Male or Female Lab?

[winniewalleye777]

I am looking at getting a chocolate lab pup sometime this spring. I trained my parents female chocolate when I was in high school so I have some experience with labs, but am now looking for a dog of my own. I absolutely loved training and hunting behind my parents dog, but she was so dominant around other dogs (especially other females) that it almost took the fun away.

Is this a common trait of female labs? I am leaning toward a male at this point, but am open to all advice.

I will be training the dog for pheasant and duck hunting.

One more thing, I live in Redwood Falls and could use some advice on where to begin my search for breeders and such. Thanks in advance!

[setterguy]

Touchy subject, and realizing this please understand that these are simply generalizations and my own findings.

Female pros - Seem to progress quicker (catch on and stay focused during training better)

When spayed they done make a mess, mark things etc.

Smaller size

And in my experience a little more protective of kids and spouses

If you do want to eventually breed you have that option.

Female cons - without spaying they will make a mess and make other dogs a pain to keep away, many field trials will not allow you to run a dog in season. Along with this comes unwanted pregnancies.

Depending on how you look at it, they are smaller which can relate to not being as strong in the field, and not take as much "abuse" in the field.

Male pros - Stronger, last longer in field, seem to be a little less hard headed and more pleasing to the owner.

A little more affectionate towards the owner.

No mess from being in season.

Male cons - will become interested in females and sometimes loose focus to the task at hand when they are around.

Marking

I've seen male dogs be aggressive towards other males, I don't tolerate this, but some allow it.

Bigger, sometimes a determent when trying to get through grouse cover, etc.

Again, total generalizations YMMV.

[winniewalleye777]

Thank you for the response. Just another thing I forgot to add, I will not be looking at breeding this dog and will be spay/neutering early on.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Female

Female all the way, It does not have to squirt on every tire tree and power pole in the area. It also does not looke to breed all the females inthe area.

Just my two cents...

[Scott K]

If you plan on neutering a male when young, they are about the best option in my opinion. If you dont plan on getting the dog fixed, then I would go female.

[Dave S]

Male pros - Stronger, last longer in field, seem to be a little less hard headed and more pleasing to the owner.

I disagree. I hunted over a female this past week that is absolutely a stick of dynamite once she's in the field. The only thing that slows her performance down is when she knows we're back home. She's not a purebred lab. She's a cross between a Lab and Golden Retriever and look like a fox red British lab with the same size (about 50 lbs)

A little more affectionate towards the owner.

My past experience with male labs is they're more independant and bullheaded where the females I've had of different breeds (GSP and Lab) have been more loyal and/or affectionate

No mess from being in season.

Not sure if you're referring to females being in a heat cycle here but if so, males are always in season. If there's a hot female around, males are always ready to go for the double bullseye. As you mentioned earlier, if a male isn't fixed, they're easily deterred.

All this said, I would opt for a female British Lab if possible. Their smaller stature dogs than the other labs making it easier to get into bullrushes, easier to get into the truck or boat if you have to lift them and are just as durable as any other breed out there.

Just my

[Scott K]

I agree with the British labs, I have 2, a male and a female. The male is fixed, and was fixed at a young age. He is 2.5yo and is the mellowest dog I have ever seen. He can hunt all day long, as long as he is getting onto some birds. He is just starting to get a little protective of me, and is starting to growl at strangers, and bark anytime someone is in the yard.

The female is only 7 months old, so she has some growing up to do, but compared to the male, she is rather hyper, which in time, I am sure she will outgrow most of it. The female isnt fixed yet, but will be soon. They are both house dogs, and get a long great with each other. The British breed, is much smaller, the male is about 55#, and the female is about 30#. They are very quick learning, smart dogs. I would hunt my male along side some of the best dogs out there, and he will hold his own. The female, I have hunted on her own, and she does well, but will get bored after 20 minutes or so of no birds, and will stop cornering, and walk about 5 feet in front of me, if there were birds, I would easily hunt her for 4-6 hours with no problems. Now if we could cure the shedding problem, all would be good!

[setterguy]

Again I said these were generalizations

Males = bigger stronger,thus have more muscle mass thus will be able to fire those muscles longer.

A well trained unfixed male will not be a problem. A non trained fixed male is a serious problem.

You cannot train a female not to come into heat.

ONCE AGAIN THESE ARE GENERALIZATIONS (my cousin had a dog, etc) can come up whenever. Call a breeder, they will echo my sentiments.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Absolutely 100% agree!!!

[caseymcq]

Flip a coin...

You can end up either way with a male or female.

[ole matty]

Not a lab but I had hunted behind female springer hard for 5 days in row and she still want to go out the next day.

I don't think you can go wrong with either sex. As long it's trained well your ll be fine.

[vman11]

but she was so dominant around other dogs (especially other females) that it almost took the fun away.

Is this a common trait of female labs? I am leaning toward a male at this point, but am open to all advice.

I had a female with a similar temperment, but I didn't blame the dog, I blamed myself. She wasn't introduced to enough other dogs as she was maturing. The minute she saw another dog she got protective because she didn't know any better.

My current yellow lab is female and as soon as I picked her up from the kennel I brought her to the dog park. We visited the park 3-4 times per week for the first 6 months and she learned to socialize with other dogs quite well. I never had to worry about her attacking another hunting partner's dog. She gets along great with my inlaws Yorkie and isn't aggressive towards others.

[Lunker]

You can't go wrong either way, I have hunted with great female and male labs.

Everyone has their personal preferences, affected by their past experiences(for example why the people above will disagree over an attribute of a dog and which sex has the best of it).

My personal preference is male, and will be getting one this spring. In my experience they are more affecionate than the females, and I want a little bigger body(mostly duck hunt vs field hunting). But as I said, this is my experience. Another example of personal prejudice is I won't own a chocolate. Even though I know they are genetically identical, the few chocolates I have known were dogs with a tons of health problems, so I immediatley think of that when I see a chocolate.

[LABS4ME]

I won't own a chocolate. Even though I know they are genetically identical,

Not quite, Chocolates are a mutation of the Black gene... so not identical.

Also, the gene pool for chocolates was small as far as breeding dogs for years, and there was a lot more indiscriminate breeding for color only... this is all turning the corner and if you put in your due diligence, good Chocolates can be found.

Not even going to go into the Male / Female debate... if there was truely one sex glaringly better than the other, there'd be a whole lot of one sex left to be sold for next to nothing...!

Good Luck!

Ken