Same-Sex Aggression

Archimedes · Feb 24, 2016

Hi there! My husband and I are planning to get our very first French Bulldog sometime in the near future and we've been doing tonnnns of research. One thing that's come up a few times is the potential for same-sex aggression. Can anyone expand on how common this is in French Bulldogs? Is it as likely for males as females? We currently have a mini poodle mix, who's male and gets along with pretty much every dog in the world. One breeder told us we should only consider a female puppy since our current dog is male, which I'm fine with (though it does narrow down the options since it seems like there are so many more males available!). But what if we decide to look at adult Frenchies? Then is it just a matter of the individual dogs, assuming the Frenchie has never had any issues with male dogs, or should we only consider a female Frenchie full-stop?

WeeDex · Feb 25, 2016

I don't personally have another dog, but my mum and dad have a Bichon that we spend a lot of time with, and Dexter loves him! There is no aggression at all, and they love cuddling up together after a good play. They do play rough sometimes, but nothing nasty. They stay together when anyone is on holidays and have a great time. Dexter met Gus the first day we brought him home, so they've grown up together.

I'm sure others experienced with introducing adult dogs together will let you know how it went.

Let us know what you decide - I'm sure you will love having two dogs, and a baby Frenchie!

2bullymama · Feb 25, 2016

regardless of breed their is always a higher chance of dislike between same sex.... it is just the nature of the beast. You can also have opposite sex dislike each other just as much, but it is more likely with same. it also has to do with how much of the alpha YOU are in the house.

We currently have two males, Frenchie and a Bulldog -- they are fantastic together, but we had to work on it the first few weeks. Cheli is a dominate little stinker and luckily Lambeau is just a happy go lucky kind of boy. Now, when we had Cheli with our female Bulldog (Banks).... all bets were off.... she owned Cheli and it was very apparent that he knew not to cross a line at any time. So, my point, it really depends on the individual dogs and the strength of the owner.

Jakeyjake · Feb 25, 2016

I have always had the opposite sex just to limit any issues. I agree with [MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION] that it is important to be a good pack leader so one of them does not try to take over that position.

Alice Kable · Feb 25, 2016

We have always had males and the only time we had a problem was with 2 male littermates and they were 3 when the problem began.

Archimedes · Feb 25, 2016

So it sounds like it's more of a temperament thing and a management thing than anything else, at least with two males, which is good to hear. Our current dog is pretty submissive and never really challenges other dogs for anything - he even lets the cat steal food out of his bowl all the time, to the point where it's a bit of a problem - so hopefully we can find him a good partner of either sex. I think we'll focus on females to be safe, but if the right male comes along we won't say no.