OH & I were discussing this the other day - does anyone else think that some dogs just naturally prefer men, and some prefer women ??

We rehomed an older Samoyed girl back in June...although she clearly loves both of us, she absolutely adores my OH and gets so excited when he comes in - much more so than when I come in! I feed and walk our 3 dogs but Megan will still always go to my OH rather than me. My friend says that she used to belong to a married couple but had always been the "mans dog".

Our Cavalier meanwhile was originally my OH's ex wife's dog but she abandoned her when she moved out and left my OH to look after her. She dotes on me and follows me EVERYWHERE - when I am at work, she goes "to bed" and sleeps in my dressing room until I come home. Even if my OH is in, she will still go upstairs and only come down when I am home. She is a real mummy's girl.

Our Malamute is another Daddy's girl and sulks when my OH goes away. We're looking after a friend's Toy Poodle at the moment who very much prefers female company - so I do think that some different dogs prefer different sexes of humans! Does anyone else agree ? 

I think it has a lot to do with who they see as Alpha. My pup is 100% mummies girl, even though I am the one who gets lumped with all the discipline. She couldn't give two hoots if Daddy leaves the room, but if Mummy leaves she screams the house down. I think this boils down to her seeing me as her leader and protector, while the OH is just another pack member. I guess some dogs get used a female/male leader and then expect the same if rehomed. I personally love it as my girl will do anything I say, whereas she looks at the OH as if to say 'you can't tell me what to do you chump' -makes my day :-D

Well my Newfie prefers the ladies. He found me my true love walking in the fields and well a lady just loves a Newfie lol.

That's a really interesting question! My Labrador is male, and he is closest to me, although obviously, being a Lab he loves everyone. But in the show ring he has a much better reaction to a lady judge, as he will stand better and cooperate more, whereas a male judge will get a much more playful response from him. I suppose that may be because I do cuddles, while my husband does more playing & so on.
My daughter's Bichon is female and adores my daughter, and then us in that order, but with others she initially wants to greet and have a fuss but then she isn't that bothered - except she loves my Mum big time. The funny thing is my Mum isn't that into her, but the Bichon just won't leave her alone, and is either licking her or sitting whining at her.
I do think dogs get used to who their main person is. We looked after a retired guide dog who lead a man, and when he first came he attached to my husband, but gradually as I was the one who fed and walked him, he attached very strongly to me.
Can't wait to see what others have observed. 

Well my 2 love me best i think....but i do feed them and they are with me all day so i think i have an advantage over my hubby.
but i must say one of them will kiss my hubby on the cheek but wont kiss me...i think she likes his brissels. ha ha.

We were having the same conversation with my sister in law at the weekend as we have all found with the dogs we had growing up (border collies for all of us) and the ones we have now (2 huskys for me and OH, an otterhound cross, parson jack russell and border terrier for siter in law) that the girls always prefer the men and the boys are always mummys boys. I know this is not the case for everyone but its what we have generally always found.

> but wont kiss me...i think she likes his brissels. ha ha.

Same here :-D Louis will always kiss OH but only rarely kisses me!
But he is far more my dog than OH's. Louis will curl up and sleep away the time while i'm at work but will get up as soon as I'm home and be where ever I am. OH always comments on it and is a bit disgruntled I think as he does the playing and I do the feeding/walking. We both spend as much time kissing/cuddling Louis though. Also, when hubby works nights, Louis will sleep on our bed right through the night, but when hubby is home , he will spend most of the night in his own bed ( louis, not hubby!! :-D )

Until recently it has only been me and the kids and all the dogs were mine.

Now that I have an OH living here it is quite clear that Myka likes men most and the new pup is a Daddy's girl.

Even tho my hubby says T-Bone is his but when we walk her and Junior (I Junior and him T-Bone) and I say heel she will heel to me not him lol

I think my 4 love me best :-P heheheh They always come to me for a cuddle or what not and Iam the one that feeds them, takes them places- he does pet them and plays with them at times but its me they always come to- but then again when he went to the store T-Bone just waited and whined at the door till he came home- hmmm she can be a funny one :-D lol

my akita is all for women she is a bitch 2 of my shibas are mummys girls but my male shiba is a daddys boy an dont i know it when the oh is not in the house it maybe for 5 mins or a few hours he will do the shiba scream when he comes home as he i so pleased to see him

My two Chow boys were mine for 2 years before I met my OH and now they are ours. 

