Two females &

[MPB]

(Karlin, I looked for a Question catagory - we don't have one, so I'm posting here)

Some of you know me, but I'm trying to get more opinions.

I have a nine year old female Springer Spaniel (Clover) that has just taken over the Alpha role from my late Springer(Dibble) who passed last Dec. Cricket and Clover have from the start gotten along great.

I hope to get a another Cavalier in June and always thought I should stay with females as I've always had them. But I have never had three really active dogs at one time.

Would it be better for me to get a male? I just wish I knew what would be the perfect dynamics in my house.

[Karlin]

Ask and ye shall receive.

I was waiting to see if other categories would cover questions but clearly some don't have homes to go to; hence a new section.

Incidentally I'll ask for feedback from people in a while, once the board has been up and running longer. I'm curious if people want fewer forums, think the divisions are about right, or want more.

As for the dogs:

General advice from dog trainers is to get a male if you have females -- often all of the same sex are more prone to differences then mixed groups. I don't know how that holds for cavaliers. I can sure say I do adore having boys!

[rosalie]

Hi Mary Pat,

This info is from Mary Grace Eubanks of Pinecrest Cavaliers. "The female is the dominent sex in this breed. The female will always be in charge, but the male will not care. If you end up with 2 alpha females, you will have problems. If you are going to have 2 dogs the best choice is male,male; then female,male; and last would be female,female."

I have 2 males and 2 females. When I had 3 dogs, Angel was definitely the alpha dog and still is. Lilly is a submissive female, so she and Angel have no problem; but she will not take anything off the males when it comes to food.

My 4 get along great. IF I decided to get a 5th dog, heaven forbid, I would get a male. That way, I would not have worry about who is charge.

All of mine are spayed/fixed, but what Mary Grace told me has turned out to be gospel in my case. Hope this helps

[BonnieB]

I have one of each and my male is much sweeter than my female. I think that the males want to please you so much that they are much easier to train.

[Donna]

You KNOW what I think, Mary Pat but I'll say it again.....you would LOVE having a male!

[rory]

BOY!!! You will loooooooooooooooooove a boy, almost as much as he will love you. icon_heartthrob

[MaggieM]

I'm going with the boy thing too... Izzy and Sophie is sweet, but neither love me as much as Bailey (who is sitting on my lap looking up adoringly as we speak... er type..)

I had much more conflict with Izzy when Sophie came, than with Sophie and Bailey. Izzy is just mean, so there is still conflict with her and Bailey (although they WERE playing the other day). Bailey just doesn't care... he prefers his mommy so the two mean females can just do whatever as long as mommy loves him.

[Evan]

i was wondering about that question too - Male or Female

We were edging towards female because supposedly (rememebr supposedly) they fight LESS but i was thinking after reading all of these,

Is this true?
I would love a male cavalier but think my mother would prefer a female because of the above reason. Are the males more loyal and obedient?

[Nicki]

MPB - what did you decide???


With Cavaliers, I don't think there's as much difference between the sexes as there is with other breeds.

The boys are more affectionate though, and the wholecolours even more so - the lady whom we had Teddy from, has said that when she retires, she's going to have a B&T and a Ruby, both boys, as they are the most cuddly.

Cavaliers don't usually fight icon_yikes

It's very unusual for them to not get on - and they are usually great with other species too. It's only if they're not socialised with other dogs etc that you get problems.

Both sexes are very loyal - I think the girls proably stay closer to you when out walking - other people may say differently though.

[Cathy T]

I don't believe male cavaliers fight in general. My Jake is such a big baby boy. Jake is super loyal to me but I think that is more because he was my first dog. When we got Shelby, she was a little more independent. The only time these two squabble is over bully sticks...and it's always Shelby who's the instigator.

These guys are such lovable and friendly pups. We went to a party last summer where there were, I believe, 80+ cavaliers and these was not one single fight the whole time. Just a very even tempered breed.