two female dogs in the same household

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

I had a similar question 11 months ago. http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?364509-How-much-can-you-tell-about-a-puppy-at-12-weeks

No issues here but, I will say, they aren’t totally BFF. Not a bad thing, though, because my original dog was more than happy when the kids had a higher energy dog to play with.

Like everyone in “my” thread said, just be prepared for the worst. I’ve tried to be proactive by never giving them a reason to fight about anything and keeping them both crate/gate trained when unsupervised.

[wendy]

Yes, read about all this and use your CRITICAL thinking skills, because yes, there are trade-offs, but they still today weight, for the majority of dog owners, to spaying right before puberty.

the preponderance of evidence indicates its better for your dog’s health to not spay before the dog reaches full physical maturity, which is around 2 years of age for a big dog like a ridgeback. Males, the preponderance of evidence indicates it’s better to never neuter. Particularly in large dogs prone to osteosarcoma.
But yes, feel free to go actually read the studies. Don’t bother asking your vet- most are still giving out the “party line” about neutering before puberty, either because they don’t trust their clients to keep their dogs from breeding, or because they remain blissfully unaware of any of the newer evidence.

My recommendation would be to have a ‘trial period’ with the new puppy after your dog meets it to make sure they’ll be able to live in harmony.

this won’t tell you anything- usually bitch warfare only starts after the puppy reaches full maturity. The theory is: despite our love of the thought of it, dogs aren’t actually “pack animals”. When they observe free-living dogs, they live in male-female pairs, or live alone, not in packs. Wolves, closely related, are also not really pack animals- a “wolf pack” is actually a mated female-male pair and their offspring and occasionally a relative or two of the mated pair. The offspring grow up and as they reach maturity they disperse and go looking for a mate. So it’s fairly abnormal for two adult bitches to live together. We of course have bred dogs to be more social and accepting of strangers than wolves are (or at least, with some breeds- with others we’ve bred them to be more aggressive).
From what the OP says, her current bitch will probably be fine, but she won’t know if the new pup will be- pup will grow up, and may decide to evict the older female.

[Starhouse]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. With Cairo, the vet insisted that we spay her at 6 months. She told us Cai would be more likely to get cancer if we waited. We followed her advice with that, but this vet also told us not to socialize her until after she had ALL of her puppy shots, which would be around 4 months IIRC. The breeder told us (and we had read while doing research before getting her) that the window to socialize puppies becomes drastically smaller right around 4 months, so we did not want to wait. We did not follow the vets advice for the socialization stuff because with this breed, we knew how important it was to get her out there, meeting lots of people and other animals. We didn’t take her to a huge public place but we did let her interact with friends’ dogs that we knew were UTD on all vaccinations. The point of this run-on paragraph is that I understand that the vet’s ideas of what are the best practices may not be on par with what is ultimately best for our dog(s).

We were very picky about what breeder we got Cairo from and I hope we can get a second puppy from them. If not, we will be open and honest about what we expect from the new puppy. Wendy brought up a really good point that it’s not really Cairo we need to be worried about; it’s the new puppy because we don’t know how she will mature.

[Bluey]

Well, vets are the ones that see the sick dogs, the ones with cancer directly related to not being spayed before those pesky estrogen receptors matured at puberty.
Vets are also the ones that have to try to save the puppies that got sick where it could possibly have been prevented.
We have to understand where vets come from with their recommendations.

In our dog club, we have for all the years socialized puppies in the club yard after their second shots.
We formed it in 1978, so have many years now socializing puppies with adult dogs we know are good with puppies right along, after their first shots.
Socializing properly may mean as much to a dog thru it’s life than the chance it may get exposed to something deadly, which should not happen in our dog club yard and with properly vaccinated dogs.

Each one has to decide for themselves what is best for our dogs and that may not be the same for all and that is ok.

Good luck finding your next dog.

