I have been looking for a bitch pup (personal preference) but pups in general seem few and far between at the moment. Don't know if it is the time of year or financial situation ?
Anyhow, I have been offered a male from two breeders and said no but now I am beginning to wonder.
I have only ever had one bitch before who was lovely with a fantastic temperament but always preferred men !
So I would just like to know if anyone ended up having the opposite to what they were looking for and how it turned out.

Thanks in advance.

Don't really think once you have your dog it makes any difference, I have had both and if you keep your dogs intact you may find the males are more laid back and easier to deal with once adult, but they can be a pain during the adolescent period.

I suppose it depends on the breed as the larger ones have bigger litters.

Whether you are wanting show/ breed quality or just a pet. It took me 2 years to find my first bitch when I decided to start breeding as I was fussy as to what I'd accept.

I prefer males as they are less moody.

same here i prefer males once they get past the teenage kevin stage they are lovely , but when i was planning a litter the enquiries where for mainly bitches only one couple said they where not bothered would love anything and any colour as well .

I  ended up with the total opposite of what I wanted! LOL. I was looking for a fawn girl but bought a brindle male - best thing I have ever done, he became my heart boy, my one in a million! :-D

I now have my girl, but a brindle (the past few years have shown me that I do indeed prefer the brindles). She is far more affectionate and would be attached to my hip if I let her - no matter where she is or what she's doing - if I sit on the sofa, she is right there to snuggle into me :-)

The boys have been more independant, will come for a quick cuddle - what's she got? I want some too - sort of thing, but will soon go and do there own thing! My first boy Louis was more like my girl with regards for affection, gentleness and play - we always said he was part girl as he had the tiniest little 'jewels' you could possibly imagine! :-D

As to whether I would choose a boy or girl next? If I lost my girl, heaven forbid, I would choose a girl - but if it was just to add to my pack, I wouldn't mind either!

I prefer boys too, I find them to be more laid back and easier to train, also more affectionate.

although I have 3 bitches and 1 dog at the moment, in general I prefer dogs. I find them to be cuddlier in any breed, more laid back and more even natured. Of course there are exceptions, like my current boy! My next pup will be a boy too. I think if you show dogs are far better, no seasons, better coats etc.

Having had both dogs and bitches, and although my Harry was my dog-in-a-million, I'd always choose a bitch now. I just find them easier, less stand-offish and more 'civilised' somehow!

i only have bitches at presant. prior to this i always had males and can say with hand on heart I have no preference. my boys were very special and so are my bitches, they all had/have wonderful personalities and that at the end of the day is what you live with. you may have to work a bit harder on some males just as you may some bitches. whichever you decide, enjoy!

I have both males and females but for yrs only had bitches as my ex was a nasty bully and I always feared that a big male would have added fuel to the fire. Since giving him his marching orders 12 yrs ago I have had males and I must admit they are on the whole more loving and steadier than the girls. Bitches are by and large quicker both mentally and physically,the boys are much more laid back. The boys are however much more likely to defend me in tricky situations and lord help anyone who tried to attack me, the girls kick up a lot of noise but don't step up until I am in real danger where as the boys would step in before an attacker was able to touch me. Males as a general rule are bigger and as already stated have fewer hormonal problems.

I def prefer males myself as well. Love my girls don't get me wrong, but I find the males are a lot more
bonded with me over the girls. Junior just loves to cuddle for hours on hours.
Even this lil girl Moose we got has def bonded more to my hubby, and T-bone she too is more
my hubby's dog. Tiva (RIP) was my baby girl but she to prefered to cuddle with hubby lol
Soon I will have another boy- hoping to show him or do some tracking or something with him.

It all comes down to what you def prefer in the long run.
Best of luck! :-)

I have one male and two bitches. Had one male before. Out of the three I have here currently, it is my boy who shows the most loyalty to me. If we would stand either end of a field, or my OH should go ahead to take the dogs away from me, my boy would be the one torn. More often than not, he will run back to me. He also comes and sits by my side at weekends when it's time for a walk, just in case I'm not going! He is often found walking right behind me when they're off lead too!

My male isn't as cuddly as the girls, they are always seeking attention & cuddles (usually on their terms!). They're fans of "close" cuddles, whereas my boy isn't into all that, preferring just to lay closeby, whilst the girls will sit on top of whoever will let them!

All 3 of my dogs are great with other dogs, no problems there at all, thankfully I trust them 100%, although the girls are much more likely to head off into the undergrowth and need calling back. They're much more independent.

I do love the boys, but love my girls too. Given the choice, and I can't see it happening for a long time - but I'd love another male eventually.

Good luck with your choice, hope you manage to make a decision, it's very hard!!

I agree with Celli.  I have both sexes, neutered and entire.  But I find boys so affectionate.  If I could only ever own one dog (heaven forbid) it would be a male.

Funnily enough I had this discussion with my vet only recently.  I have 2 toy breeds, as well as Collies.  My recent toy litter had both sexes, but one boy was noticably bigger than the rest.  My vet was saying that, given how much work I put into rearing pups, he didn't know how I could let them go.  I told him that I always sobbed the most over males, and usually a large one.

He asked me why, and I said temperament and affection.  Shortly after I had a behaviourist/trainer come to choose a pup for herself.  She was allowed to watch the whole of my pack interact and play and chase up the garden.  Both she, and her husband were definitely looking for a certain something.

She chose my boy, and I sobbed when he left!

> I have been looking for a bitch pup (personal preference) but pups in general seem few and far between at the moment.

