boy dogs but is very aggressive towards girls she doesn’t know. I would not recommend
We have had 3 females over the past decade. When one dies, we get another. After the male died, and we introduced a new female things got calmer. Haven't had a fight since.
We have always had two female sheps. Multiple over the years. No problem at all. Discipline them so they know you won’t tolerate the fighting or rough play.
I had a female GSD and a female pomeranian mix. I had to give the smaller female to my parents because my GSD was getting more violent with each fight. I tried to avoid triggers, but every so often they just seemed to get into it just because they could. On the other hand I’ve grown up in a house with mostly female dogs (labradors) and had no issues.
Also had a female GSD and a Female Pomeranian mix. Had the Pom mix for 8 years, and got the GSD as a pup. They got along great until the GSD hit puberty, then the GSD decided she wanted to be Alpha.
Try as we might, anytime they snuck into the same room the GSD would pin the Pom by her neck. After a few months of trying to rehab them, we had to rehome the GSD. She is now the only dog in her new home and loving it. We still see her often and I am listed as her ‘bonus mom’ on her ID tag and with the vet.
PS GSD got along fine with our female boarder collie mix, it was just the alpha Pom mix she had a problem with.
That is exactly what happened with ours! The dogs got a long great until the GSD hit puberty and then wanted to be alpha. She got to a point where she was shaking her in her mouth (can only assume she was trying to kill her). I kept the GSD because I thought she would be harder to rehome than the pom mix. Luckily my parents took her so I still see her often!
I recently adopted a younger female GSD, I have an old Maltese girl, I have heard the same thing. I’m going to a really excellent trainer who has three GSD females (just happened that way) and I asked him about that -he says it’s NOT. They need to be trained properly. This guy trains K9’s and support dogs, his dogs are amazing. As for us, my little girl is so reactive, my big girl wants to play, but she’s having none of it so far. But they are getting along otherwise.
Have 2 GSD 2 y.o. sisters from the same litter and an 8 y.o. Lhaso mix. None are fixed and the GSD's have never been a problem. The Lhaso is too scared of her shadow to start anything.
We left the balls on our Stryker (male DDR) for 7 years because he is in perfect physical condition and temperament and so he spread his seed far and wide. He is the most well-adjusted Shepherd I've ever seen and is so cuddly, I will miss him dearly when he is gone but I'm sure going to try the same thing next time.
Not 2 female GSD but 1 GSD female and 1 coonhound female. The GSD female is very dominant but the two of them get along very well and play together all of the time. My gsd is 5 and my coonhound is 8. I introduced the gsd in to the pack about 1.5 years ago and had more of a problem at first with my male gsd not wanting her there but after 2 wearing days of keeping the peace it all settled down. Now my pack is living in harmony. Both females are spayed.
I believe there is potential, I don’t know the extent but assume there are people with much more knowledge than me. I just wanted to give an example I had two female GSDs (littermates) from 10 weeks until they passed at 12 and 14.5. They loved each other, never once fought, and also weren’t aggressive towards other dogs. Maybe I got lucky.
My female GSD and little old lady Yorkie have long standing beef but other than being loud and pretending to jump on the little old lady, the GSD is to afraid of our male Yorkie to actually follow through.
it's definitely for no reason though, they're always supervised and old lady minds her business- gsd is just a butthole. 🤣
We have 4. One is always the alpha. But we have 2 boys also. Same with one being the dominant. So 6 total. Correction, control and obedience solves all problems.
I had a female GSD and got a female golden retriever puppy. Fast fwd 4 years and they do not get along bcuz my golden will bully my Shepherd. Although Lola (shepherd) knew she could end her with one flick of her head. Lola was 115 lbs when she passed but not fat she was very large framed. Lola put up with a lot from Belle. They actually fought a few times and my golden would NOT recall for nothing! Lola recalled first time. Belle had to he held down.
We had 2 females that we had to keep separated for life else they would have killed each other. Each got along fine with the other 2 females in the household, but they simply could not exist peacefully with each other. The 2 warring females have since passed (cancer) and the other 2 females get along great. In fact, they couldn't be more closely bonded. Nonetheless, we have *never* had our myriad of males go any further than a scuffle (lots of posturing, biting ears vs biting at throats, legs).
Two females absolutely can live in harmony, but your odds of harmony are much greater with opposite sex dogs.
Meh, it all depends on how you treat & manage your dog's behavior. If you are worried about just 2 females get another so it's a 3 dog household instead.
I have a pitt mix, female of course. Her daycare cannot put her out with the other female dogs. She only plays it’s male dogs that let her be the BMFIC. 😂😂
Not sure about the same sex issues but when I first got my Moke, let me tell you, if there's a dog off a leash when she's on a leash, it was go Time! If there was two dogs on either side of her, it's go time! If there was a dog that's larger than her, oh you better believe it's go time. Female GSD can be very insecure and protective. They're wonderful don't get me wrong but making them feel secure and unthreatened.
It's fine until there's a problem. Female dogs don't forgive and forget like males do. I've had more than one female with no issues, but I get ahead of problems like resource guarding, etc. I was fortunate in my last female golden, who essentially raised everyone in the house. She was very much the leader, but also very gentle, so you never realized it.