Our Dobe which we have had 5 months is a real Daddy's girl, she came from my FIL and knew my OH from a pup and despite him travelling for 4 years she knew him instantly when he came back, she loves me too but his opinion means the world to her.

Our 2 Pugs we got together, Luna the black girl is mine :) she's like a bit of velcro that won't unstick, bless her, she will sit with OH but only if I'm not available and the second I sit down she jumps off him and onto me.  OH finds this really annoying but I don't :-D  Gandor is our fawn pug and he is ours.

I do most of the feeding, all of the brushing, bathing, nails, ears etc. and we both walk them.

Incidently the cats have similar preferences, I had them years before OH came along when I was with my ex. My girl cat is cool with everyone but my boy cat loved my ex so much :( which really sucked as my ex didn't pay him any attention at all and I did everything for him, ungratefull little so and so!  However now he is the biggest little Mummies boy around which suits me fine, finally some gratitude for all my faithful years of service LOL :)

In our case it had always been bitches daddy girls, boys Mummy boys. But the lot we have now have bucked the trend.

Winston is very much a mummys boy I come over everybody else. But Tonka also a dog is very much OH's dog and is stuck to his side even though I do the feeding!! The bitch absolutely adores my little girl and she comes above everybody else in her eyes, think I come a close second and OH just doesn't even come into the equation in her eyes!! My bulldog boy is a definate Mummys boy!!

I rule the roost over them all though and my word is final!!!!

My boy is a funny one. He adores females, me and all my friends. He does spend time with my father but the bond isn't as strong.

In the street he is sometimes wary of men but rarely with women.

I put him in the ring and he behaves so much better for male judges than female and shows himself a lot better with male judges.

I can't work him out but he does adore me and the excitement in him when i come back home is immense. Its endearing but also when you have a nice clean outfit on he will make sure its as dirty as possible, not so endearing.

Depends I think.  My lot tend to like whoever will fuss them - they do as I say round the house but will beg food and fuss from whoever's there, and they go bananas when my OH comes round.

Spanish seem to prefer women more than men strangely enough.  Though there again maybe it's because most of them are brought up in homes where there are more women than men?? 

We have two, Whistler cocker is mine and Jake Border is OH's. In the morning OH gets his boots on Jake goes potty and walks to work with him, Whistler sits firmly on my feet does not move. we drive to work and walk up the play park.
Pm again Whistler & I go off via an hour or two's walk, Jake & OH walk home (about 4 miles). If my OH leaves the office he says "are you coming" and only JAke gets up and goes off in his car. If Im off out Whistler moves and JAke doesn't. Our two are firm in their belief that Jake owns OH and Whistler is mine.

If by any chance Im out without Whistler he goes to sleep on OH's feet to make sure he isnt totally abandonded, I walk back and he sleeps on my feet. Ditto Jake is in his office when he is in, my office when OH is out and the minute OH walks back in Im left with just Whistler. Both are dogs, both bought at 8 weeks old and both picked their owners straight away.

> That's a really interesting question! My Labrador is male, and he is closest to me, although obviously, being a Lab he loves everyone. But in the show ring he has a much better reaction to a lady judge, as he will stand better and cooperate more, whereas a male judge will get a much more playful response from him. I suppose that may be because I do cuddles, while my husband does more playing & so on.

Funnily enough my male lab is very playful with men, if my OH takes him out it's sheer excitement bouncing around all over the place and is very playful with men he meets, if it's me he is calm and sits nicely to put his lead on, or i'm just boring! :-p he does respond very well to me and will always snuggle up with me, but i think he prefers men.
Roxi is my dog, if i take Dexter out on his own she will wait by the front door until i return. She snubs my OH and will rarely snuggle up with him.

