We are looking to add a new puppy to our family in the near future and we are still deciding between adding a male or a female and would love some advice on which sex you would recommend.

Our current dog is a female poodle cross aged 6, great behaviour temperament etc who gets on well with all dogs especially larger breed dogs and if I was to be completely honest her only “fault” is that on the rare occasion that we have ever encountered a dog that  isn’t friendly and growls at her she used appeasing behaviour such as getting closer and submitting or trying to lick their mouth (this I’ve only seen once). As I say it’s rare as in its only happened twice since we have had her and in all the years of owning different breeds it’s the first time I’ve ever encountered this behaviour.

I’m not looking for advice with the behaviour as it’s only happened twice and we encounter dogs every day on our walks but we were thinking of adding another female and wanted to give the full picture to see what your thoughts were about the sex.

It will either be a Weimaraner or Vizsla that will be our new addition if that makes a difference.

Having usually kept two bitches from our litters, without a problem, I'd say you would be more certain for the second one to work with your existing bitch to go for a male.   There are no guarantees however, but just know that if bitches take against each other 'usually' (and this can only be in general) there is no way back.   Males fight to mate, bitches, to survive.    And my experience is with a breed not prone to fighting.

If this was my decision, I'd go for a male.   But of course, your existing bitch must be spayed.

Thank you, this was the niggle that was at the back of my mind also. Our female is already spayed or to be honest we wouldn’t have even considered a male.

I appreciate your advice

I would say male too.  I don't believe there are any same-sex aggression issues in poodles but, with that strong appeasement behaviour, she may annoy a new addition enough as pup grew that one day they snapped and if that was a bitch, that could mean a much larger falling out than if it was a male.

Thank you so much for the advice, I think this is a decision that I also feel more comfortable with and it’s important that we get it right

weimaraners can be sharp-and vizlas look pretty similar. I would go for a male, far more likely to get on well.

> Having usually kept two bitches from our litters, without a problem, I'd say you would be more certain for the second one to work with your existing bitch to go for a male.

Just to add I left out the word 'still' - ie this should be 'Having usually kept two bitches from our litters, without a problem, l'd STILL say you would be more certain..... etc.

I'm another vote for you getting a male, it also ensures that your older dog stays as top dog since bitches are usually the bosses

I think you could get either and really shouldn't limit your choice to one sex or the other. What if you research and find a great breeder, whose dog has a litter - but there aren't enough males for you?

With a submissive female dog, you could easily have another female dog of either of those breeds. You don't have a strong reason there to choose one sex over another so focus on finding the right breeder and breeding. The breeder will appreciate your flexibility if they can place a dog of either sex with you.

I had two bitches, golden retrievers who usually rub along pretty well. I was very aware of bitch on bitch aggression and the problems it could cause so kept a good eye on them. The older one was quite a nervy dog especially in new situations and benefitted highly from having another dog to help her through.
The way they worked it out was that Tora (older dog) was in charge of food and Jodi in charge of everything else. Both accepted this happily and never a cross word was spoken.