# wife's female pup and looking for a hunter?



## nate_dogg (May 16, 2007)

This may be a stupid question, but I am wondering if I need to be careful. My wife has a 3 month old female puggle and I am going to be getting a hunting dog, (lab, brittany, GSP, etc.) so many good breeds out there to choose from.

Should I try to get a female? Or won't it matter? I just don't want to have any issues.

Thanks


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

it wont matter, get a female they are easier to deal with for the most part


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## englishpointer (May 16, 2005)

doesnt matter m or f , only 10% of all registered animals are worthy of breeding. Chances are you will find a dog that is great for you and your family but not a good breeding dog. So buy a male and get him fixed.

As far as finding a breed that fits you do allot of research and go visit the places that have these breeds. If you have childern take them with , I acutally let the dog pick my family not the other way around.


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## nate_dogg (May 16, 2007)

I don't plan on ever breeding them so they will both be spayed or neutered. I just don't want to deal with any dominance issues or anything like that.

I like the idea of letting the dog pick the family. I have two small girls, 2 and 4, so it is important that the new dog be good with kids. I plan on doing some more research and trying to find a good breeder to visit to meet the pups and their parents.

thanks for the suggestions.


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## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

englishpointer said:


> doesnt matter m or f , only 10% of all registered animals are worthy of breeding. Chances are you will find a dog that is great for you and your family but not a good breeding dog. So buy a male and get him fixed.
> 
> As far as finding a breed that fits you do allot of research and go visit the places that have these breeds. If you have childern take them with , I acutally let the dog pick my family not the other way around.


I'm curious.... Where did you come up with the 10% figure? I'm not disagreeing, just wondering. If you are talking all registered dogs, the 10% figure is probably close (maybe even a little high), but if you are talking about pups from reputable breeders who are doing health clearances, are very particular about the dogs they breed, etc. I think the percentage of pups from those breeders that are of breeding quality is much higher. What the percentage would be, I have no idea but if only one out of every 10 pups I produced were of breeding quality I'd be doing something differently.

Letting a pup pick out the family, taking kids with you, etc. is fine if you are getting a pup from a well bred litter and a reputable breeder, which everyone should.......generally speaking the pups should be of similar quality. Keep in mind also that the pup who comes running over to play with the kids may have just woke up from a nap and is ready for some action and the one who goes over in the corner and lays down and goes to sleep may have been rough housing for and hour before you go there. 
You could go back the next day and have the opposite reaction to your kids from the same two pups.


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## springdal (Jul 8, 2008)

As a former dog training (obedience) instructor, I would recommend you get a male. Two or more females tend to get into the dominance issues. I didn't listen to my own advice :eyeroll: and got a 2nd female (already had a female and a male) and the younger girl took over from the start with my female. She never bothers with the male...no problems whatsoever. Fortunately, my older female always backed off so I never had any real problems.


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