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Mixing boxer sexes...my own BF study

7K views 37 replies 22 participants last post by  k_ann 
#1 ·
Hello, I have decided to start my own study! I was asking about how we would know if Bunny wanted a companion, which struck up another topic: mixing sexes.

So, I want to know for all you who own 2 or more boxers at the same time! What sex mixes do you have, and how do they get along? And, what are their ages and are they fixed?

:clap2:
 
#2 ·
I have 1 male and 2 females. Maci is 10, spayed. Boomer is 5, neutered. Raven is 3 months and will be spayed. So far they get along great.

Most l have had at once is 4, 2 males, 2 females all fixed. In that group l had a male and female that would fight, with the male being the aggressor most of the time. Both were rescues and he was nuts.

I tried to rescue a 7 month old female before getting Raven. Upon introduction she attacked my female so I knew it would never work. I prefer mixed sexes, but would do 2 males before owning 2 females.
 
#3 ·
1 male (4-1/2) and 1 female(1-1/2). Both fixed. They get along great. The female tends to pester the male a lot, which he tolerates up to a point. When it gets to be too much, he gives the female the big "what for" and she backs down. During quiet time, she tends to lay on him and has to be touching him... he tends to ignore her.

When I first brought the 8 week old female home, the male thought she was an intruder and was aggressive to the female pup. It took about 2 hours for him to realize that she wasn't going anywhere.









 
#4 ·
We've been rescuing boxers for about 10 years now, so we always have a herd of at least five and topping out at 10 to 12. The most female boxers we've ever housed at once is three, and that ended with losing one to injuries sustained in a fight. Now we're hesitant to even have two females in our home at one time.

I know you've previously asked about having two females at once, and many others have advised against it. Yes, it CAN work but in the largest majority of boxer households it DOESN'T. Also, it can start out fine but then things can turn very, very wrong and no amount of training can fix it. I'm telling you this as someone who has loads of formal training experience and has a close working relationship with some of the best trainers in my area. DON'T MIX TWO FEMALE BOXERS.

This is from your other thread:

Just gonna say a "vet" is not a dog trainer! I go to vets for medical needs, not dog training advise!

But that's me. I only help put the information out there folks are free to do as they see fit! I will add that the 12 to 18 month range is the age in which you may see a problem if you go the two female route!

I would not do it but that's me. But I like to provide information so if it goes sideways on you...this would be good to know:

Leerburg | How to Break Up a Dog Fight Without Getting Hurt

Yep same site, Leerburgh has trained thousands of dogs..but what does he know...he's not a vet! :)
Your response was that vets "are the ones who first-hand hear the stories and see the results and medically fix the problems," but you are wrong. In most cases, there don't even have to be physical injuries requiring a vet visit for boxer owners to realize they've made a huge mistake and overestimated their own abilities. The majority of the time, once the fighting starts, one of the females is quickly dumped in a shelter and euthanized for behavioral issues. (I know this firsthand as well.) Two things that are NOT required curriculum to become a veterinarian are behavioral training and nutrition. Your very best reference is experienced boxer owners, and you have that right here although you are doing everything you can to discredit their wealth of valuable information.

You also laughed off Chip18's link to breaking up a dog fight. If you persist down this road despite all attempts by experienced members to dissuade you, you should probably take it a little more seriously and study up. That might be the only thing that saves your ass when it all goes south. I'm telling you THAT from experience as well.

Good luck to you. You're gonna need it.
 
#5 ·
We've been rescuing boxers for about 10 years now, so we always have a herd of at least five and topping out at 10 to 12. The most female boxers we've ever housed at once is three, and that ended with losing one to injuries sustained in a fight. Now we're hesitant to even have two females in our home at one time.

I know you've previously asked about having two females at once, and many others have advised against it. Yes, it CAN work but in the largest majority of boxer households it DOESN'T. Also, it can start out fine but then things can turn very, very wrong and no amount of training can fix it. I'm telling you this as someone who has loads of formal training experience and has a close working relationship with some of the best trainers in my area. DON'T MIX TWO FEMALE BOXERS.

This is from your other thread:



Your response was that vets "are the ones who first-hand hear the stories and see the results and medically fix the problems," but you are wrong. In most cases, there don't even have to be physical injuries requiring a vet visit for boxer owners to realize they've made a huge mistake and overestimated their own abilities. The majority of the time, once the fighting starts, one of the females is quickly dumped in a shelter and euthanized for behavioral issues. (I know this firsthand as well.) Two things that are NOT required curriculum to become a veterinarian are behavioral training and nutrition. Your very best reference is experienced boxer owners, and you have that right here although you are doing everything you can to discredit their wealth of valuable information.

