Post by christieb on Oct 4, 2014 18:40:04 GMT -5
I would simply avoid the most aggressive pup and the one that hides in a corner. A middle-of-the-roader seems to be the best choice regardless of gender.
I will say, however, that I have only owned one male dog - a yellow lab. He was sweet and lovable but so fixed on following his nose that he was difficult to call back once he was following a scent. All my female dogs have been more responsive to my commands, and more attached, it seems. And for the record, they were a terrier/spaniel mix, a pomeranian, another terrier mix (with boxer?), and our current Border CollieXCorgie and German Shepherd. (Obviously we are not loyal to one breed!)
I will also add that I have been bitten by a male heeler, and most recently a neighbor's dog (another male heeler) was destroyed after severely biting a neighbor's child. Not condemning Heelers (I actually am quite fond of them), just reporting the facts, mam!
Well, I'm not sure which puppies were "middle of the road". None of them was aggressive, really (although two of them did like to play fight with each other more than the others). There was one, the female, who was more reserved (ran off at one point, and didn't come back for awhile). And there was one who was more afraid of us (shivered a lot when I held him). He warmed up to my oldest, though. And at the end, when we were leaving, he was whimpering a lot (I think he wanted his mom), and when I put my hand down toward him, he didn't move away, but instead leaned his head into my hand and stopped whimpering. He is also the smallest. I don't know if that plays into his personality or not. He also was a bit of a "loner" in terms of interacting with the other puppies. The one we *think* we've chosen is probably as middle-of the road as any were. He seemed more comfortable with us, was friendly, liked to play. And adorable (all them were, to be honest). The smallest, frightened, one was the boys' second choice. We're still pondering. The boys actually want to get both, but we're just getting one.
Thanks for sharing the information about heelers biting. We have met some, and none of them are biters, so I'm going to hope that this will go well.