Training:Male or female?

I've not noticed any difference in training. The difference and the reasons I prefer spayed females is no more (serious) fights, no more killing landscape plants, no more heat cycles in the middle of season. And as a hole a sweeter disposition. Oh yeah almost forgot, no more dog peter gnats!!
 
jonnyB said:
How about prey drive? Any difference?
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Nope, I have a 4-year-old, short and stocky. Not fast but hard hunting. She found a covey in KS this year at 385 yds. Kills every opossum she finds. Been sprayed by skunks twice. Got the worst case of porcupine face I've ever seen in Michigan this year. Simply loves every human she's ever met. My pup doesn't like strangers, on guard duty constantly. Doesn't care for fur. My experience is it's the luck of the draw more than the sex of the dog.
 
Males seem a bit more consistent but females can really be classy when they want. End product seems to make little difference. Males might be a bit easier to train, but not overly noticeable. Drive wise no difference. Find a good breeding you like and go with it.
 
Ive only had experience with females and primarily britts but have a setter and labs. All end up spayed for some of the reasons birddude mentioned. I have buddies with males that are well trained and intact and they did their own training, labs and setters. I am biased and think the females are more willing to please their owner, but as i have said i have not had a male. The males ive hunted with have that same desire.

I think it is more of a question of characteristic differences in genders. Females can be bitches and fighters typically intacted same with males. But I would think males tend to be more aggressive by nature. If your male is intact you can have issues with their genitals getting cut by wire or heavy cover. Males are larger.

It comes down to personal preference just like breed. There are very good trainers out there you can send your pup.
 
In talks with a number of trainers in our local FT club, the belief was females train faster, but tend to forget faster. Consequently, males train slower, but tend to retain longer. I prefer my girls.
 
birddude said:
I've not noticed any difference in training. The difference and the reasons I prefer spayed females is no more (serious) fights, no more killing landscape plants, no more heat cycles in the middle of season. And as a hole a sweeter disposition. Oh yeah almost forgot, no more dog peter gnats!!
Click to expand...
I've always had females, spayed after 2 heat cycles.
Spaying before a heat cycle is not typical in working dogs such as sled dogs, retrievers.

No peeing in the garden, on deck posts, etc. No problem if neighbors dog goes into heat.

However, from a statistical perspective, in the high drive sport of retriever field trials, males outperform females more than expected by chance.
From a statistical perspective, with no sex effect, about half the time the percentage of finalists would exceed the percentage entered, about half the time the percentage of finalists would be less than the percentage entered.

With females, the percentage finalists was consistently less than the percentage entered in the last five years of nationals:
Year NRC Entered Finalists NARC Entered Finalists
2021 35% 28% 40% 23%
2020 37% 36% Cancelled
2019 38% 28% 40% 27%
2018 37% 27% 36% 31%
2017 41% 31% 40% 29%

With about 35% of the entries females in the NRC, from a statistical perspective, the winner would be a female about 35% of the years if sex had no statistical effect. In the past 20 years, 5 females have been NRC winners which is 25%.
For the NARC, percent females entered is typically > 35%.

This year was similar at the National Retriever Championship.
30% entered were females with 28% as finalists.
Among the 2022 finalists, only 4 of 14 (28%) were females and the winner was a male.

In the past 10 years the winner of the National Amateur Retriever Championship
was a male dog 7 out of 10 years.
In the past 10 years the winner of the National Retriever Championship
was a male dog 9 out of 10 years.
 
AKSkeeter said:
I've always had females, spayed after 2 heat cycles.
Spaying before a heat cycle is not typical in working dogs such as sled dogs, retrievers.

No peeing in the garden, on deck posts, etc. No problem if neighbors dog goes into heat.

However, from a statistical perspective, in the high drive sport of retriever field trials, males outperform females more than expected by chance.
From a statistical perspective, with no sex effect, about half the time the percentage of finalists would exceed the percentage entered, about half the time the percentage of finalists would be less than the percentage entered.

With females, the percentage finalists was consistently less than the percentage entered in the last five years of nationals:
Year NRC Entered Finalists NARC Entered Finalists
2021 35% 28% 40% 23%
2020 37% 36% Cancelled
2019 38% 28% 40% 27%
2018 37% 27% 36% 31%
2017 41% 31% 40% 29%

With about 35% of the entries females in the NRC, from a statistical perspective, the winner would be a female about 35% of the years if sex had no statistical effect. In the past 20 years, 5 females have been NRC winners which is 25%.
For the NARC, percent females entered is typically > 35%.

This year was similar at the National Retriever Championship.
30% entered were females with 28% as finalists.
Among the 2022 finalists, only 4 of 14 (28%) were females and the winner was a male.

In the past 10 years the winner of the National Amateur Retriever Championship
was a male dog 7 out of 10 years.
In the past 10 years the winner of the National Retriever Championship
was a male dog 9 out of 10 years.
Click to expand...
AK: Thanks for the interesting summary...male dogs seem to out-perform the females, at least in field trials.

My concern is prey drive and train-ability. Have had five males, the last two liked to wander off and hunt by themselves. Probably a training issue but wonder if females have similar traits? Nephew had a female lab, didn't like to get into the water and mud, hence not as aggressive as my male Golden. Perhaps just the difference in dogs...
 
After 30 years of males I switched it up for a female. I haven’t noticed any difference in prey drive in fact she has a little extra. She has been fairly easy to train although she can be very defiant and even a bit stubborn at times. I do believe as long as the good breeding is there the rest is more personal preference.

As for fighting, my last couple males liked to mix it up a bit and I thought it would be less with a female. Quite to the contrary as she is pretty bold and a bit of a bully. All is fine until another dog shows any kind of aggression then she wants to fight. I am waiting for her first heat cycle to get her spayed and hopefully that will slow down a bit.
 
Thanks, Tom! Contemplating another dog now that Max is 121/2. Perhaps a female dog might be in my future...


Assume you know about Patrick's wife situation...
 
Jonny B if you are looking to get one of my pups from the upcoming litters I will tell you this, go after the hardest charging dog in the litter if you are looking for prey drive. Forget about the sex of the dog. Sometimes it is a male, sometimes it is a female. Just depends on the litter. I hunt with females because I feel sometimes males are looking for a place to lift their leg and mark instead of looking for birds. Just my observations. One disclaimer, if you pick the hardest charging dog, beware! they are a handful and you will probably need some help training them and conditioning them to an e-collar because they will find birds!
 
Years ago when I really got involved with our local FT club, my mentor told me to train them to be a machine in the field and a lady/gentlemen in the house. And don't confuse the two. :)
 
I have a male and female. Personality wise these dogs are complete opposites but I don’t know if I would contribute that to sex. The male does piss a lot. I just know he’s gonna mark stuff if other dogs are around and to watch him. I’m a proponent of started dogs, and would get the best hunter/personality for my choosing sex would be irrelevant.
 
I have two female dogs both unfixed one is in heat the other will be shortly. It’s funny the power struggle that goes on between those two . Right now they are marking the hell out of everything and humping each other every chance they get.
I’ve always had females and haven’t worried about getting them fixed, a couple have been when they were under for something else.
Now male dogs , only had one of my own. They get my blood pressure up, so I avoid them
 
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