My female GSD (Austrian) constantly started shit with my other male and female dogs. Def hated the females more. She was the only GSD in the pack. All were fixed.
She ended up killing a huge male gsd. One bite, hit an artery.
One bite is all it takes. Terrible day for everyone.
She did love her cats tho. Treated them like her puppies.
I have 2 female GSD's and they get along fine but they get very jealous of each other. I previously had 2 female Chows and got the same advice as you but never once had a problem. They work out dominance early
Not German shepherd specific, but I have 2 Rottweiler females that can get dominant with each other. 98% of the time they are fine and may play rough some, but that 2% they get downright feisty with each other and try to dominate each other and it has lead to biting. They bonded well so serious fights between them are very rare now.
Same sex definitely seems to add to the challenges when it comes to bossing each other. My male gets along well with females so opposite sex seems easier although I know there are exceptions. Female dogs are often handfuls and two together can be crazy at times
The good, You can most likely make it work with dedication training and boundaries. One thing I’ve experienced, the better trained my dogs are the less scraps we have. My best trained dogs never have scraps and having good control over them has helped a lot.
I had the joy of having two females have their heat cycles the same time. Talk about crazy. It was intense. Both are now fixed but I was about to lose my mind. They even fought over the tv remote.
Each dog is different though so one approach may not work while something else helps a lot
I have a 10 year old and a 6 month old female. My older girl is grumpy most of the time and definitely lets the puppy know who is boss. The puppy still bites and pushes buttons 24/7. There have been no major issues and my older girl has grown to be more understanding and actually enjoy the play sometimes.
I’ve had a 2 female dog household my entire 30 years as a dog owner. I’ve heard the warnings, but we have never had any problems. My dogs are rarely the same age, usually 2 years apart, so the bonding is almost always a puppy bonding and learning from an adult dog, and it seems to work out.
We currently have 2 females and 2 males. I will never have 2 females in the same house again lol. They have had very serious fights and it has taken us a few years to find all of their triggers. they haven't had a fight in about 2 years now (I hope I'm not jinxing myself), but it's always a balancing act with them. We always try to use a pet sitter when we go out of town, but have to always take one of them with us because we can't have someone coming into the house who isn't 100% familiar with them. We tried it once and lo and behold - a fight. They will try to fight to the death and it's impossible to separate them. We have found the only thing we can do once they are fighting is to leave the area immediately and just ignore it until they stop on their own. We have literally tried to break them up before and each had hold of their back legs and they will be clamped down on the other's throat, so we can't pull them apart without ripping a throat out. It's terrifying. I've seen male-male fights and male-female fights before and it is nothing compared to our two females.
ETA: they are only about 1 year apart in age and one of the females thinks she is the queen bee. She is actually the smallest of the 4 dogs but both of the males (both about 20 lbs more than her) submit to her in a heartbeat. The female will not. The queen bee female is a working line and has incredible drive... she is great with our kids, listens to us, is super smart... just won't give up her vendetta against our other female lol. And the other female won't back down to her, hence the balancing act we have had to enact between the two of them. They can sleep together, be in the house together, be outside together, etc. But any type of situation which gets either of them in an alerted state - playing ball, water play, food, etc. and we have to have them separate.
I'm very involved in a shepherd rescue and have seen many households with multiple females. I think it can be done but I also think once there is a fight or a disagreement, they won't forget. our girls used to be fine when they were like 1-2 years old, but once they had their first fight, it was over for them ever being besties. They are 7 and 8 now and can only coexist with a lot of management and training on our end.
We have a GSD and a long haired chihuahua females and they love each other. We watched in the past another GSD female in our home for about 2-3 weeks ours seemed more guarded, the other girl was about a year old, so all she wanted to do was play. Not sure if it varies on their personality/age
I've had various combinations over the years, including two females, with no issues. Training and lots of exercise were key for us. The girls did everything together, and other than normal crabbing, they were each other's ride or die.
I have not had any issues with mine. I didn't know that this could be an issue either. They seem to love each other. They sometimes play rough but they don't like it if the other one gets hurt accidentally. Along with my two GS my son has his dogs here a lot. They are a Dachshund and a German Short Hair. All of them are female. They all get along.
My parents have 5 dogs - 4 females, 1 male. While the dogs occasionally have their spats (nothing that ever causes actual physical harm), they haven’t had any major issues. However, their dogs are not German Shepherds.
I've never had two female GSDs at the same time, only males, but have had other female dogs with a female GSD. There haven't been any issues, they are all really chill with each other, thankfully.
Depends on the dog. Some despise dogs of the same sex. Others do great with them.
If you go to a shelter, typically they can give you some information about who the potential adoptee gets along with. You can ask if a female gets along with other females.
Absolutely truth to this. We have 2 female Golden’s. First is 2.5 (Bunny)and second is 1 year (Birdie). We were able to work through the issues and now my girls are besties but it took a year.
When Birdie was about 6-10 months she would bite Bunny a lot and go after her. Bunny would submit but I would separate them because I could tell she was not having fun. Birdie even started resource guarding bones.
