i have 2 young bitches.pue is an english bull terrier x lhasa apso who is coming on for 20 weeks. lupin is a staffy x border collie who is coming on for 18 weeks.

they are like chalk and cheese. lupin is a very laid back girl who never challanges, and is submissive to new dogs and people. she is eager to please and has been very easy to train. she is also bottom dog.

pue is a serious girl. she is dominant, lieks a challange, is not submissive towards anything and has been more challanging to train. she is not so eager to please. she is friendly thougth, just more aloof than lupin. she is top dog.
if lupin has somethign she wants she will take it no question. lupin submits to her every time with out a fight.

i understand that many peopel would condem keeping 2 bitches of similar age together especially 2 bull terrier breeds.
however i feel that as there is such a marked diffrence between the 2 in both size and temperment , and as long as i am carefull not to allow the underdog to challange he rplace, then i am confident thigns will be fine.

however i was wondering what to expect when they come in to season. should i seperate them?

is there a big danger of them becoming more competitive.

there are male dogs living close by,m who they cant get to, but will no doubt be able to smell them.

if lupin was to come in to season first would she be likely to challange pue , woudl instinct take over for breeding rights?

also are regards to spaying woudl i be safer to get the underdog spayed first oe both together. obvously this is a while away from happening.
but if i knwo what to expect i can prepare for it now ..thankyou.

some vets will spay a bitch before their first season so i would think about that. When i got my second puppy she came into season the same time as my older dog and they were fine kept together. However, their next seasons were not together so it doesnt always work.

i have 2 bitches 2 and half and 13m when my older girl had her last season in Oct pup was a little younger and wasnt phased by older girl mood change and things carried on as normal.

Pup is having her first season now. Just before it started she was having mood swings and they were not getting on well together at all (luckily no fighting) but no playing ....a lot of standing over each other and eye contact but older girl just ignored her but at the same time didnt let her get away with dominating her.
We realised that they were after the attention of my OH. If he ignored both and walked away it seemed to break the moment.
Once the season was in full swing pup has gone back to her normal self except for being overly affectionate and they are back to being friends again but not playing together as they normally do I am hoping that they will next week or so when the season will have come to an end.

You really dont know who will come into season first  or when they will come into season so it will be a little difficult to plan maybe you will have to just keep them seperate at that time and watch them closely when they are together.

roni

I have two bully girls- one a purebred staffy and one a rescue staffy x JRT
our rescue girly was spayed before her first season at 6 months on the advice of the vet

I think I would spay at 6 months to try and help stop any agression rising, although this is not a fix but may help.
I've just had my 6 month Rottie x GSD Spayed and glad I did even though trying to keep her quiet with the stitches has been a feat in itself and given me a few grey hairs, but stitches come out on Monday, thank goodness and all seems well, and at least I won't have any seasons to worry about and her exercise will never have to be compromised because of them.

Bev

Spayed bitches are actualy more likely to show aggression than unspayed ones, as the female hormones have a softening effect.

brainless i did not know that.

does that mean it would be unwise to have them spayed then?

would it still have the same effect if they were done before there first season?
at the moment they are not aggresive towards each other. they do play rougth at times but only as in puppy play. they never play rougth with other pups/dogs they meet.

Wolfwoman - I don't think you have any more or less reason to spay (yet) than anyone else does.  I would advise for you what I advise for most dog owners:  Wait until they are physically and mentally mature, and then spay them. 

The time at which they will be physically and mentally mature depends on their breed and I'm not a staffy/lhaso apso/BT owner, so I can't advise on that.  It will, however, definitely be after a year old and might be as late as 18 months.  It might be at the earliest after at least one season, possibly two or three.

During their seasons, you will need to keep whichever is in season on lead and not let them meet other dogs.  Don't let an in season dog go out in the garden unsupervised either.  You might find they come into season at the same time, because sometimes bitches which live together can syncronize cycles. 

You're not having any aggression problems at the moment, so to spay them "preventatively" on the basis that you MIGHT have problems in the future is jumping the gun a bit, I feel.  You will probably have no problems at all with them, relating to their seasons and aggression.  Wait and see.

Hi!

Sorry I have no advice to give - just wanted to comment on your dogs!  I have an 8 yr old staffy x border collie bitch and have never met anyone else with the same cross, most people look at me like i'm mad when I tell them what she is! She looks all collie, but is black and tan and has quite a deep chest which i guess is from mum (the staff).  She sounds very like lupin in nature though, she's the most laid back dog i've ever met, was very easy to train (apart from housetraining which was a nightmare!) although she keeps our new dog (a lab x collie) in his place, she's very submissive with other bitches! I'd definitely have another mix like her, she's fab!