# Boy vs Girl?



## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

I'm going to be adopting a Havanese and am still undecided between and girl or boy. Is there much difference? Also, I do have a male (neutered) german shepherd. He is fine with both sexes but has been known to be grumbly with males who challenge him. He is alpha dog. I am not sure if this would be an issue with a small male dog? It's always the larger ones. He doesn't attack or anything, just gets grumbly and asserts his dominance. Any thoughts? Should I stick to a girl?


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

I think it has more to do with finding individuals with compatible temperaments. Leo lives with Porter, a 70 lb. neutered male and Becca, a 50 lb. spayed female; both mutts. All three get along great but both boys play rougher with Becca than with each other. Porter has established himself as head dog and both Becca and Leo seem comfortable with the arrangement. We rarely have any squabbles and if we do it's typically Leo acting bratty to Becca. He has finally gotten old enough that she is beginning to correct his rudeness with more emphasis than she did when he was a baby. I tell Leo he asked for it and he needs to remember his manners!


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## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

Thanks. I find it really hard to tell temperament when they are all tumbling little puppies! I also wanted to mention I have a 2.5 year old daughter, and have read females can tend to be a bit nippier than boys. Any truth to this?


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Again I think it will depend more on the individual puppy rather than males/females generally. Keep in mind that when you bring your puppy home you will likely have a period of mouthy behavior. This is very typical BUT those sharp puppy teeth hurt! Try to work with a breeder that socializes extensively and wait to bring your puppy home until he/she is 10-12 weeks. This will allow more time for mama dog and siblings to help puppy understand that biting too hard ends play. You will want to continue that lesson from the minute you bring your puppy home. Set up an expen and when puppy bites down too hard on human skin stop interacting immediately and gently place puppy in the expen for a couple of minutes. Do not speak to or look at puppy. Then take puppy out of expen to play. When puppy bites down too hard repeat. If you are VERY consistent with this, puppy will learn in a few days that teeth in human skin = no play! This will apply to male or female puppies. I chose a male because after having raised 17 pups (not Havanese) over my lifetime I find that I prefer male dogs. They tend to be less finicky about stuff - wet grass, raindrops on their head, other dogs/people looking at them sideways - just stuff! You will find others that prefer females. Some do because they are concerned about "marking" behavior. Inappropriate "marking" is simply poor housetraining nothing more. Boy dogs can learn appropriate house manners just as girl dogs can. There are many threads about housetraining on the forum so read through those. My Leo is very loving, easy going, loves rough and tumble play with his doggie sibs, is so very gentle with my infant granddaughter, quiet most of the time and the star of my office where he often spends his days! Just love my little boy dog!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I think I would be very wary of bringing a male Havanese puppy into the house with a dog as big as a GSD who likes to assert his dominance or get "grumbly" with other males. A single snap that is just meant to be a warning by the larger dog could easliy kill a 3 or 4 lb puppy.


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## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

I will get the puppy at 10 weeks old, they are from an excellent breeder who socializes them. I meet them this week though and can point out one I take a fancy to. The breeder will make the final decision though based on personality of the pup and needs of the family. I usually prefer male animals, finding them to be more gentle, just having trouble deciding this time around. Growing up we had a few male dogs that HATED other male dogs but loved the ladies. It is so hard to judge when they havent hit "puberty" yet. My female dog always hated other females. I was just wondering if the fact they are going to be 70lbs different in weight means that some of the competition will be taken out of the factor. Tough decision, and one Ill be stuck with for many years! Thanks for your input.


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## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

krandall said:


> I think I would be very wary of bringing a male Havanese puppy into the house with a dog as big as a GSD who likes to assert his dominance or get "grumbly" with other males. A single snap that is just meant to be a warning by the larger dog could easliy kill a 3 or 4 lb puppy.


I agree. Max would not snap at a puppy but I wonder when the male matures if there might be some issues. Even if nobody gets hurt, what if they just dont get along as well? That would not be fun for any of us.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

maximom said:


> I agree. Max would not snap at a puppy but I wonder when the male matures if there might be some issues. Even if nobody gets hurt, what if they just dont get along as well? That would not be fun for any of us.


The teouble is, it doesn't even need to be a snap. If a 70 lb dog just slaps down hard on a tiny puppy he could break its back. And i am NOT saying the larger dog would mean to hurt the puppy. Big dogs often don't recognise the size difference between them and their tiny cousins.


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Having lived with Leo (11lbs), Porter (70 lbs) and Becca (50lbs) for the past year, I can say that the size difference is something you will need to be aware of regardless of gender. Leo plays with his bigger doggie sibs quite vigorously but he is NEVER alone with them. The size difference means that your level of supervision will need to be MUCH greater than if you had 2 Havanese. We keep their play controlled at all times. We are empty nesters and don't have the distraction of a young child most of the time. You will need to consider how you manage the puppy, your big dog and your young child. We use an expen set up in the den where we spend most of our time. Leo still gets placed their if our attention needs to be focused on something because we don't want an accident to happen between him and the other larger dogs. Just think through the precautions you will need to put in place because of the size difference in your dogs.