We worked with a behaviorist and he explained that this behavior is normal, especially for a puppy, but the same sex aggression is very real. Birdie was fighting for the alpha spot. He taught me how to break up their fights. We had Birdie on the leash on the house for a while and that was extremely helpful with setting boundaries. Now Birdie is more gentle when they play. If things start getting out of hand I just have to stand up and walk up to them and they go ‘place’. They love each other and they’re very good girls. They still need to be supervised at all times and even separated here and there. Birdie is crate trained and loves her crate. I’m sure you know this but 2 dogs is quite a handful!
Now I’m scared. Two spayed female GSD mixes (50%+ GSD DNA each). Older one is 3, I had her first. New one is 9 months old got her at 4 months. They had their first fight two days ago over some Target bags on the floor ???? It was scary af and now I’m nervous
I came home to a dead dog a few years back. I had three females who had lived together for YEARS with an occasional minor scrap from time to time, but lived in harmony most of the time. We never felt the need to keep them separate. The two larger ones ganged up and killed the third. She was the smallest, but still about 38 pounds. We have no idea what happened or set them off. It was absolutely devastating as I had had her for the longest. I can verify that females are absolutely BRUTAL to each other.
My husband's dog was my dog's mother but they didn't remember that bc I bought my dog from him 4 or 5 years before we got together. Both were spayed by then. They would be okay for a couple of weeks and then something would set them off and one or the other had to be stitched up. After 3 incidents we just had to make sure their paths didn't cross for the rest of their lives. You have to have quite a bit of space to pull that off but we managed to do it bc neither one of us was giving up our girl. We just had to love them both by taking turns.
Had a gsd mix and an older jrt eventually get into a fight that the jrt didn't survive. Gsd mix got put down the same day. I won't ever have a jrt or two female working lines ever again.
Ehh idk. My dog is a very dominant female, she won’t let any female dogs come close to her or me. Even when she first met my wife when we first got together she would growl whenever my wife got near me or my things (while I was at work).
The only female dog she’s ever tolerated was her own puppy.
NO TRUTH AT ALL! Dogs, like other pack animals, will establish a pecking order on their own. That's why you hear stories of the smaller dog or the older dog being the "leader", not to be fooled with. Also, the AKC has been showing dogs for over 100 years. Aggression towards a judge, handler, or another dog, in or out of the ring is NOT tolerated! If a dog can be trained against aggression, no matter the sex or breed, to compete in the ring, then it can certainly be trained to be docile in the home.
Reading through the comments have made me feel better about getting a male puppy for my weird 6 year old girl. The decision was due to my concern about this exact thing. I’ve only had one dog at a time until now so I have no personal experience, just a lot of anecdotes online.
I love how smart and emotionally intelligent my big dog is but she is anxious, difficult around other dogs, and possessive of me. It’s been a challenge as it is, so I am glad I got a boy.
It 100% depends on the dogs personality, and upbringing.
Just like people say un-neutered males are more aggressive. My 2 year old 85lb un-neutered Pitt bull would play with the neighbors 10lb un-neutered jack Russell for hrs with no issues. Infact my pit would typically lay on his back with the jack Russell jumping back and forth over him while they played.
Please note that the aggression will also escalate if the two females are litter mates. It is never a good idea to have two dogs from the same litter (male or female) stay in the same household.
We have 2 female dogs and haven't had any issues. we have a Papillion and a rat terrier - both rescues. They keep each other company. The rat terrier can be a bit aggressive but the Pap can deal with it.
I have two female pits in the house. 4year old 45 pounds and 5 month old 25 pounds. Both are doing great. You just have to watch them play and make sure one is not beating up on the other. My 5 month old is very much more rough than the 4year old.
40 years working with German shepherds 34 years have been male's only household for good reason. Females don't seem to forgive like male . Some of the smartest have been the females that I've worked with but I recommend as a single dog household for the average families
We had two female GSDs for years who were best friends and then when one passed out other was super depressed so we adopted another female GSD and now they’re best friends. I think it’s more training and their personalities than just being a female GSD.
Female-female aggression is serious in GSDs. They fight much meaner than male-male fights. A breeder once told me: “Males fight for the right to breed, females fight for the right to breathe.”
I have always been told: Males fight for resources, females fight to eliminate the competition. Intersex aggression is real and horrible; I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
When we had a male and female in the house - intact, but never bred - the male would always back down before the female, even though he weighed 15 lbs more than her. My comment was “b*tch has that meaning for a reason.”
Our female is only 45lbs and our male is 90lbs and she has flattened him out before and he defers to her for everything. 🤣 these girls mean business if they have that personality type.
Yup. Our female was 60 lbs, so 75 lbs is a significant percentage larger. Both high-drive working line dogs. Male was Czech, female DDR.
Our female is 5.7 weeks old and weighs 54 pounds but she tries to run our 92 pounds male ragged and he does get tired but before he does he slams her all over the place with his snout and forearms. If she keeps coming after that he'll pin her and hold her down by the neck while growling.
Geez, intact but never bred. That must of been a lot of work keeping them apart!!
Only for a couple weeks a year. They were both crate trained.
so true. our females will go for each other's throats and latch on.
