[drewc2020]

Hello friends,

I am writing to gather any experience any of you may have with having multiple dominant male dogs in the same household. I am an experienced dog owner but I have never had two large breed dogs (that tend to be dominant) in the same household. What are any tips/tricks? Does timing of when I bring them into my house really matter? Any additional information or experiences are all welcome.

 

[LeoRose]

In some breeds, same sex aggression is very prominent, and good breeders would be extremely reluctant to sell a male puppy to a household where there is already a resident male (of any breed). And if they did, you should be prepared to either rehome one if SSA rears its head, or be prepared to live a life of strict separation and crate and rotate. And I mean strict. Trying to separate two large males intent on killing each other can result in serious injury.

 

[storyist]

One of the saddest posts I ever read in a dog forum was by a woman who owned Mastiffs. Two males got into it, and she posted she didn't dare even try to do anything. She just walked away, sat and cried. She never posted the outcome.

I live with two female Rottweilers. One would be friends if she could. The other would kill her if she could. So I live with the kind of strict separation LeoRose described. It's a pain, but I'm not willing to give either up, and it's my fault. I knew there was a chance of this but had gotten away with it in the past, so I got another female puppy because I prefer females. I gambled and lost.