Searching for a new puppy is an exciting time! There are lots of tough decisions to make when selecting your doodle and with so many factors to consider it can all be a bit overwhelming. One of the most common questions when thinking about getting a new puppy is “which gender is best?”
Ask around and you’ll get many different answers. You’ll hear horror stories and you’ll hear firm declarations of superiority. How do you cut through the biased opinions and decide for yourself if a male or female doodle is right for you? It’s actually quite simple, so let’s break it down!
NOTE: For the purposes of this article, we’re assuming that you’ll be spaying or neutering your puppy in a timely manner.
Physical Differences
While there are certainly lots of exceptions, as a rule of thumb, male doodles tend to be slightly larger than females in both height and weight. Many times these size differences are negligible, however if size is an important factor for you this might be something to consider should you have to choose a gender in advance.
Another obvious physical difference is how males and females pee. Typically females squat and males lift their legs though depending on how early a male is neutered they may squat as well. Some people shy away from males due to the stigma of them marking their territory. However, not only can females also mark their territory, but timely neutering tends to eliminate or at least lessen this issue in males anyway.
Personality Differences
There are a lot of common questions regarding personality differences between male and female dogs. Some of the most common:
Are male dogs more aggressive?
Do male dogs bite more?
Are male or female dogs friendlier?
Are male dogs harder to train?
Unfortunately, there are just as many assumptions as there are questions when it comes to how gender effects personality. The simple answer is that while there may be hints of truth in some of these assumptions for dogs that haven’t been spayed or neutered, if dogs are fixed in a timely manner the personality differences are extremely negligible. All “evidence” of significant personality differences between fixed dogs are anecdotal at best.
Should You Choose a Male or Female Doodle?
There are a lot of important factors to choosing a new puppy. First and foremost, you should consider the specific breed of doodleand its associated physical and personality traits to see if it’s a good fit for your family. Secondly comes the reputation of the breeder or shelter and the puppy’s family history. After that the decision should be made based on the characteristics of the individual puppy.
Oftentimes it’s easy to get caught up in personifying dogs and portraying human gender stereotypes on them. It’s just as easy to make assumptions based off of false or anecdotal evidence. It the long run, however, you and new doodle will be far better served focusing on their individual personality rather than their gender.