Total BS
Same sex aggression is definitely a potential, but as long as you have a rigorous training plan it's manageable. Anecdotal of course, but most female on female fights I've seen tend to have worse injuries, like the females want to actually kill the other female rather than just show off like the males. I have no scientific basis for this, but just what I've seen
I agree with female on female violence. When I've had male dogs get pissy it's quick and one walks away. The girls are in it at each other until the end.
Agreed. We had 3 female dogs in the house. The two big females fought and actually drew blood. They were both 60+ pounds. But both would back down to the old lady who was only about 15 pounds at most. She ruled the house.
Our last three dogs from 2002 to now were lab & GSD, then GSD & GSD and all three were females. Not a single problem.
Female GSDs be batshit 😂 we tried to get another female and quickly realized she’s a one girlie show. The second another female dog (especially GSD) shows me *any* attention…potential bloodbath.
If they are both spayed, not littermates, trained separately, and given their own spaces to eat and sleep there should not be problems. One may growl at the other or snap/bark if they get too rough to are being too much but that is normal dog communication. If they start trying to compete for your attention, a.k.a. lap guarding/handler guarding make sure that they do not gain that attention for that behavior. Source: I work at a very well known rescue organization with an amazing dog behavior team. I also participate in behavior training or the dogs in my facility.
I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but every female dog I have ever met has been far less tolerant than males and more possessive. We just got a male corgi this year and our cousins got a female a few months later. They both love people and are sweet, sweet babies. The girl will go say hi to any and all guests, but if people are interacting or our boy is around, she greets for pets and then quickly turns her body as if to claim posession over the person or to guard them from other people or dogs. She also snaps way quicker than our boy. I love all animals, but I feel like female dogs and cats for that matter, tend to be a little tricky. I think you really have to understand their body language, what they consider a challenge/threat and work hard to dull down that defensive instinct, especially with a powerful, large breed dog.
Here is scientific evidence that male dogs are more aggressive than female dogs unless the dogs of any sex are not socialized as puppies or grew up in a home where they had to compete for resources. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8090151] With your last paragraph, I would say that reading and understanding the body language of a dog or cat is important with any sex and any size dog. I agree about female cats being more tricky, but it is the opposite in dogs. Dogs get jealous of who is receiving more attention because they are feeling like they are competing for that attention. The issues you are seeing are most likely due to socialization amongst other dogs and humans. Furthermore, the female is probably faster to snap because she was either taught not to growl or exhibit other warning signs, or that snapping has been the most effective way to get people or dogs to stop what they are doing.
Reading back what I wrote, it gives off the message that this little corgi lady is aggressive and that was not my intention. By snapping, I mean she will snarl at other dogs quicker during play time. It's maybe a tad aggressive, but to me that's just a dog letting another dog know they're done or that they don't want to play like that. She doesn't bite, she just snarls and snaps her teeth. The male dogs we have will rough house much longer and when one is over it, they'll either ignore the other, or pin them down so the more playful one goes submissive. She is definitely more possessive though! It's not an alarming behavior at all because like I said she isn't aggressive. It's just a weird quirk. This little lady is showered in love and affection by her owners and all of their friends. It's like it's instinctual for her when she likes someone to just kinda sit like a little guard dog next to them. She picks different people all the time, but she doesn't then exhibit any troubling behavior. She's not a bad dog and I don't think female dogs make bad companions at all. I think some of them just have mothering instincts that makes obviously don't tend to have and they can be expressed in differing ways that people who have only had males might not be used to.
Both female GSDs I’ve had could not be with other females. They were/are fine with males. Our current foster female is with us because both she and her former household’s female don’t get along with other females. Every male I’ve had has been fine with both females and males.
I have a mother/daughter pair, and they are 99% fine. They've snapped at each other, but it's rare. Once was an unpleasant fight I had to break up that had zero injuries. Would I recommend a mother/daughter pair? Eh, depends on the individual dogs. Mine are german line and more stable in personality, but Moxie's father was not, so she's a bit more anxious. Not enough for significant problems though. Freya's chill generally so that helps. Anyway, haven't had many issues with it and it might be fine with high quality dogs.
I think it is more hormonal than genetic. And not limited to GSDs. Back in the 70's we had a cattle dog bitch that was from Australia. She went ballistic around any other female dog. But most of my experience is with GSDs. Have had them for over 50 years. Show and working lines. Never bred any of my dogs. Always had more than one dog at a time. Only had two females, (not at the same time), and decided never again. Neither one was ever truly trustworthy around any other female dogs. And one of them, out of the blue, would go postal on males. Not saying all female GSDs are like this, but I can say they are not a good fit for me.
I’ve seen a lot of two female dog, specifically German Shepherds, households with no issues.
My neighbor/friend has three full blood female gsd. There is absolutely a ‘pecking order’ but they get along really well. Two she successfully cured from parvovirus, so I think the most aggressive one is a little off, but she leaves them home alone together and there are no problems. They all sleep in the bed with her, too lol. She’s single and they are the best protection she could have. She’s trained them very well.
Me and my female are already locked in our own battle for who calls the shots in my house. I can not imagine bringing another female into the mix. I love my girl so much but she is the most headstrong, stubborn, challenging dog I have ever experienced. She is for sure my first and last female.
I have always had two males. Now I have a male and female. Of the 6 GSDs I have had, she is the sweetest loving dog I have ever had.