[S1969]

As far as the socializing your puppy – the rule of thumb isn’t that you don’t socialize them until they have all their puppy shots, but that you don’t allow them to socialize with dogs you don’t know their vaccination status… Maybe your vet didn’t realize that this slightly different way of saying it might make a big difference in how it would be interpreted? It’s really important to socialize puppies, but not a great idea to let them play with dogs that may not be fully vaccinated.

However, if you are sure your dog’s playmates are vaccinate and healthy…go for it! (Personally, I’d be more worried about lack of socialization than the chance of illness except for places like the vet, the dog park, PetSmart, etc…I know my friends all vaccinate their animals, so I’d have no reservations bringing along my puppy to visit their dogs…)

ETA: re-reading your post I see you agreed with what I wrote already.

[Houndhill]

OP, if you get your puppy from a good breeder who is upfront about how her bitches have interacted, I’m sure you will be fine. I know many Ridgeback breeders who keep multiple bitches together with no issues…granted, these are usually intact bitches. Spayed bitches can be more aggressive (there are published articles that support this, do a literature search, spaying androgenizes bitches and spayed bitches tend to be more aggressive than intact bitches), but usually you will not have a problem even if the bitches are spayed.

Agree that just because a puppy is OK, doesn’t mean you won’t have a problem as she matures…but probably you will be OK if the bitch is from a line of Ridgeback bitches who tend to get along with other Ridgeback bitches.

[Houndhill]

…and, don’t discount a male Rigeback! They do not tend to mark in the house. They tend to be a lot of dog, true, but can be terrific dogs!

[Starhouse]

[QUOTE=Houndhill;7086698]
…and, don’t discount a male Rigeback! They do not tend to mark in the house. They tend to be a lot of dog, true, but can be terrific dogs![/QUOTE]

They are just so HUGE…Cairo’s dad is 125 lbs! I think we’d have to buy a minivan just for the dogs; we don’t even have human kids! lol.

[Houndhill]

Shoot, that’s not huge! My smallest bitches weigh 135, big males weigh 175 and more! Some 200, but we don’t talk about that.

Just get yourselves a big enough vehicle to transport, you will do fine!

[summerhorse]

It just depends on the dogs, don’t pick a puppy that is either very alpha or very submissive. Try to pick the easy going, middle of the road type. I’ve had many mixes of dogs and it was the dogs’ personalities that created the problems, not their spay/neuter status/age.

[Starhouse]

Ehh I grew up with a small 55lb Golden so over double that sounds pretty big to me. Cai weighs about 90 lbs but she’s alll muscle. She is tall but not “big”.

[JanM]

Years ago friends had Papillons, and during the day they were separated by baby gates inside the house. Paul and his wife had about six to eight usually, and sometimes more with rescue fostering. They both had their favorite female, and the two Paps hated each other. They would come home from work and find teeth (Paps can have bad teeth, and lose them from trying to chomp through the gates) on the floor, or see new tooth marks on the gates. It’s not always size or breed that governs competition, but sometimes jealousy, or rivalry.

[Houndhill]

OK, I just have to tell you about a male Rigdeback I knew very well , named Ed. My breed is Irish Wolfhounds, but of all the other dogs I have known, Ed was among the coolest. He was so stable, earnest, intelligent, everything a dog should be. He was a breed champion, very athletic, protective too. His owner, a vet, used to walk Ed and her other dogs with me and my wolfhounds daily. I so admired and respected Ed, he was one of a kind. I bet he weighed 125 too.

You know you want one! If you have a vehicle that an accommodate two adult RR bitches, surely it could accommodate a dog and a bitch!

[Starhouse]

I drive a little Subaru Legacy! Haha. But we are trying to start a family so maybe a bigger vehicle is in the future, anyway.

Darn, I really don’t like letting my husband win on too many things…he was going to let me get away with getting another female even though he wants a male. Honestly it will come down to whatever the breeder thinks is best. They know their dogs better than anyone else.

[Houndhill]

[QUOTE=Starhouse;7086765]
I drive a little Subaru Legacy! Haha. But we are trying to start a family so maybe a bigger vehicle is in the future, anyway.