You also laughed off Chip18's link to breaking up a dog fight. If you persist down this road despite all attempts by experienced members to dissuade you, you should probably take it a little more seriously and study up. That might be the only thing that saves your ass when it all goes south. I'm telling you THAT from experience as well.

Good luck to you. You're gonna need it.

Excuse me??? First off, that is quite the response! I didn't laugh off Chip I literally thought it was funny because of others responses of two females and how they fight so he gave me a link for breaking up do fights that was funny not in an arrogant way but in a literally funny just the way the conversation went...
That is the bad thing of online world you can't perceive context. I will have to clairify with him nothing rude was meant.

Secondly we are disagreeing here on the vet thing which is fine. The rest of your paragraph there is exactly what I am wanting to know from people who have had two or more boxers. I haven't and I want more than 2 opinions! Which is why I started this thread.

Thirdly, I am not trying to change anyone's answers! As you clearly missed I am open to both sexes! Like I also said I googled old threads and there have been other people who have indicated that male female mixes fight. That is also why I started this thread because I want more than 2 opinions.

You don't have to be so incredibly rude and so, so mean. "Good luck you are gonna need it" so mean! Seriously??
 
#6 ·
We have 2 a large 5 year old male Max and small 1 1/2 year old female Zoe. Zoe loves to pester Max, he tolerates a lot, but sometimes it gets to the point that he tells her to back off which she does for a bit and then starts in again. I would say they live in harmony 99% of the time. Max doesn't allow her to cuddle with him :( but they do like each each other.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I have not had two boxers before, but I currently have a boxer and golden retriever who are both spayed female. They get along great. That being said, I would not bring another female bully breed into our household. Too much of a risk of things going south with female bully breeds. All the boxer rescues and breeders that I know of will not adopt a female boxer into a family that already has another female. They might do great, but there's a good chance they won't and then one of the dogs is going to have to go which is not a situation anyone wants to find themselves in. And they will likely get along perfectly fine until the younger female reaches about a year old and that's when things will start to go wrong. At that point you are obviously already attached to both dogs, so who would want to be in that position? Obviously any two dogs can fight, regardless of the breed or sex, but it is generally considered "safer" to have a male and female boxer pair.

My female boxer is not dominant, she will allow other dogs to take her toys, eat her food, mount her, etc, etc. She has always gotten along with other female dogs outside of our home, and even female dogs who come to our house for play dates or to stay for the weekend. But then I had a friend's female pit bull stay at our place for 3 weeks. These two always got along well, have known each other for years. Everything was great for the first two weeks, then in the last week there were some changes. They started keeping a close eye on each other during feeding times (cue feeding in separate rooms), the pit started to "guard" toys and the boxer started to be interested in these toys even though she didn't care for toys previously (cue no more toys allowed), they started to compete for attention and get jealous of the other dog getting some love from me, and they just generally started watching each other very intently at all times almost as though they were each on edge or "ready" in case something started. It never escalated, but I have no doubt that if the pit stayed any longer there would have been a scuffle. The two still see each other regularly and get along great and are buddies, but they would not have made good long term housemates. I have had more dogs stay at our house than I can count (I used to own a pet care company), but this was the only time things went weird with a female, and it was also the only female bully breed that has stayed with us.
 
#17 ·
This is great advice and insight.

As for me, I have always kept male/female pairs for the reasons people have pointed out about female/female pairs/combos. We had a male boxer and female Border Collie mix before with no issues.

We now have a male boxer and female lab/boxer (1 month apart in age- now only 4 and 5 months old respectively). Neither are fixed right now (as they are still a little too young), but we are planning on fixing our girl at about 6 months (making sure we get her fixed before her first heat), and the male will be fixed before 12 months.

They both love each other, but I realize things can change after puberty.
 
#8 ·
We were away at a cottage for a week. We were happy when we saw there was another Boxer there and she was female. Well, this dog snarled, growled and lunged at my 10 year old daughter when she was just running by her. Luckily she was on a leash or I hate to think of what would've happened... she did the same to Duke when we tried introducing them (this was before the incident with my daughter). After that, Duke was on high alert around that Boxer.

I know all dogs are different and this one was also a rescue (so who knows what she went through before being adopted) but nonetheless, she was much more high strung and aggressive than Duke!
 
#11 · (Edited)
I have had two Boxers in my lifetime and both were/are female. Both were/are aggressive towards other dogs both were dominant. Kippah my present female was/is a biotch to every dog she meets period. I was extremely and I dont say that lightly to find one dog she actually can get along with and still its not always lovey dovey. Im lucky Loki my pit/boxer male is extremely NON reactive and NON confrontational. Kippah just needs to give him the hairy eyeball and he knows what that means. He tolerates her and knows his position and has never even growled at her(which I cant say the same for her). I must admit its still a work in progress although I can say there has never been a fight between them just growling from Kippah. Well once when their collars got tangled(no collar rule in my house now) and Loki couldnt get away and Kippah couldnt understand WTH he wasnt backing off! Some dogs I believe are just loners just like some people I wont mention ;) Loki is a great dog and Im glad I got him but like I said its a work in progress.

