Two female boxers?

[Chad0429]

So, we have our Lola, a white boxer who's about 4.5 years old and we love her to death. Best boxer ever - I don't care what any of y'all say.

We're thinking about getting our Lola a new friend. We recently took in a toy poodle from a family memeber who's situation was such that the poodle couldn't be taken care of. We gave it a little while, but the TP just wasn't for our family so we found him a good home today.

Well, the TP was a him and he was CONSTANTLY smelling and trying to get busy with Lola, so we've decided that we think another female dog is the way to go.

We love love love our boxer and want another, but I've heard that two females don't really get along together.

Fact of fiction, or does it just depend?

Please enlighten us.

 

[gmacleod]

Bitch fighting is fact, sadly.

I think the major things you need to bear in mind when considering two females are:
(a) if they're going to fight, it is unlikely that it will start to happen until the youngest one is at least two years old. The massive implication of this is that, if you get a second female that is a puppy, it will be two years at least until you know whether or not it is going to work. And its a nasty surprise when you have to look at rehoming one bitch, when they've been "best of friends" for the last two years. However, bitch fighting is an ADULT issue - it rarely involves puppies.
(b) when bitches fight, it quickly turns serious. Unlike dogs, who generally just fight for supremacy and cease fighting once that is established - bitches fight to get rid of the other bitch. That means serious fighting, that frequently escalates to "to the death" (literally, NOT figuratively) sort of fighting. And once it starts, it is extremely difficult to stop. In many (possibly most) cases, that actually means it is impossible to stop - and the only solution is to keep the dogs permanently separated (never in the same room, etc), or to rehome one of them.

Of course, there are multi-bitch combination that do work out. Probably more than half of them do. But there is a sizeable minority that do not work. And it isn't minor "not working" but a really serious issue.

If you're going to consider two boxer bitches, you *must* consider the very real possibility that, 2 years down the track, it isn't going to work. You need to be prepared to put in the hard yards with a behaviourist in that case, and to be prepared for the possibility that you might have to deal with permnanent separating or rehoming.