Darn, I really don’t like letting my husband win on too many things…he was going to let me get away with getting another female even though he wants a male. Honestly it will come down to whatever the breeder thinks is best. They know their dogs better than anyone else.[/QUOTE]

That sounds like a very good idea. I am sure she will know what will work the best for you.

[Megaladon]

We’ve had a mixed pack throughout the years and I really do think same sex aggression comes down to the dogs’ personalities. The connection with the ones that had problems is that both dogs were alphas to the core. The biggest problem dogs we had with this were Pits and English Mastiff (not that that means it’s a breed thing–just a note). I think you will be fine if you pick out the puppy who is least likely to be alpha.

[DoubleClick]

I had the pleasure of taking care of an intact male ridgeback for about nine weeks while his owners were on an extended vacation. He was from one of the most renown kennels in the country and was a beautiful, beautiful dog. He was a big boy, but he was so, so sweet and playful and outgoing. Their bitch was darling, too, but she was much more particular about the people she socialized with. Once you were in her inner circle, you had her heart, but she wasn’t going to get all bubbly with strangers. Anyways, I really enjoyed the boy. He didn’t mark in the house, even though he lived with an intact bitch. He was big and strong, but he was such a sweet mush of a guy who liked to do guy things! I used to take him to the dog beach on Lake Michigan, and people used to line the pier to watch him bound around…he was just so gorgeous.

Anyways, if you get a boy, I’m sure you’ll really enjoy him. I have a big, intact male Doberman, and he is such a dude. Takes so much abuse from the small breed girl dogs he lives with and loves it. Girls have so much to offer, but so do big, sweet boys! Good luck in whatever you decide. Make sure to post puppy pictures when the time comes!

[Starhouse]

[QUOTE=DoubleClick;7087118]
I had the pleasure of taking care of an intact male ridgeback for about nine weeks while his owners were on an extended vacation. He was from one of the most renown kennels in the country and was a beautiful, beautiful dog. He was a big boy, but he was so, so sweet and playful and outgoing. Their bitch was darling, too, but she was much more particular about the people she socialized with. Once you were in her inner circle, you had her heart, but she wasn’t going to get all bubbly with strangers. Anyways, I really enjoyed the boy. He didn’t mark in the house, even though he lived with an intact bitch. He was big and strong, but he was such a sweet mush of a guy who liked to do guy things! I used to take him to the dog beach on Lake Michigan, and people used to line the pier to watch him bound around…he was just so gorgeous.

Anyways, if you get a boy, I’m sure you’ll really enjoy him. I have a big, intact male Doberman, and he is such a dude. Takes so much abuse from the small breed girl dogs he lives with and loves it. Girls have so much to offer, but so do big, sweet boys! Good luck in whatever you decide. Make sure to post puppy pictures when the time comes![/QUOTE]

I think you just described our female to a “t”. She is very sweet but also reserved. She will rarely be the first one to go up and say hi; we usually have to tell her to go “say hello”. That’s unless the person in question is a child; then she can’t WAIT to say hello She loves kids. But she is super affectionate and cuddly with us and our close friends/families.

[cowboymom]

I’m positive IMO that there are RR behind the Blackmouth Curs… when I read people talking about their RR’s here I’m always struck how similar they sound. Possibly the big difference I hear is that my dogs are sweet and kind with baby anythings with no prey drive at all… but they’re raised that way too.

[alto]

[QUOTE=Starhouse;7086765]
Honestly it will come down to whatever the breeder thinks is best. They know their dogs better than anyone else.[/QUOTE]

Since you really like your present dog, why not just contact that breeder & wait for a suitable pup through her (him?) - I suspect this will maximize your chances of getting 2 compatible females

Look around for a Ridgeback forum, that may give you a more breed specific view of mixing 2 girls (the age difference is likely in your favor) - note that spayed females actually tested as more aggressive than intact females (surprised the research team!).

How determined are you to have another Ridgeback, have you considered other shorthaired breeds where the males may be smaller.