ETA: Both are fixed both are rescues both were about 18 months when I got them(Loki has abuse in his background another reason this dog amazes me!) Loki is about 2 now and Kippah is about 5
 
#12 ·
I came across this on the web. It's long but worth a read because it does correspond to what a Wholelottaboxers said. I also think that you need to understand that it takes special people to participate in dog rescue. Once you have done it for awhile and you have seen the results of what happens when people don't take well-founded advice it is hard to sugar coat anything. I think it what was said was out of passion and to cut through the noise of "What if?" There are people on here who have a lot of experience and I tend to listen to the content and not the delivery. I am not apologizing for anybody - this is a personal observation. Continue to do your research but I would have my antennae up. Best of luck
Same Sex Dogs in the Home - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!
 
#33 ·
Thanks for the link and yes, I think "Wholelottaboxers" did a pretty good job of striking a balance with an edge. :)

If you sugar coat it too much, people just don't get it! And if you slam them too hard they just "disappear." Those that can understand useful criticism are the "owners" that we can help! :)
 
#13 ·
I don't think Cait was being rude or mean at all.....blunt, sure but that's because she knows first hand what a BAD idea two females are.

I am also going to chime in as a breeder with currently 6 female dogs in my home. 5 are intact and 1 is spayed. I NEVER have issues with males, it is only females I keep a close eye on. I DO NOT place female dogs in homes with other females.

Do yourself a huge favour.....if adding to your household get a male.
 
#18 ·
This is off topic, but these posts remind me of a story an instructor told when I was in training for working with battered women.

A man was trying to catch crabs on the beach, but couldn't keep them in his bucket for long. He passed another person with a bucket full of crabs, and asked how it was accomplished. That person said it was easy because they only go for the female crabs. When one female tries to get to the top to get out, the others pull her down.
 
#22 ·
Update on the Kippah Loki interaction. Yesterday right after I posted in here they got into their first fight. NO blood or cuts or scratches but a lot of noise and Kippah was pretty intense. Im not sure what happened exactly because I had just finished video taping them playing(first time videoing on my phone) and was trying to figure out how to save it when the fight broke out. Kippah had no collar on so it was difficult to get her off him. He really didnt seem to be going at her, more of trying to defend himself enough to get away from the crazy biotch! Im guessing it was caused by Kippah thinking Loki "slighted" her in some way, maybe crossing the boundary of her top dog status? I kept the separated for an hour or so but did let them out later together. Loki was showing avoidance with Kippah and basically just stayed away from her. If she came over even in a play bow to invite play he ignored her. She licked his face a few times and he just tolerated it. She did proceed to try to mount him several times which she hasnt done in awhile. Glad there was no injuries but trust me it sounded bad and was difficult to break up. Like I said before its still a work in progress
 
#24 ·
Thanks for everyone's replies! I didn't know that boxers were considered a "bully breed" so I learned so much more on this thread!

So if the pick is a male for a second boxer, does it matter if the boy is dominant or submissive? Remember this wouldn't be a rescue, it would be a puppy. I'm honestly worried now! I have read so much about this topic and it seems like they all fight regardless of the mix :( but I obviously am hearing the problem stories? They mustn't all fight, right?? Maybe another breed is a better choice for a second dog? I just love the boxers so much! Perhaps over thinking it now...
 
#34 ·
Yes you are overthinking it! If you go with a quality breeder they will help you find the dog you need!

That is kinda the point of breeders! :)

No one is trying to scare you away from another Boxer! We are all just letting you know that adding a second girl, is a very big deal in "Boxer"
world! And now you know!

But the girls also know when to stand down! When I had problems with my new guy! High-Rank drive GSD and resident BullMastiff/APBT/Lab mix both -dominant dogs but the GSD had High-Rank drive??? (Desire to improve his position within the dog pack). Bullies which I was familiar with don't have that "issue," problems were to come big time! But Struddell never got involved with any of it! She did not take sides and just stayed clear of the madness! So the girls know when to stand down also! :)
 
#25 · (Edited)
I believe boxers were bred from Old English bulldogs and a bullenbeisser, very much so a bully breed.

As for adding a 2nd dog,perhaps in your case looking into a rescue may not be such a bad idea, the adoption agencencies can place you with a dog that they think would fit, and likely on a trial basis,and many I've seen do have younger dogs...And it's always good to adopt.

I defiantly don't think they all fight? I guess that's when knowing your current dog takes play,how old is bunny, how is bunny with other dogs? You really have to look at the entire picture. Seems to me most people with male with males or females with males get along... Only thing being females are a bit more bossy. I guess you just have to take the plunge if you really want another boxer, only time will tell and perhaps a good grip on being a "pack leader" will help.

