Advice please, to keep 2 female dogs or not?

[Marne]

I have posted here a few times in the past (each time i spot a dog that we might want to re-home), a while ago we looked at a bitch to keep our female Staffie company, the re-homing center adviced us to get a male dog or a larger bread dog. So we left it for a while and decided to stick to having 1 dog.

I have just found out that my friend can no longer keep her female EBT due spliting up with her partner, i have always wanted a EBT but was hoping to fun a male to re-home. Would it be silly to consider taking on a female when i already have a female staffie? The EBT is only 5 months old so still a pup, she has been living with another EBT and young children.

I was told that if 2 females fight they will fight to the death. Has anyone else got 2 females (bull terier types)?

My dog has been spayed and i would get the EBT spayed too (when she's old enough).

I have a female staffie and was told by a couple of reputable rescues that they have a blanket policy of not rehoming any bitch with a bull breed bitch. Another major rescue would have given us a bitch but not another bull breed bitch iyswim.

All the evidence I found when looking was anecdotal, so to be taken with a pinch of salt I guess, but on bully forums there seemed to be a fair few horror stories of escalating fighting ending in rehomings. On balance, even though my girl is very dog friendly, I personally decided it wasn't worth the risk. It was no hardship for us to take a boy though!

I have two F dogs and they get on great. One spayed one not as yet.

, i dont know what to do. I'm worried as our dog is a bit like a spoilt only child, she hasn't had much to do with other dogs but is fine when we meet other dogs out (but wants to play), we used to go walking with another Staffy and she was very playful with him (she does growl a lot but only playful growling, she's very verbal), she's never gone for another dog, even when a jack russell went for her she just hid in the corner of the room, she doesn't have a bad bone in her body but could easily piss another dog off by being too friendly.

Idealy she would probably be best with a younger puppy as she would mother it (like she does with the cat) or a older bigger dog that could put her in her place if too playful but i like the thought of getting this one as i know its background, its come from a house with children and other anaimals and i know if they dont get on i could probably return her.

We have 2 females, we were also told we couldn't get a rescue female because we already had a female, but we had 2 female dogs before and they got on fine, our current 2 females (we had to get a puppy in the end) love each other to pieces.

What would worry me about this is the EBT's age. They could get along okay for quite a while then run into problems later on when she matures. Do you have a set up that would allow you to keep them separated if there are issues?

2 female labs. One was 3 when I got the other 1 year old. Both play roughly with each other (no growls just neck grabbing) and get on well with each other and with other dogs. Labs tend to be social by nature so I would take advice from an actual breeder perhaps?

My sister keeps dogs and always say that the risk with two femals is that they will 'fight to the death'. If you are lucky, you can have two that get on, but if unlucky you may end up with two who just bicker and fight. She has two at one stage - both lovely bitches with nice natures, well trained but for some reason one just tried to wind the other one up until she would nip at her and a fight would ensue.

It's perfectly possible to have two bitches that will live together perfectly fine forever, but if bitches do fight they tend to bear grudges and it can escalate until they cannot be together at all. This happened with two of my Golden Retriever bitches, who are both perfectly fine with all other dogs, in fact, great wth even difficult dogs, but cannot be together at all as they will fight immediately on site pretty much every time, resulting in serious injuries needing veterinary treatment/stitches. Nothing wrong with the temperement of either bitch, they just do not like each other. It started when the youngest reached maturity, just after she was two, which is a common age for problems to develop. Keeping two bitches apart int he same household, especially if you have children, is exhausted.

Bull breeds (although I hate to stereotype) can tend to be aggressive with other dogs and in all honesty, I think having two bull breed bitches is potentially asking for trouble when you don't need to. Rescues suggest a bitch and a dog or a bitch of a different breed for good reason.

Is there really no way your friend can keep her dog? They can't have had it long. If the breeder was a reputable one they will take it back.

Friend is saying i can try them together and can always take her back, troube is it means me driving to get her, bringing her back here for a couple days and if it doesnt work out i would have to drive her back (its an hours drive), wish i could take my dog to meet her but she gets too upset in the car .

I could keep them seperate (we have lots of stair gates) but it would probably make my dog pine a lot as she would just want to be with the other dog.

I have a feeling my friend might change her mind and keep her, she hasn't had her long and payed a lot of money for her, she loves her animals to bits, i'm not realy sure why she is getting rid of her (i know it must be tough spliting with her partner and being short of money), maybe she will change her mind when things have settled down a little.

My brother has 3 bitches, 2 are staffies, not sure if the 3rd one is too. They all get on fine!

We have decided not to risk it, we will look into getting a male (probably a pup from rescue). I am gutted though as i would have loved to have given her a home, i'm sure my friend will find someone to take her.

We got a male pup from rescue at 9 weeks and he gets on like a house on fire with our girl now.

Would your friend look into rehoming through an EBT or bully rescue? There's an awful lot of scope for her to fall into the wrong hands if rehomed privately.

She's being careful, this is why she wanted me to have her, she knows if i have her she wont be used as a puppy machine, she's worried she will get into the wrong hands, she has now advertised her elsewhere but has a high price on her and will do home checks. I feel really sad that we cant have her but i dont want to have her only to have to re-home her again if it doesn't work out. Our Staffie is a part of our family and fits in well, i dont want to upset that by bringing another female into the house.

I have four females & one male( he's neutered) living in the house.
Three of the girls are Skyes, not the most sunny natured of terriers but they all get along just fine.