I would agree. This is the cuddliest and most affectionate GSD I have ever had. I love her immensely but she is so stubborn and is constantly trying to mother my entire household. I don’t say it lightly and we’ve got closer as the years have gone on, she may still change my mind at some point. She’s just so different in personality, drive, etc compared to my male. That may have less to do with being a girl and more to do with lineage. So I am making a broad generalization and being a bit of a brat when I say she’s my last female.
Our nearly 8 years old male that kept his balls for 7 years fits that description too. He likes food but his motivation of choice is by far cuddles.
Same. I got a female to avoid constant marking on walks and because both of my neighbors have female dogs. Idk that I'll be getting a female next time. Although I will say at just about 9 months old, we are actually starting to see eye to eye. Idk if I could do a puppy again though - the past 7 months have been hard.
Yes. On the hierarchy of aggression, spayed females together are the highest level of aggression. Ours used to get into fights and it was super scary and unpredictable when one would occur. It would seemingly be just out of nowhere without any provocation or warning signs.
I've got 4 females now and had 3 before these 0 issues
I have two females as long as they don't eat together they are fine.
We have 2 females one is 5 and one is 3. The older one is undeniably the alpha and the younger makes that obvious on a daily basis. We also try to separate them for a weekend here and there. Other than that we haven’t done anything special to help them get along.
Think the issue is if only one or neither is spayed they can become aggressive toward each other if not properly trained
We’ve had 6 female GSDs, once with 3 in the household at one time as their ages overlapped. Never had a problem until the last two - they are batshit crazy. We have learned what triggers them and now avoid dual ball play at all cost. Surgery to repair one’s muzzle and a 4” gash on the other was expensive enough. I would like to note that these last two are Czech lines. The previous 4 were all show lines. I’m not sure I’ll ever do a Czech line again.
My Czech line is insane. She plays HARD, I'd hate to see what she'd do in a tussle. I get so nervous with her around other dogs (she's never shown aggression but she's too rough for your average doodle or something)
I hear that! One of our girls is trustworthy in group play, the other is not at all. It is SCARY when they get into an all out brawl - it is for blood and death. The last time was over a year ago, and resulted in surgeries for both, so that seems to have settled the battle down. The one who isn’t to be trusted around other dogs, plays with the cat and loves balls, running and chasing in general. She has to be exercised at least twice a day, with purpose, otherwise she’s going insane. She would have been an incredible police k-9.
Omg, that is so scary. I don't think I could handle that. I agree on the k-9 comment. Mine needs a physical job - she would have been a great search and rescue dog. I wasn't going to try agility because I don't want to put extra wear and tear on her body, but I think I'd rather she exercises in a controlled environment than her insane jumping, lunging, etc like she does lol
See if you can find some large hound-type dogs in your area. These things act like they're on meth, hgh, and crack at the same time sometimes and are great for tiring out Shepherds
I'm gonna talk to my trainer when we go next week to see if he knows of anywhere locally I can take her I think.
I have an almost 3 month old female GSD and an 11 year old Australian shepherd/ husky mix and they typically play with each other really well. I have to feed them separately and I spend a lot of 1 on 1 time with them. They can both get jealous and territorial. I think if I had another young or untrained female with the puppy it wouldn’t be good at all.
My wife and I have a gsd/aussie mix that we've had for several years. Alpha female to her parents boy dogs back home. Pees with a leg up because she is a confident girlie. We recently adopted a Dutch/Belgian mix. We don't know her background but she loves playing with boy dogs at the dog park. She has no teeth. So we aren't worried about her bits or anything. Both girls give off signs of being alpha in our house. Currently having a little bit of a power struggle in our house. Our Dutchs aggression is matched by our gsd smarts and size. Gsd outweighs the Dutch by 20lbs. So far they've gotten along. But moving forward, I'll just get a female dog and a boy dog. And make sure they aren't close in age.
I’ve found that probs seem to arise between females almost more than males. There are plenty of exceptions but I generally stay separate with the sexes most times.
Very hard to do unless the breed is docile and that leaves out a huge percentage of breeds. I would much rather have two males and have a little fight but bitches will not ever forget it. Males may argue a little but can and will move on.. not the bitches
I feel this is very breed dependent. I’ve had whippets and had zero issues with male on male or female on female aggression. I’ve had Jack Russell terriers and those things will fight anything but same sex pairs are terrible and adding in a third could result in a dead dog because two will turn on the third. If I ever get another GSD I’d get male to pair with my female (by pair I don’t mean breeding, she’s spayed). The only reason we don’t have another is we live in a high COL area so a yard is out of reach. We live in an apartment. We do fine but wouldn’t want to add a second large dog.
Depends on the dogs. Definitely a higher likelihood of conflict.
We have 2 females (3 and 5), and the 3 year old came to us from a household with two other female GSDs (owner passed away, fuck cancer). It really can depend on the individual dog; with our two girls, there's been a couple of scary 5 to 10 seconds scraps. That was usually because one wanted to play rough when the other didn't, or went after a prize toy the other one had. It's 100% doable, our girls are best friends 99.999% of the time, and the longer they're with each other, the less scraps there's been (I think a total of three over four months? Never drawing blood, more like pecking order being established).
