# Which gender is best to adopt as a second dog if you have a younger male retriever?



## Mr.Peanutbutter (Oct 19, 2021)

Hi! We have a 1.5-year-old male golden that has never met a dog he doesn’t want to be best friends with. He has regular play dates, is the belle of the ball at the dog park, and gets along great with both genders. We put a lot of effort into finding a healthy puppy from a stellar breeder, but we always knew that once he was older we wanted to adopt a second dog sibling for him. While we’re open to any breed, we’re a bit conflicted on what gender the second dog should be. We’re hoping to adopt a dog that’s at least five years old, as we know this demographic has a harder time finding homes. If anyone has a recommendation on the best gender match for our younger male golden I’d love to hear your perspective. I’ve encountered households that had several males that got along famously, but I just want to make sure those scenarios weren’t exceptions to a general rule. I’ve read some arguments that two males in a household are more likely to create friction but I don’t want to rule out a gender based on just a hypothesis that two males automatically equals territorial competition, especially because the majority of dogs at our local shelter are male and there are a lot of seemingly great candidates I’d hate to rule out unnecessarily. But I want to tip the odds of a great match in our favor so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!


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## BrianO (Apr 7, 2016)

I have three males without issue. They are unaltered, so a female is just not an option. Goldens as a rule are, well, golden. Not sure what you would get from other temperaments.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Mr.Peanutbutter said:


> . I’ve read some arguments that two males in a household are more likely to create friction but I don’t want to rule out a gender based on just a hypothesis that two males automatically equals territorial competition, especially because the majority of dogs at our local shelter are male and there are a lot of seemingly great candidates I’d hate to rule out unnecessarily.


If you are getting a puppy, it doesn't matter. There is a natural totem pole thing with dogs in a household, and puppies generally have a "puppy license" with the older dogs who allow more from puppies than they might with adult interlopers. 

If you are adopting an adult dog - you need to proceed with care either male or female - because bringing an adult dog into your pack, there might be friction either way. If not from your dog, then the new dog. There isn't puppy license. There might be some stress/anxiety issues.


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## Mr.Peanutbutter (Oct 19, 2021)

Megora said:


> If you are getting a puppy, it doesn't matter. There is a natural totem pole thing with dogs in a household, and puppies generally have a "puppy license" with the older dogs who allow more from puppies than they might with adult interlopers.
> 
> If you are adopting an adult dog - you need to proceed with care either male or female - because bringing an adult dog into your pack, there might be friction either way. If not from your dog, then the new dog. There isn't puppy license. There might be some stress/anxiety issues.





BrianO said:


> I have three males without issue. They are unaltered, so a female is just not an option. Goldens as a rule are, well, golden. Not sure what you would get from other temperaments.





Megora said:


> If you are getting a puppy, it doesn't matter. There is a natural totem pole thing with dogs in a household, and puppies generally have a "puppy license" with the older dogs who allow more from puppies than they might with adult interlopers.
> 
> If you are adopting an adult dog - you need to proceed with care either male or female - because bringing an adult dog into your pack, there might be friction either way. If not from your dog, then the new dog. There isn't puppy license. There might be some stress/anxiety issues.





Megora said:


> If you are getting a puppy, it doesn't matter. There is a natural totem pole thing with dogs in a household, and puppies generally have a "puppy license" with the older dogs who allow more from puppies than they might with adult interlopers.
> 
> If you are adopting an adult dog - you need to proceed with care either male or female - because bringing an adult dog into your pack, there might be friction either way. If not from your dog, then the new dog. There isn't puppy license. There might be some stress/anxiety issues.


Thanks! The puppy/totem pole approach does make sense. We’d hoped to adopt an older shelter dog to do penance for our first selection (purebred purchased golden puppy). There’s a great organization that rescues dogs from the Korean meat market and we’ve met several people with multiple dogs they adopted this way. One is also a golden retriever. Even though ours is still a youngster, the majority of his neighborhood playdate and dog park buddies are older, which made me optimistic that that dynamic could work. Our golden is cheerily submissive and one of his best friends is a male 5-year-old American bulldog/pitbull mix. Of course, a playmate and a dog actually cohabitating with him is a completely different scenario, so maybe the middle ground if we go the adult adoption route is to go female. He’s always happy to let the ladies boss him around so even if a female happened to have a more dominant personality I think he’d still be thrilled to have the company. There are several foster organizations that would allow more in-depth greets between our dog and a potential adoption match. A lot of these foster dogs have good social track records (have cohabitated in multiple households with a variety of dogs, etc.). I’ll have to mull over some of these options, including being open to adopting a puppy. Thanks for the input!


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