Second dog with existing entire male?

[madspringer]

I have a very sweet 4 year old entire male Springer, and have recently started looking for a second dog. Our current dog is lovely - he can get a bit anxious, hence still being entire, as recommended by an accredited behaviourist we worked with a couple of years ago. He is often walked with a friend's neutered male Spaniel, and I have noticed that he gets a real confidence boost from being with another dog, and really seems to enjoy himself, so think it might be good for him to have some canine company. He likes to get a lot of reassurance from us when he's not sure about something, and I think a strong bond with another dog might be a positive thing for him.

We recently applied for a male rescue dog, but were turned down as he was also entire. The rescue said that even if our boy is laidback, they would be wary of another male, whether neutered or entire, finding him threatening due to being entire and this leading to fights. I had kind of assumed we'd get another male dog, as it's what we're used to, but I'm now thinking this won't work, as our current dog has shown no problematic behaviour due to being entire, and I don't want to neuter him for the sake of it. I also really don't want to stress our current dog out by introducing another dog, as he is obviously our priority.

I'm thinking the most logical option is a spayed female rescue, but does anyone have any experience of which sexes mix best together? We are also debating a puppy, but I don't want to be in a position where I have to neuter the puppy or risk fighting. But how would it work if we got a female puppy when she reached her first season? We could split the dogs up and one of us could stay elsewhere during her first season, and would plan to spay after this, but I'm just not sure... Or if we have an entire male is another dog off the table? Help!

We had an entire male labrador when we got our male Viszla puppy and they got on well, although the lab was 10. Lab lived until 14 so they had 4 good years living harmoniously - no fighting whatsoever. Another young entire male dog is currently staying with us and gets on fine with the still intact viszla since they've grown up together. Obviously, this is only our experience and I think it really depends on the temperament of each dog.
However, when out walking my viszla has been attacked by other more aggressive male dogs (both neutered and entire) presumably because he's intact himself.
It will very much depend on the breed, socialisation and personality of the dogs living together. I just wanted to let you know that it is possible for entire males to live together. Hope I don't get flamed for saying so.

My daughter has a entire male spaniel, he suffers from anxiety so the vet said not to neuter him theyve also got a bitch who he loves. She recently rehomed a male who'd been castrated , but they fought constantly and she had to give him back.

Some rescues are real iffy about you having an unneutered pet, full stop.

A dog and a bitch is the most obvious choice for being hassle free, but absolutely you can have same sex dogs together fine, obviously that’ll depend on the individual dogs, but loads of people do it.

I’ve got 2 unneutered adult males here now, one because he’s nervous and reactive so we’ve decided to leave him entire and one because he arrived a week ago.

It’s going great, the second day in they did have quite a few over dramatic noisy handbag at dawn type fights but new dog realised he’s much smaller than reactive dog and since then they’re settling in really well. (Obviously we’ve had a whole process, we haven’t just put them in together and hoped for the best, lol)

2 entire males here with no problems. Lab and BT.

BT was a puppy when introduced to lab (who loves other dogs). So he grew up with lab. Not sure my BT would be impressed with a third addition though…

Interesting, it seems like there's no hard and fast rule! That's good news though, as it opens up our options 😊

A spayed bitch isnt necessarily the answer, our entire male just shagged her anyway, and she let him! This meant they had to be kept apart constantly rather than just at set times.

I grew up with entire male whippets, we had 3 at some point. I don't remember them ever fighting.

However, the 3 hated the Poodle that lived a few houses down the road... they were always barking at each other.

IME most rescues won't let you adopt if you have an unneutered dog of either sex in the house (puppies aside).

In terms of compatibility, I think it's down to the dogs themselves rather than the sex. I walk dogs and I have all sorts of mixes that get on well together.

We found entire male & spayed female the happiest/calmest mix. Currently 2 entire & 2 neutered males, and actually the 2 entire get on best, but it’s not guaranteed - when they get a whiff of a bitch in season they sometimes both go all prickly.

We had 3 male dogs in our family until recently. Dog A entire, dog B neutered (as an adult), dog C entire. Dog A and B were the best of friends even before neutering B. Dog C and dog B live together, get on great most of the time but dog C can fight dog B over food triggers (easily avoided and theyre perfectly happy). Dog C and dog A had to be kept separate or they'd fight. Both absolutely fine with female dogs in the family, in fact dog C content to be bullied by female dogs. It's entirely down to personality/ individual compatability. Insecure entire males don't mix with other entire males generally, but can be fine with neutered males or females.

Your biggest problem will be getting a rescue if you already have an entire male.
I speak from experience .
I did find a rescue willing to home a spayed bitch to me, and there was never a problem with them getting on.
It's very much an individual thing though

My preference is always one male and one female. I’ve found generally the female is the boss hence no cross words!

Ive also had castrated males with uncastrated males no problem.

Two females is the only mix I’ve never had because I’ve heard horror stories, but in the future it’s probably something I’ll consider!