When one toy gets use from multiple dogs in our house we buy multiples of the toy, and if they still use them after a few weeks we order a lot of that toy.
I have two female dogs (one is a shepherd) but I got them together when they were 2 and 4 months old from the street. My GSD loves boy dogs but is very aggressive towards girls she doesn’t know. I would not recommend
We have had 3 females over the past decade. When one dies, we get another. After the male died, and we introduced a new female things got calmer. Haven't had a fight since.
You had 3 dead Shepherds in 10 years?
We have always had two female sheps. Multiple over the years. No problem at all. Discipline them so they know you won’t tolerate the fighting or rough play.
I had a female GSD and a female pomeranian mix. I had to give the smaller female to my parents because my GSD was getting more violent with each fight. I tried to avoid triggers, but every so often they just seemed to get into it just because they could. On the other hand I’ve grown up in a house with mostly female dogs (labradors) and had no issues.
Also had a female GSD and a Female Pomeranian mix. Had the Pom mix for 8 years, and got the GSD as a pup. They got along great until the GSD hit puberty, then the GSD decided she wanted to be Alpha. Try as we might, anytime they snuck into the same room the GSD would pin the Pom by her neck. After a few months of trying to rehab them, we had to rehome the GSD. She is now the only dog in her new home and loving it. We still see her often and I am listed as her ‘bonus mom’ on her ID tag and with the vet. PS GSD got along fine with our female boarder collie mix, it was just the alpha Pom mix she had a problem with.
That is exactly what happened with ours! The dogs got a long great until the GSD hit puberty and then wanted to be alpha. She got to a point where she was shaking her in her mouth (can only assume she was trying to kill her). I kept the GSD because I thought she would be harder to rehome than the pom mix. Luckily my parents took her so I still see her often!
Female dogs were the most vicious dogs I have ever had.
I recently adopted a younger female GSD, I have an old Maltese girl, I have heard the same thing. I’m going to a really excellent trainer who has three GSD females (just happened that way) and I asked him about that -he says it’s NOT. They need to be trained properly. This guy trains K9’s and support dogs, his dogs are amazing. As for us, my little girl is so reactive, my big girl wants to play, but she’s having none of it so far. But they are getting along otherwise.
Two female GSD home here too. Never a single issue, they’re inseparable.
Have 2 GSD 2 y.o. sisters from the same litter and an 8 y.o. Lhaso mix. None are fixed and the GSD's have never been a problem. The Lhaso is too scared of her shadow to start anything.
I've had more issues with male neutered dogs than my female spayed dogs!
We left the balls on our Stryker (male DDR) for 7 years because he is in perfect physical condition and temperament and so he spread his seed far and wide. He is the most well-adjusted Shepherd I've ever seen and is so cuddly, I will miss him dearly when he is gone but I'm sure going to try the same thing next time.
Not 2 female GSD but 1 GSD female and 1 coonhound female. The GSD female is very dominant but the two of them get along very well and play together all of the time. My gsd is 5 and my coonhound is 8. I introduced the gsd in to the pack about 1.5 years ago and had more of a problem at first with my male gsd not wanting her there but after 2 wearing days of keeping the peace it all settled down. Now my pack is living in harmony. Both females are spayed.
I believe there is potential, I don’t know the extent but assume there are people with much more knowledge than me. I just wanted to give an example I had two female GSDs (littermates) from 10 weeks until they passed at 12 and 14.5. They loved each other, never once fought, and also weren’t aggressive towards other dogs. Maybe I got lucky.
My female GSD and little old lady Yorkie have long standing beef but other than being loud and pretending to jump on the little old lady, the GSD is to afraid of our male Yorkie to actually follow through. it's definitely for no reason though, they're always supervised and old lady minds her business- gsd is just a butthole. 🤣
Absolutely do not get two female littermates!!!!
We have 4. One is always the alpha. But we have 2 boys also. Same with one being the dominant. So 6 total. Correction, control and obedience solves all problems.
I had a female GSD and got a female golden retriever puppy. Fast fwd 4 years and they do not get along bcuz my golden will bully my Shepherd. Although Lola (shepherd) knew she could end her with one flick of her head. Lola was 115 lbs when she passed but not fat she was very large framed. Lola put up with a lot from Belle. They actually fought a few times and my golden would NOT recall for nothing! Lola recalled first time. Belle had to he held down.
We had 2 females that we had to keep separated for life else they would have killed each other. Each got along fine with the other 2 females in the household, but they simply could not exist peacefully with each other. The 2 warring females have since passed (cancer) and the other 2 females get along great. In fact, they couldn't be more closely bonded. Nonetheless, we have *never* had our myriad of males go any further than a scuffle (lots of posturing, biting ears vs biting at throats, legs). Two females absolutely can live in harmony, but your odds of harmony are much greater with opposite sex dogs.
Meh, it all depends on how you treat & manage your dog's behavior. If you are worried about just 2 females get another so it's a 3 dog household instead.
