Boys and girls: the same but different?

FAJ · Enlightened One

Boys and girls: the same but different?

greyflintstone · Master

Hi Fiona!

I would have to say that I think we're the opposite!! The boys are quite quiet and it's Wilma who charges around like a mad thing!! How old is Harry? And Pearly? If he's the youngest, could it be that he's still got a bit of puppy left in him?!

Steve · Master

Harry is three - he's like a teenager....smoking and drinking and trying everything out and flexing his muscles now that he realises he's a big boy.

greyflintstone · Master

Wilma is 3 too -must be something to do with their age!!!

Suzanne · Guru

Does that mean Ive got another year of Murphy being a loon & trying to eat my arm off at the elbow everytime I leave the room for 5 mins??? *doh*

Teresa · Enlightened One

well.......daisy is 2 and gets really excited when we get home from work - she also sets up the most ear-piercing squeal if we stop stroking her ! (now known as crazy daisy)

dave is 3 and is very laid-back about the whole fuss thing. he seems to quite like having his ears fussed and, if we stop, he will gently stretch out a paw and tap us. apart from that, you wouldn't even know that he likes the touchy-feely stuff ! (aka horizontal harry)

takecon · Master

Hi Everyone,

With my dogs at mo two dogs and two females,

In my experience it's down to the nature ( dominance ) of the irls and boys. It can vary tremendously!

There is a dog hiearchy in my flat - Mick is top dog Snap is top female - they sort it out with new arrivals. Not usually a problem as the new dogs arriving with me tend to be 'prospective cat safe' so are usually less dominat and fall in line within 24 hours.

But with my lot Mick likes to think he is in charge - Snap the top female lets things so untill she wants a dog toy and a tug of war ensues with Mick - She always wins. Mick is a one of those macho posers - but when chips are down he backs down. But Snap allows him his position in the pack. Can i explain it? No! - but as long as they defer to me in all situations.

Is that right dog wise - Or is it that dictum - females always allow males to think they are in charge but ********** As us human guys have learned the hard way!!!!!!

Charles etc

Christine Young · GAL Newsletter Editor

Hi all

I think it's down to an individual dog's nature. Just as some people are happy, confident and demand attention, there are just as many who are passive and gentle. I think dogs are the same, whether or not they are male or female.

I've had two dogs with completely different natures. Our first dog was a lovable rogue and a complete ned. A collie X he'd tackle Goliath - in fact the bigger the dog - the more he made a point of it. But he was a real sweetie with us and people he liked. Vegas, on the other hand, is just a big huggy bear. He's so laid back and placid - everybody loves him. And he gets on well with other dogs regardless of their size.

My sister has two beagle bitches, and their natures are like chalk and cheese as well. Maybe the sparks would fly if we had two dogs with similar natures!

Christine

FAJ · Enlightened One

Very interesting indeed. Reason I asked also is that one of my chums has a 6-year old brindle boy and he is exactly the same as Harry in his excitedness and joi de vivre.

Further proof that Harry is a sop - Steve was up early (4am - cringe...) to take his folks to the airport this morning so he let the pups out for a wee then brought them upstairs to me. Things were fine till he left the house, whereupon Hazza whined and moaned and generally acted like a sorry loon for 40 mins till I got up and showed him round the whole house and garden that daddy wusnae there, so could he please come back up to bed and sleep for a bit longer! Which he did, thank goodness. So today I am mostly feeling zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Bless him. I think.....

Dave · Enlightened One

Hi Fiona, very interesting original question! Gotta say I guess I've seem a fair few Greyhounds in my time, each one has that inherant 'greyhound' thing about them but that said each one has their own quirks and foibles. Guess there's about a million things that can influence the dog and those things can influence it through it's entire life.

Couple of years ago when we had 2 litters of Greyhound pups born here, we of course went a bit OTT and started reading the web and loads of books prior to the first birth. There's quite a lot of stuff out there about the first few weeks of a dogs development and how they are pretty key to their development, now the facts elude me for the moment but there's a certain DAY in the VERY first few weeks of a puppies developement that is really important. OK, kinda digressing here, whats my point? ..I said previously there's millions of things that can influence a dogs behaviour and nature throught their lives, the example I'm giving here is just one of that million but perhaps one of the more important ones, when I see the two litters of pups now they are both pretty well behaved and slightly different from the average Greyhound, we gave them loads of attention, handling, stimulation etc etc when they were younger and they just seem to be a little bit 'better rounded' - only way I can explain that! Obviously with Pearly and Harry they wouldn't have got much attention and handling when they were younger so thats defo a factor...

Anyways daft example but an example none the less, on the boys and girls thing??...again see comments above, no difference (apart from those millions of things that can influence them all!!)