Not in my breed, there suddenly seem to be loads.  Some unsold and quite a number of new litters due

You do sometimes notice though that the litters are gender heavy.  My lad came from a litter of 8 boys and 3 girls and there were other litters around at a similar time that also had more boys than girls.  I suspect the 'law of sod' is at work most of the time - never enough of what you are looking for!

I prefer boys...

Love, love, love my boys. Over decades now, every male Ive kept has been dopey and besotted with me and I with them.

Only problem arises when one dies...you cant prepare for it, the reason my husband doesnt want to keep another...it is devastating.

Guess what? New pup is a boy.....here we go again :(

reading the above post, I do think that it must depend on the breed. I have flatcoats and the love, loyalty thing is not any greater with my males than my females.

No preference here, though I think it will be a long time before I get another blenheim boy, Henry has left such a huge hole behind him. The 2 blenheim girls have helped to fill in the colour gap, but it's not the same. Having said that, Ellie is such a special girl too, successful at every canine discipline we have tried, I can't imagine life without her either. I think they are all just lovely characters in themselves though, not because of being one sex or the other.

I'd say it's both breed and individual -not just the sex as such. I will never, ever -not even if I was paid! -have another Golden Retriever bitch. (Funnily enough I have a friend who says the same.) I have had a total of 5 and 3 were awful. REALLY awful. 1 just plain stupid, one lovely.  The dogs on the other hand (5 of them as well) were all great. I never felt very close to my Cavalier bitches (and one of them was dreadfully aggressive with other dogs), but then again I also had one Cavalier dog I didn't get very close to but two that were/are the best you could imagine. There I'd actually say I think it was the colour! Blenheim all the way for me, and I feel certain a bitch would be nothing like the Ruby bitches I had. In Malinois, I MUCH prefer the bitches to the dogs, and that goes for the Papillons too. They are easier to live with. But I also know there are Paps where the dogs are WAY nicer to live with than my entire git. ;)

For me with always an interest n breeding/genetics from my small livestock exhibiting/breeding days the choice was always going to be bitches.

As a bitch owner I have far more choice of where my breeding program can go, as I can choose whatever stud I like (assuming they find my bitch acceptable) the owner of a great dog is limited by which bitch owners may choose to use him.

As I do not have the facilities or the temperament to deal with separating the sexes during seasons I prefer not to have males in my home. 

I also dislike the male leg lifting, worrying about other dogs reactions to any male I have looked after on walks, as even if they are good with all dogs, not all dogs are good with males.

That said males in my breed are generally lovely, and the kind that take their looking after the women folk seriously, with a tough looking exterior, and marshmallow centre ;)

I have both, and love both but have a real soft spot for the boys, wanted another boy but wanted a bigger age gap, our youngest male has just turned three.
So we got a girl, she is absolutely nuts and very strong willed. they are all different but she is the hardest out of the four.
My other girl is a sweet heart.

have to say i prefer males in bulldogs ,they seem more affectionate and have more character ,.in bull terriers males again but because theyre more clownish ....yep defo boys for me but then i dont breed

Whichever sex you have, you've got to like and love the pup/dog. If that aint there, then preferred bitch or dog, it's not going to work.

I've got 4 bitches - all extremely strong girlies :-D - I've got 2 dogs ... oh how I love my boys. Biddable, easy, just wonderful.

I love my girls too, but they are strong, much more of wanting to know what's in it for them - I do like this, but then that's me and the work I do with them. :-D

I had pup owners come for a bitch (that's all they'd ever had, so that's what they wanted to have). I chose the pup for the home (all homes :-O) ... the bitches I had wouldn't have suited at all, very strong like their Mum :-) There was a boy pup who was absolutely perfect for what they wanted. Wife was fine, hubby wasn't sure as he was set on a bitch. The boy pup and couple were a match made in heaven ... they saw sense. 2 years later both husband and wife agree that boy pup is absolutely right for them and they no longer will be ruled by sex. Very much is it the right pup for them, irrespective of what bits accompany it.

By all means have a sex preferrence but, don't rule out that fabulous boy just 'cause you're used to girlies. I teach teenagers :-O Give me the class full of lads over the class full of girls any day.

I say go for the individual, rather than the sex.

> I teach teenagers :-o Give me the class full of lads over the class full of girls any day.
>
>

As a teen I preferred the lads as friends over the girls, but I wasn't girlie girl at all, only girl in the family of boys, a work from home Car mechanic for a Dad, I simply had a lot more in common and could get on far better with boys.

Still prefer bitches in the canines though, but that is probably because I was always going to want to breed.

I don't really have a preference.

I have at the moment, 2 boys and 6 girls - most of the girls are a lot more highly strung, but then all but two are rescues with bad handling/raising behind them.  They are very biddable, more so than the boys by far!

But the boys are more affectionate and cuddly, which I like.  But i do get that from the girls too - not a night goes by where I don't have to push River along the bed at least once, because she likes to sleep as close to me as possible and pushes my feet along the bed as she tries to get closer!

After reading the replies I decided to have a male, but then I had a sleepless night and felt in my heart that I had made the wrong decision. Therefore I have decided to wait as long as it takes for the right female .
Thanks for your replies.

> I decided to have a male, but then I had a sleepless night and felt in my heart that I had made the wrong decision. Therefore I have decided to wait

When I wanted a particular breed I thought that a bitch would be better for us and told the breeder that's what we would probably be looking for.  Within days I'd started to think that I'd made the wrong choice and would prefer to have a boy.  The waiting list was 14 months so I didn't have to decide straight away but luckily a space became available on her previously fully booked litter and we got the boy we really wanted.  Funny how things work out sometimes :)

Good luck with your plans