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## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

Thanks for the input. I dont expect to leave the dogs alone together. Luckily our house is already filled with a sea of baby/pet gates so that won't be difficult! Max sleeps on his bed downstairs and from what Ive read, the hav will be sleeping on my bed upstairs. Max is not even allowed upstairs (I developed a hair-in-the-bed phobia over the years). Max is getting pretty old though, I mean is still very active outdoors still but when indoors just lazes around the fire. He is good with my cats and my sisters toy poodle, there has never been an issue. Chances are he would be fine with a male or female too, I just am overly cautious. Also, a friend of mine who is a dog person mentioned that it may end up being the newcomer male who is not fine with Max! Especially because I dont want to spay/neuter until finished growing, with all that testosterone who knows! Anyway, I think I have decided on a girl. Hopefully the breeder agrees and will be fine with it. This is my first time using a breeder, Ive always gone rescue in the past. I used to foster small dogs too. Just really wanted a well-bred animal this time, Im tired of dealing with health issues of puppy mill dogs


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Can certainly understand your reasons for wanting a well bred dog. Rescues can be wonderful, but it's a different kind of experience. Form what you say, it sounds like it will work out just fine, no matter which gender you end up with, especially if you ask the breeder to help you pick the right pup for that situation. Whether male or female, most Havanese who are well socialized get along with most other calm, friendly dogs, no matter what size or breed. And they tend NOT to be bossy, so I don't think that's a huge concern either.


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## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

Thanks Krandall. I brought up my concerns with the breeder and he agreed with you, he says it should not matter one way or the other. I guess I will just have to trust them to pick out the right one for me! They were all ridiculously cute I don't know how I'm going to wait 4 more weeks to take one home!


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## Gibbs Mom and Dad (Jun 3, 2013)

maximom said:


> I'm going to be adopting a Havanese and am still undecided between and girl or boy. Is there much difference?


The following explains the key difference:


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## maximom (Mar 26, 2014)

Lol! Thanks for clearing that up!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

That's John for you, Maximom… he keeps us laughing! ound:


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## Gibbs Mom and Dad (Jun 3, 2013)

I'm sorry, that is the wrong quote from the movie. 

I'm too embarrased now. I copied the wrong link and didn't listen to it.


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## Gibbs Mom and Dad (Jun 3, 2013)

Darn,

Talk about your all time backfires.

Here's the quote I meant to post


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## Gibbs Mom and Dad (Jun 3, 2013)

I can't reiterate enough how embarrassed and upset I am. 

I read the intial post about the differences between boys and girls, and that scene from "Kindergarden Cop" comes to my mind.

I google "boys have penis" "girls have vagina" and the first youtube clip I posted pops up. Now since I'm at work, I don't listen to it and have the sound turned down on my computer because I don't want someone to walk past my office and hear the words "penis" and "vagina". 

All day I'm chuckling to myself about how "clever" I was. Finally, it's the end of the day and I call my "work wife" into my office so we can share a laugh. I turn on the sound and play the first clip:

:fish: :brick:
:redface:

Mary's now looking at me like I'm :crazy:, which she's right.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Gibbs Mom and Dad said:


> I'm sorry, that is the wrong quote from the movie.
> 
> I'm too embarrased now. I copied the wrong link and didn't listen to it.


ound:ound:ound:

Was it inaccurate?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Gibbs Mom and Dad said:


> I can't reiterate enough how embarrassed and upset I am.
> 
> I read the intial post about the differences between boys and girls, and that scene from "Kindergarden Cop" comes to my mind.
> 
> ...


But&#8230; Have you told your wife yet?


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## Gibbs Mom and Dad (Jun 3, 2013)

krandall said:


> But&#8230; Have you told your wife yet?


She follows the posts from home. She'll read it and lovingly (I hope) call me a jacka$$.

I'm just so annoyed because I've been chuckling to myself all day, only to find out in front of my coworker that the joke was on me the whole time.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Gibbs Mom and Dad said:


> She follows the posts from home. She'll read it and lovingly (I hope) call me a jacka$$.
> 
> I'm just so annoyed because I've been chuckling to myself all day, only to find out in front of my coworker that the joke was on me the whole time.


Well, you can always claim you got the days mixed up, and you thought it was April Fool's&#8230; OTOH, I guess it's mostly April Fool on YOU! :laugh:


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Very up-cheering, the whole incident, John!!!
To get back on topic just for a second, I think all the advice is really good, most importantly being the suggestion that you will really need to watch the dogs, maximom. And continue to do so; many adult dogs are fine with puppies, but when the pup is full grown, and the playing changes, that's when I would caution you to be super-vigilant. Different dogs play in different ways; I took my Coton, Tycho to a class once where the only other small dog was a pug, so they let Tychy and the pug play together. My Coton is a cheerful little fellow, loves run-like-hell and having fun; the pug's idea of fun was to ram Tycho from the side at full speed and send him flying; it wasn't done aggressively, the pug just played like a small, fast tank. Tychy hated it. In the end he just sat down and refused to have anything to do with the pug.
Large dogs play with large movements, and little dogs can get inadvertently caught in the crossfire and suffer for it, no matter how good the intentions are all round. I toyed (so to speak) with the idea of getting a larger dog when my other Coton died, but in the end decided on a like-sized companion for Tycho, and got Cuba. I'm so glad I did, they play safely and happily together and I have no worries about their being well-matched.


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## dianaplo (Dec 30, 2013)

Hehehe


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