From what I read, maybe I'm wrong I know that a good breeder will pick out your puppy , instead of you getting to choose,being they study the pups behavior knowing what will fit with your home..

I can see adding another mouth can be a hard decision lol One is more than enough for me, I always think when I see a puppy I'd love to add another one and Duke really would love a friend, but I think we forget that in the end dogs really only need "us"..

Good luck :wavey:
 
#26 ·
I agree with 4paws... I think you first have to look at your current dog and their personality. If she LOVES other dogs and is pretty balanced or is more on the submissive side, then adding a boy boxer should work out just fine.

I think it's when you have a dominant female, that adding ANY boxer- male or female- could pose problems. Not saying you can't do it, but it would definitely have to be a male that is either balanced or on the more submissive side.

Lastly, I personally do feel it is even MORE important when having multiple dogs that they look to you as the "leader/alpha dog"... since handling two dogs can be exponentially more difficult than just one. So, if there are any training issues you're dealing with your current dog, get to work on those before adding the next pup. And, when you do get the second pup, I would make sure to have one-on-one time with each dog daily... training, walking, and playing with them separately.

Two dogs are definitely more than double the work, but TONS more fun! :)

Good luck!
 
#27 ·
I volunteer at a boxer rescue. We will NOT house a female in a home that already has a female boxer (for reasons stated above). Many (but not all) of the females that come through the rescue are dominant and don't do well with other dogs. The males tend to be more submissive and do well with other dogs. I've experienced the same in my home. Maggie is a dominant female - doesn't do well with other dogs (except Winston!). We brought home Winston as a puppy when she was 1 and they have been best friends since. Winston is very playful and very submissive. 4Paws makes a good point though. By adopting a dog you will know a little more about their personality. You can get a submissive male and have your female meet him first to make sure it's a good fit. Personally I LOVE having 2 boxers. They are so much fun and so goofy. They also do a great job of exercising each other which is great when my husband and I are having a lazy day at home.
You're doing a good job by asking lots of questions and trying to stay informed. Keep it up and you should be fine!
 
#28 ·
Jackson, my male boxer, can't tolerate any other large dogs, boxer or otherwise, male or female, without losing it. My 11 pound female westie/maltese mix, on the other hand, is absolutely the queen B of the household and completely controls him. If he so much goes out the door ahead of her, she barks at him furiously and chases him around the yard, biting his jowls - lol! I think he likes yanking her chain, to tell the truth... I won't have another female dog in the house because she's so dominant. No way!!
 
#31 ·
I link Max's issues to being jumped in two different training classes by dogs that were his size and their owners didn't have them under control. The first time was around a year old and the second about 5 months later.

Zoe has learned that if she wants to steal a toy from him she doesn't make eye contact with him, she will walk up to him and look up and the wall and then I'll see her paw itching forward and then she steals the toy and off she goes. Smart girl, now if other dogs would learn that trick too!!
 
#36 ·
We have always had two Boxers in the house, we started with one female, who was 14 months old when we get her. Then we rescued a 9 month old boy who is / was very timid and relaxed, our first girl definitely wore the pants in the boxer family! She was definitely the boss, and would get after Sampson if he got in her way, that being said they got along famously and would play endlessly with most of the time Sampson biting at the back of Zoe's legs....

Zoe passed away from Cancer at 5 years old when Sampson was not quite 4, we got another female last August, Britta was 1o weeks old when we got her and we like to say that they tolerate each other well...

She tries to pester Sampson and he will tolerate it to a point, but if he gets ticked off enough he lets out the most sharp, loud bark - just a single bark and she goes scurrying across the floor in terror of him! Its quite funny actually.

So just goes to show it really depends on the mix of dog personalities...

Sampson was the underdog with our old girl, but now he is top dog with our younger girl...

They will cuddle when it is cold, and she will climb into his bed if need be with him and he tolerates it, but are they best friends - nope. But we dont have fights thankfully....just a healthy respect for each other....

We will always have at least two boxers in the house, as much as I complain about feeding them and boxer crazies - I love my pups...

As a side note, would I put two females in the same house - not without another male to moderate.....

One male or one female, two males or male and female - never just two females - but that is just my opinion...
 
#38 ·
I like to think of my female as "passionate". She is sweet as can be...even reserved.. BUT once she gets set off its like a whole other side of her comes out.
She is a rescue and was surrendered with another female to the SPCA. They were the same age at the time they were surrendered 18 months...not sure if they came from the same litter. The SPCA kept the 2 girls in the same kennel but would not let them be adopted together.
At first I felt kind of guilty about adopting her without her "sister" but after reading this thread and others about the perils of 2 girls perhaps it was for the best.
 
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