Black Labs, Male vs. Female

[Rob]

Were are going to be buying a black lab in the next month or so, Both its parents are Labs, and the pups are 7 weeks old. Were just not sure whether to get a male or female. Any advice? all I can think of is that one will pee on the corner of the couch and one wil pee on the floor. If we do get a female we would have her fixed. Thanks Rob

[oldtimer]

Rob, I owned labs for 30 yrs and I would recommend the female. Any lab is a great dog but we found the females ( we had 3 over the years ) to settle down quicker than the males. I see in your avatar a little munchkin- You wont find a better dog with young kids than a lab. Enjoy Mike

[mtnmax]

Over the years groing up we always had females and when I moved out I got a female,,always excellent, no problems. We now have a female and a male,,,,the male was a little monster,,more so than any female I had. He didn't colm down till he was almost 2. Now he is great like the rest.

My 2 cents

[Ajsawden]

i've had two labs. One i grew up with, and the one we have now. Both have been females and both have been excellent. The girls can be hell raisers too. The dog I have now, Sam, can be pretty crazy sometimes, as all dogs have their puppy moments.
My uncle had labs all his life, and they were always males, and some of the best hunting dogs i've seen. I think the males have a tendancy to be less family oriented. They still treat everyone including kids well, but perhaps, ignore them more often.

[bruin]

I have had labs since before I was born, we have had males and females. Personally I found the males to have more instict when it comes to hunting and seem to be more obedient. But as you can see people have differing opinions. We also have tow males right now, one is very calm and a fantastic bird dog, I use him for pheasants, ducks geese or whatever. I couldn't have asked for a better dog. The other is younger and more high strung, harder to train, shorter attention span etc. I think personally that you might want to concentrate more on the demenor of the parents and spend some time with the pups to see who has more natural instinct for chasing, and retrieving, yes you can tell at 7 weeks. I would go with a male.

[Marc]

The thing with a male lab is they think with two heads. Until you get him fixed he'll be thinking from one to the other. If there is another dog around he'll be more interested in the other dog instead of the task at hand.

I prefer the look of a male lab with the blockier head. My male was an awesome retriever and only lost 5 ducks in the 9 years I hunted him. One bird he burried on me and I couldn't find it and two being my fault for not hitting them properly.

[browningboy]

I would agree with Marc, my male lab was always trying to escape, dig holes etc. to get out to get some, well you know and once I fixed him he just got fat and lazy, I'd go with the female.

[OOBuck]

Go with a female... I have a male now and we fought tooth & nail to see who would rule the roost. Dogs are domesticated but keep in mind they were once pack animals and males will always try to rule the roost. My females never gave me a problem.

I remember coming home one day and my wife telling me not to go out in the back yard,,, why seems the dog desided to due some excavating while I was at work one day!!! :shock: The holes that bugger dug must have been a foot deep and ten feet long...

[25hunter]

My last Yellow male was the best dog I have ever seen - Inteligent, Great with kids - never dug BUT he ate the couch, ate the carpet, ate kitchen chairs and I'm sure a few other things I can't recall. Spent very little time training him on birds he was a natural.

Now I have a male and a female from the same litter - thought 2 would be better for each other :eek: double trouble:!: The male is better than the female as far as settling down and listening to commands. I all but gave up on the female - stubborn.
I would choose the male if doing it again.

[Chuck]

Imo, a fixed female is smarter than a male and a lot calmer too, but that's just my experience with dogs. I don't know why, but that doesn't apply to any other species I'm aware of...or does it?

[blueboy]

i own a male black lab,and he can be a hand full,but he,s a great freind and a hell of of a hunting dog ,his parents were feild trail dogs so he,s hyper even at the age 9,but i think it,s genetics . if i would do it again i would get another male

[Freshtracks]

I had a female .... as a pup .... well puppies are puppies. When it came to hunting ... she gave it everything a male would. I'd stay with a female.

[ohno]

I've have to add my experiences with Labs as well. Growing up we always had male yellow labs. They were good bird dogs, but high strung.

I have a 7yr old female black lab. She is great with birds both ducks and upland birds. In addition I've never had an issue with who's boss.
She mellowed fairly quickly in about a year, but that was before we had kids and we spent a lot of time training her.

[Marc]

I'd have to say it depends on each dog as well and how well they are trained. A poorly trained female will give you just as much grief as a male. When I live back east I knew of a couple that owned a lab on two seperate ocassions and had to get ride of them because they were out of control. Was this the dogs fault? I don't think so. With either a male or female dog if you want them to behave you need to start training at an early age and let them know who is the boss. The most important thing is to stay consistent. Either they are alowed on the couch all the time or never. Basic obedience is a must in any dog and then move on from there. For someone who's getting their first dog I'd recommend obedience classes.

[Rob]

Thanks for the replys everyone, we chose a female pup and will be picking her up soon. I will start her in obidience classes as well, the hardest part right now is keeping it a secret form the kids:smile:. Thanks, Rob

[patbrennan]

Dewey, I think you made a good choice. I'd definitely get a female, and I had a well bred male Lab. He was a good dog, but we did have a few battles of will. If I get another dog, it will definitely be a female, and a laid back one at that.

[Mr. Dean]

I've had several Lab's over the years. 1 male and two girls. The Male (Jake) was with out a doubt, a PITA, even after getting him snipped.

Of the three, he was the best protector of the children; he wouldn't back down from nothn'. For this reason, he was my favorite... But other than that, he wouldn't do squat unless it was on his terms. And this eventually led to his demise - He got nailed by a car because he HAD to go whiz @ the top of the driveway....

The females both ran circles around him when it came to working in the field. Ole Jake just didn't give a $hit....

AND he didn't mellow out until he was near 5. I swear his momma dropped him on his head when giving birth! But he did serve us well as being a protector, and this was the role intended, upon him comming into our lives. Just had to keep him on leash at ALL times, or else he was GONE.


Miss that dog to this very day. I kinda envied his cavalier and no nonesense attitude. But he was a dick and THAT shoulda been his name.

[Marc]

Dogs are like humans, not two are alike. I have a male and a female right now and the female is dumb as a stump. All she is good for is eating groceries and eating the poop off the back lawn. :) I'm not saying females are dumb but in my case I got a dumb female who has no intrest in hunting. On the other hand my male once neutered was a hunting machine.

My next puppy that I'm picking up this weekend hopefully if everything works out is a Chessie male. The training will start pretty much the first day he gets home. The only place he'll be off the leash is in the back yard until he behaves on the leash. Then baby steps from there.

[newhunterette]

My "Hunter" is a black lab - she pretends to be dumb until we turn our backs then she is a sly genious - she pretends she doesnt know her commands until it is really time to work then she pays attention - but playtime she becomes a ditz
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x185/ioarana/DSC_0243.jpg

[brian]

Generally speaking, females stick around the home territory more and let the guys find them. Whereas males have more wanderlust, they're looking for a bitch in heat. That's why I prefer females, a bit more steady when it comes to knowing they're less inclined to run away and wander the neighborhood for a few days looking for trouble. After that they're dogs and do dog things and have dog personalities. Gotta love them.