I go to another forum where a new user currently has a female dog and would like another dog. A couple other users have warned this person against bringing a new female dog into a home with an "established" female. Two females are much more likely to get into "b!tch fights" and kill each other. Supposedly, this can happen even if two females appear to like each other for months or years. The newer female might decide, someday, that she wants to be of higher rank than the female who was there first. I am not trying to discredit credit those users. I was just a bit surprised, and I am feeling a bit stupid, because I've never heard of this before. When I still lived with my parents, we had two female Cockers together for almost two years (after our first family dog, a male Cocker, died). When my husband and I moved into our first place together, one of those female Cockers moved with me. We got a female Chihuahua. Cocker and Chihuahua lived together for almost two years before the Cocker died. We adopted a senior-age female dog, possible Shepherd/Lab mix, and she bonded with our Chihuahua very quickly. They were best friends for almost three years until the Shepherd/Lab mix died. Then we adopted our female Maltese mix. Our Chihuahua bonded quickly with her, too, and it's been six years now. This is just my experience, of course, but I've never read about this "don't have two females" advice or heard anyone else mention it.
This is part of the "pack theory" concept - only one female is big and tough enough to be allowed to breed with the alpha male. As such it is hogwash. My mom did rescue for years and then I did rescue as an adult. We always had multiple females in the house - brought in at different ages, etc. We never had fights between the females. Three to four females and never a squabble let alone a fight to the death. The only dogs that ever fought in our households were: 1. My dad's intact male husky and our neutered puppy mill toy fox terrier - the terrier picked the fights; 2. Moose-dog used to bully a male shepherd I took in - he wouldn't let the shepherd leave the garage, but there was never an actual fight; 3. My dad had a female akita that would bully Dog (my spayed female) - she may have bullied Moose-dog too if he hadn't been off playing with my dad's neutered male akita; 4. My sibling's neutered male rescue mix picked fights with my dad's neutered male akita (and any other male dog). Interestingly, Moose-dog and my dad's male akita were the absolute best of buddies. That was out of a good 35+ dogs over the years between four households that interacted a lot, with multiple dogs in each household. And the dogs lived together for anywhere from 6 months to 12 years with one another. The truth is, it's always about the individual dogs and the way they are raised. Any given dog may be a fighter depending on genes, training, etc. And any two dogs may dislike each other for any reason. Moose-dog was great with every dog I ever brought home - except that one shepherd. My dad's female akita was a potential problem with every other dog. My sibling's neutered male didn't like any dog of his size or bigger. The best advice is to introduce the dogs before making a decision if they are all adults. Watch the body language on each dog. Make your decision based on the individual dogs. If you are bringing a puppy into the household, then just establish boundaries for the puppy when interacting with the older dog. And always give each dog attention and their own space. Don't expect them to spend every waking moment together.
I have never had any problem with any females in my brood fighting - my only problem was with two Löwchen males. I would be cautious at feeding time with a newcomer Beagle of either sex though, as some Beagles can be possessive over food. However, I have heard of kennel housed bitches that couldn't stand each other and were likely to fight on sight. I think the breed type or individual temperament might be a factor though. Many years ago, a fellow committee member had an all female pack of Pem. Corgies. The Corgies were show dogs but - like my own dogs - they lived as housepets. One day the breeder went out to do her shopping, and the normally placid Pems were left loose in the house as usual. She thought that when the paper boy delivered the evening newspaper, (paper boys post newspapers through a letterbox in the door in the UK), it must have initiated a fight. When she came home, one of the bitches was torn and bleeding, and one was dead. After that her dogs were always individually caged when she went out. I think these cases are very rare though, and there is usually a reason, such as illness or provocation. Many dog sport competitors who have two dogs always have alternate sexes, because the amount attention given in training can create jealousy. Most have a preference for either males or females and will stick to the sex that they prefer.
I've seen and heard things like that happening. From my experience it isn't the gender that creates the problem, it's everything else going on, including the number of dogs. There is a group mentality that changes things. Two dogs do great together for years, but when you bring in a third dog there are problems between the first two. Or it changes things with the third or fourth or fifth dog. Two dogs will often just ignore each other if they have a disagreement, but when you add more dogs into the mix it's like they encourage each other to fight. It's like the schoolyard fight - the two kids would probably ignore each other or walk away as soon as contact is made, but there is a group of kids surrounding them shoving them back into the fight. And the injuries are worse because of that. I always tell people to really think before adding a third or more dogs to the household because it can really change the dynamics.
We currently have three. Saint and Rose were adult females, then we brought in Winston, a male puppy. He loves both of them and has a certain respect for Saint - I think he views her as the queen around here. (She is.) However, I would not choose to own three dogs again. I wonder if trying to make three dogs get along again, would be pushing our luck. Also, Winston can be a dramatic, silly baby at times. We think he should be the only dog after Saint and Rose pass on.
I wouldn't do more than two again. I just don't think I can give them the same quality of attention with more than two. I thought Moose-dog would be an only dog after Dog passed. But he started getting extremely needy and wouldn't leave my side even to go potty. I ended up getting Bat-dog and his neediness went away immediately. I then figured Bat-dog would survive Moose-dog and knew she would love being an only dog. But they ended up going together. I thought Cat-dog would be an only dog, but she really needed a puppy to raise and help give her confidence. I knew she was afraid of other dogs when I adopted her and thought that would "hold me" to just one dog - but I didn't know about her mothering obsession. Now I debate whether I think Tornado-dog will be happy as an only dog after Cat-dog passes. I'd prefer just one dog at this time in my life. But I guess it's a wait and see thing.
I would love another dog and I know Tally would too, but at my age it just wouldn't be fair. Any dog that I did have would have to be at least as old as Tally, and as I can't show two in the same class, it would have to be a male. Tally will have a home with friends if anything happened to me. They love Tal but wouldn't want to take two dogs. That would mean splitting up what had become a bonded pair, which would be distressing for two golden oldies. This means that Tally is going to remain an only dog - with human and dog friends.