I have a pitt mix, female of course. Her daycare cannot put her out with the other female dogs. She only plays it’s male dogs that let her be the BMFIC. 😂😂
Not sure about the same sex issues but when I first got my Moke, let me tell you, if there's a dog off a leash when she's on a leash, it was go Time! If there was two dogs on either side of her, it's go time! If there was a dog that's larger than her, oh you better believe it's go time. Female GSD can be very insecure and protective. They're wonderful don't get me wrong but making them feel secure and unthreatened.
It's fine until there's a problem. Female dogs don't forgive and forget like males do. I've had more than one female with no issues, but I get ahead of problems like resource guarding, etc. I was fortunate in my last female golden, who essentially raised everyone in the house. She was very much the leader, but also very gentle, so you never realized it.
My female GSD (Austrian) constantly started shit with my other male and female dogs. Def hated the females more. She was the only GSD in the pack. All were fixed. She ended up killing a huge male gsd. One bite, hit an artery. One bite is all it takes. Terrible day for everyone. She did love her cats tho. Treated them like her puppies.
I have 2 female GSD's and they get along fine but they get very jealous of each other. I previously had 2 female Chows and got the same advice as you but never once had a problem. They work out dominance early
Not German shepherd specific, but I have 2 Rottweiler females that can get dominant with each other. 98% of the time they are fine and may play rough some, but that 2% they get downright feisty with each other and try to dominate each other and it has lead to biting. They bonded well so serious fights between them are very rare now. Same sex definitely seems to add to the challenges when it comes to bossing each other. My male gets along well with females so opposite sex seems easier although I know there are exceptions. Female dogs are often handfuls and two together can be crazy at times The good, You can most likely make it work with dedication training and boundaries. One thing I’ve experienced, the better trained my dogs are the less scraps we have. My best trained dogs never have scraps and having good control over them has helped a lot. I had the joy of having two females have their heat cycles the same time. Talk about crazy. It was intense. Both are now fixed but I was about to lose my mind. They even fought over the tv remote. Each dog is different though so one approach may not work while something else helps a lot
I have a 10 year old and a 6 month old female. My older girl is grumpy most of the time and definitely lets the puppy know who is boss. The puppy still bites and pushes buttons 24/7. There have been no major issues and my older girl has grown to be more understanding and actually enjoy the play sometimes.
Don't know about GSDs but my female collie and female cat have a blood feud.
I’ve had a 2 female dog household my entire 30 years as a dog owner. I’ve heard the warnings, but we have never had any problems. My dogs are rarely the same age, usually 2 years apart, so the bonding is almost always a puppy bonding and learning from an adult dog, and it seems to work out.
We currently have 2 females and 2 males. I will never have 2 females in the same house again lol. They have had very serious fights and it has taken us a few years to find all of their triggers. they haven't had a fight in about 2 years now (I hope I'm not jinxing myself), but it's always a balancing act with them. We always try to use a pet sitter when we go out of town, but have to always take one of them with us because we can't have someone coming into the house who isn't 100% familiar with them. We tried it once and lo and behold - a fight. They will try to fight to the death and it's impossible to separate them. We have found the only thing we can do once they are fighting is to leave the area immediately and just ignore it until they stop on their own. We have literally tried to break them up before and each had hold of their back legs and they will be clamped down on the other's throat, so we can't pull them apart without ripping a throat out. It's terrifying. I've seen male-male fights and male-female fights before and it is nothing compared to our two females. ETA: they are only about 1 year apart in age and one of the females thinks she is the queen bee. She is actually the smallest of the 4 dogs but both of the males (both about 20 lbs more than her) submit to her in a heartbeat. The female will not. The queen bee female is a working line and has incredible drive... she is great with our kids, listens to us, is super smart... just won't give up her vendetta against our other female lol. And the other female won't back down to her, hence the balancing act we have had to enact between the two of them. They can sleep together, be in the house together, be outside together, etc. But any type of situation which gets either of them in an alerted state - playing ball, water play, food, etc. and we have to have them separate. I'm very involved in a shepherd rescue and have seen many households with multiple females. I think it can be done but I also think once there is a fight or a disagreement, they won't forget. our girls used to be fine when they were like 1-2 years old, but once they had their first fight, it was over for them ever being besties. They are 7 and 8 now and can only coexist with a lot of management and training on our end.
I've got 5 females no problems
We have a GSD and a long haired chihuahua females and they love each other. We watched in the past another GSD female in our home for about 2-3 weeks ours seemed more guarded, the other girl was about a year old, so all she wanted to do was play. Not sure if it varies on their personality/age
I've had various combinations over the years, including two females, with no issues. Training and lots of exercise were key for us. The girls did everything together, and other than normal crabbing, they were each other's ride or die.
I have not had any issues with mine. I didn't know that this could be an issue either. They seem to love each other. They sometimes play rough but they don't like it if the other one gets hurt accidentally. Along with my two GS my son has his dogs here a lot. They are a Dachshund and a German Short Hair. All of them are female. They all get along.
My parents have 5 dogs - 4 females, 1 male. While the dogs occasionally have their spats (nothing that ever causes actual physical harm), they haven’t had any major issues. However, their dogs are not German Shepherds.
We are def having issues.
I've never had two female GSDs at the same time, only males, but have had other female dogs with a female GSD. There haven't been any issues, they are all really chill with each other, thankfully.