But i have done most of their training, walks etc, i am around more then hubby too.

My girls are mamma girls.  They love us, and will fuss us, more than they do men.  My one, even though she loves everyone, and will take attention from anyone, if there is a lady in the room she will go to them.  When I am at my aunt and uncles place, my uncle can call Cher forever, but she is layed with a woman!

Scarlet, is definately a woman dog, but I think its because she has had very little experience with men. 

Casie used to be my baby, until I got Cher.  Now Casie would rather be with my mom, her mom.  Instead of her Auntie. 

On the other hand, I would have to say they are more "one person" dogs than a gender as a whole.  Casie is moms dog.  Cher is mine (until my aunt nancy comes in the room!) and then Scarlet is definately my baby.  Joy, she was my Grandmas dog in her eyes, even though she was technically ours. 

> Well my Newfie prefers the ladies. He found me my true love walking in the fields and well a lady just loves a Newfie lol

good dog, very good dog... i do hope he got a special treat for that one :)

Our Goldie is definately a daddy's girl, but I think he loves her more than me anyway :) the Collie just shows big brown liquid love eyes to both of us, she is a rescue dog and looks at us as if to say thank-you for saving me, the eldest Sheltie is definately my little 'flump' (mixture of fluffy and plump due to spaying and on a diet) if I leave the room she follows and she won't go up the garden in the morning without me.
The pup Shelties show no special allegiance at the moment, they follow me everywhere but also fuss round 'daddy' all the time.
All of them will push the cat out of the way should we be fussing her.
OH moans about being in house full of females but I think he likes it really :)

All of mine started out as mummy's girls and boys.  Screaming when I left them etc. I was always the one that walked, fed and played with them while the OH did the obedience training.  Strangely the boys changed to the OH's dogs around 12 months of age may be seeing him as more of a leader than me, I honestly don't know.

The girls all stand behind me between my legs on my feet if theres been a telling off but generally go wild when OH comes home from work.

After the initial fuss the girls all come and sit with me in my little space and the boys hang around dad.  I think it's a nurture thing with the girls they know I'm going to be a push over and let them all pile in.

I got the best deal though (six sit with me lol)

Sounds like doggy heaven, I sit with the 3 small ones on my lap then sometimes the Goldie will try as well. ARRGGGHHHH!!!
Which breed have you got?

Our male Weim adores my OH, follows him around like a ........... dog! and works himself into a frenzy in the five minutes before OH is due home from work.  He doesn't give a monkeys when I get home!  He also cries if he sees OH in the kitchen, which is visable from the dog garden.  The dog also loves to sit on OH knee on the settee, so OH now lays on the floor with the dog as its more comfortable that way!

The girls are mine, all four of them.  They love OH but if we walk through the gate together they all gather round me for a fuss first.  Skye, our 10 month old Standard Poodle who we have had for just a couple of months goes loopy when I am there, gets very giddy and runs round and round the garden like a mad thing!

I love my girls!

Hi Nicola there Tibetans and Beardies - lovely when wet lol

Well Wren the BC pup now 8 months old is definitely my girlie, she wont sit with hubby and wont get up in the morning with him if he gets up first (rare occasion), Kai my sprollie is definitely my boy as well as he has loads of cuddles and just doesnt see the point of hubby even existing.  JC my wsd aged actually 5 adores my hubby.

this is a greally good threat,  my akita is a mummys girl and my crested just adores my hubby. When we walk them together he obviously wants to walk the akita and the crested just goes mad to get to him! she cuddles up to him and wont move off his knee. He carnt move with her. Its funny really it seems the less attention he pays her the more she loves him lol x

Like little mops I'll bet :)

Thanks everyone for your replies, very interesting !!

I also think it might be to do with who disciplines etc, perhaps my girls see me as a pack leader as I do most of the telling off if they are naughty, whereas they get away with murder with my OH, but don't behave for him when he wants them to!! It makes me laugh too :-D

Gypsy my Cavalier is lying on my lap as we speak, happy as Larry, and Megan is waiting by the door for my OH to come in.