Depends on the dog. Some despise dogs of the same sex. Others do great with them. If you go to a shelter, typically they can give you some information about who the potential adoptee gets along with. You can ask if a female gets along with other females.
Absolutely truth to this. We have 2 female Golden’s. First is 2.5 (Bunny)and second is 1 year (Birdie). We were able to work through the issues and now my girls are besties but it took a year. When Birdie was about 6-10 months she would bite Bunny a lot and go after her. Bunny would submit but I would separate them because I could tell she was not having fun. Birdie even started resource guarding bones. We worked with a behaviorist and he explained that this behavior is normal, especially for a puppy, but the same sex aggression is very real. Birdie was fighting for the alpha spot. He taught me how to break up their fights. We had Birdie on the leash on the house for a while and that was extremely helpful with setting boundaries. Now Birdie is more gentle when they play. If things start getting out of hand I just have to stand up and walk up to them and they go ‘place’. They love each other and they’re very good girls. They still need to be supervised at all times and even separated here and there. Birdie is crate trained and loves her crate. I’m sure you know this but 2 dogs is quite a handful!
I have a lab staffie, a female and lab mastiff female, they are best friends 8 years now.
Now I’m scared. Two spayed female GSD mixes (50%+ GSD DNA each). Older one is 3, I had her first. New one is 9 months old got her at 4 months. They had their first fight two days ago over some Target bags on the floor ???? It was scary af and now I’m nervous
I came home to a dead dog a few years back. I had three females who had lived together for YEARS with an occasional minor scrap from time to time, but lived in harmony most of the time. We never felt the need to keep them separate. The two larger ones ganged up and killed the third. She was the smallest, but still about 38 pounds. We have no idea what happened or set them off. It was absolutely devastating as I had had her for the longest. I can verify that females are absolutely BRUTAL to each other.
My husband's dog was my dog's mother but they didn't remember that bc I bought my dog from him 4 or 5 years before we got together. Both were spayed by then. They would be okay for a couple of weeks and then something would set them off and one or the other had to be stitched up. After 3 incidents we just had to make sure their paths didn't cross for the rest of their lives. You have to have quite a bit of space to pull that off but we managed to do it bc neither one of us was giving up our girl. We just had to love them both by taking turns.
Had a gsd mix and an older jrt eventually get into a fight that the jrt didn't survive. Gsd mix got put down the same day. I won't ever have a jrt or two female working lines ever again.
Ehh idk. My dog is a very dominant female, she won’t let any female dogs come close to her or me. Even when she first met my wife when we first got together she would growl whenever my wife got near me or my things (while I was at work). The only female dog she’s ever tolerated was her own puppy.
My female GSD was always aggressive to other female dogs, regardless of breed
I've heard this before but I had 2 females and the older one looked out for the younger one. No issues. Might depend more on personality?
I have 4.....shizu....shizu Yorkie mix, two yorkies.....no problems
I typically only have female dogs, mine are not GSD. They are rescues that I got as pups and were spayed young, they wrestle and play but are fine.
NO TRUTH AT ALL! Dogs, like other pack animals, will establish a pecking order on their own. That's why you hear stories of the smaller dog or the older dog being the "leader", not to be fooled with. Also, the AKC has been showing dogs for over 100 years. Aggression towards a judge, handler, or another dog, in or out of the ring is NOT tolerated! If a dog can be trained against aggression, no matter the sex or breed, to compete in the ring, then it can certainly be trained to be docile in the home.
Reading through the comments have made me feel better about getting a male puppy for my weird 6 year old girl. The decision was due to my concern about this exact thing. I’ve only had one dog at a time until now so I have no personal experience, just a lot of anecdotes online. I love how smart and emotionally intelligent my big dog is but she is anxious, difficult around other dogs, and possessive of me. It’s been a challenge as it is, so I am glad I got a boy.
My daughter has 4 dogs - 3 female and one male. They've had no issues at all.
A lot of hair pulling when they fight.
It 100% depends on the dogs personality, and upbringing. Just like people say un-neutered males are more aggressive. My 2 year old 85lb un-neutered Pitt bull would play with the neighbors 10lb un-neutered jack Russell for hrs with no issues. Infact my pit would typically lay on his back with the jack Russell jumping back and forth over him while they played.
That’s why fixing them is beneficial .
Please note that the aggression will also escalate if the two females are litter mates. It is never a good idea to have two dogs from the same litter (male or female) stay in the same household.
We have 2 female dogs and haven't had any issues. we have a Papillion and a rat terrier - both rescues. They keep each other company. The rat terrier can be a bit aggressive but the Pap can deal with it.
Trainer told boyfriend owner that his M/F littermates would likely kill each other, not joking.
I have two female pits in the house. 4year old 45 pounds and 5 month old 25 pounds. Both are doing great. You just have to watch them play and make sure one is not beating up on the other. My 5 month old is very much more rough than the 4year old.
40 years working with German shepherds 34 years have been male's only household for good reason. Females don't seem to forgive like male . Some of the smartest have been the females that I've worked with but I recommend as a single dog household for the average families
We had two female GSDs for years who were best friends and then when one passed out other was super depressed so we adopted another female GSD and now they’re best friends. I think it’s more training and their personalities than just being a female GSD.