Males or females better performance dogs?

Bigpoodleperson

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#1
I know it sounds like a stupid, uneducated question. I know there are great ones for both sexes, and it totally depends on the individual animal. Any thoughts or observations though?

Im in the market to get a new puppy (once my dogs injury heals). I origionally wanted a female for a couple reasons. I have never owned a female dog though. I do love my males, and really think im a male animal owner (but cant really be sure yet). Now i cant decide what sex to get. I want to do agility, obedience and tracking with the future dog. I will be looking for a dog with good drive. My boy loves to work with me, and he is a fabulous tracking dog. He is not an agility or obedience dog though. We have tried them, but they arent his thing.

I just have it in my head that a female will be quicker and more compact to do the sports. :confused: I know and love the boys temperaments though. My dog doesnt have any issues with other boys, so that is not a problem. Any input would be great! I will probably be telling the breeder what temperament i want and that sex doesnt matter. I just cant make up my mind though!
 

corgipower

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#2
I very much prefer the boys. My girls have a lot of their own ideas on how to do things. My boys, while able to think for themselves, are more team players.

But it is a matter of opinion.
 

Fran101

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#3
In my obedience class and my last agility class, it was really a boys club lol
the girls had their own ideas on how/when to do things..

Ive had both female dogs and males and I think Romeo is much easier. I guess most males are more..clingy? so it makes them more willing to follow/play for sports

It depends on the breed really.. but Ive only seen a couple of breeds where males are that much bulkier than females and slower.

Ive noticed the girls in the class, with the right attitude, are amazing. we had a female border collie in our agility class that was unstoppable. She was smart, and super focused when it came to sports.

and we had one that did not GET why she couldn't just take the fastest route to the finish instead of doing all these BS obstacles lol she really hated turning around to do an obstacle that was behind her lol
 

CaliTerp07

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#4
Do you think it's even possible to make a statement that broad? In thinking about my agility classes, and the top dogs have been pretty easily split between male and female.
 

Laurelin

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#5
I strongly prefer female dogs but I'm not sure they're better at sports. I just love the tude they have that none of my male dogs have had. I love my boys but they're just so much simpler.
 

Fran101

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#6
I just looked up my pics from my old agility class and figured out why it seemed like a boys club lol there were only 3 females in the class!

I think it depends on attitude and how much they like the sport..drive and such.

though someone once mentioned to me in a class that girls are more focused and less easily distracted. not sure how true it is lol although romeo has ADD
 

Paige

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#7
A horse trainer I have high respect for said gender means nothing but every now and again there is that one evil spirited animal that fights you tooh and nail, it's quite the struggle but they always give you more in the end. That may be a blanket statement as well but I hold onto the hope of that when I get an animal that is proving to be a pain in the butt.

As for myself I have no gender preference in humans, horses, dogs or any other species. It's all about the drive of the individual.
 

corgipower

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#8
though someone once mentioned to me in a class that girls are more focused and less easily distracted. not sure how true it is lol although romeo has ADD
With my dogs, the boys have always been much more focused. :dunno:

every now and again there is that one evil spirited animal that fights you tooh and nail, it's quite the struggle but they always give you more in the end. That may be a blanket statement as well but I hold onto the hope of that when I get an animal that is proving to be a pain in the butt.
There might be something to that...:D Although sometimes the bad outweighs the great...Had to rehome a horse like that. When he got it together, he was downright brilliant. But he had more fight in him than was worth the brilliance.
 

Paige

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#9
That's my horse Cougar. He is totally brilliant... when he wants to be. He's a really happy, easy going, well behaved horse on the ground but no doubt about it he is a demon to ride. People from all walks of life and different riding styles, of all different abilities have told me the same thing.

"Paige, that's quite the horse. He's really talented, but I hate him."

Him and I are a tight pair. By no means at my level should I be able to get more out of him than the mentors I have had but he really comes to life and softens when we work together. But that took YEARS to get him to have that level of respect for me. He's a pain in the arse and is stuck with my family for life because he has made it clear he is not going anywhere else.

From my experience boys are more diva-ish than the ladies. But I also like the butchy gals.
 

MandyPug

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#10
I strongly prefer female dogs but I'm not sure they're better at sports. I just love the tude they have that none of my male dogs have had. I love my boys but they're just so much simpler.
I prefer females too. Even though it frustrates me sometimes, i just LOVE Izzie's 'tude. She's a super think for herselfer.

But i've seen both male and female dogs excel at sports, so it's really more about temperament.
 

AgilityPup

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#13
My personal preference is females, however, it's not because they're better at sports or anything, it's just cause that's what I prefer to live with. I'd rather have a "bad at sports" female then a "good at sports" male that I'll have to live with for 15ish years.
 

MafiaPrincess

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#14
Cider is more drivey and faster. She was harder to get to focus in the beginning though. Smudge is more slow and steady but into mom. I have sadly done way less training with him and we do pretty well more so on the fly as he wants to play with me cause he loves me.

Cider is more competitive, but it means when we goof we goof but good. Smudges goofs are minor but he's not as competitive. Though if I got off my @ss and worked with him more he might become more so.
 

Laurelin

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#15
I prefer females too. Even though it frustrates me sometimes, i just LOVE Izzie's 'tude. She's a super think for herselfer.

But i've seen both male and female dogs excel at sports, so it's really more about temperament.
My personal preference is females, however, it's not because they're better at sports or anything, it's just cause that's what I prefer to live with. I'd rather have a "bad at sports" female then a "good at sports" male that I'll have to live with for 15ish years.
Yes and yes! I don't know what it is about the girls but I just prefer them much more. We've had 8 males and 5 females and I just so love the girls. I'm not going to say I will never have a male dog, I just think the vast majority of my dogs will be female from now on. The rest of my family all prefers males, I think because they're more straightforward.
 

Beanie

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#16
I prefer male dogs, LOL. There's really no big personality difference in sexes with shelties, I just like the boys.

I think in some breeds where there is a personality difference between the sexes you could POSSIBLY make a statement about which is better at sports - corgis come to mind, though I know a lot of male corgis running agility, so not really - but I don't think it really matters. Honestly I have met a lot of excellent agility dogs with a lot of different personalities anyway. I do think you can generalize about what makes a good agility dog, but because a dog doesn't have those generalized qualities, it doesn't automatically mean they're NOT a good agility dog... if that makes any sense, LOL.

I agree with the comment Paige's horse trainer made though!
 

corgipower

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#17
I think in some breeds where there is a personality difference between the sexes you could POSSIBLY make a statement about which is better at sports - corgis come to mind, though I know a lot of male corgis running agility, so not really - but I don't think it really matters.
*wonders what you've seen in female corgis* ;)

When I got my female corgi, I was cautioned to "hang on" if a corgi bitch ever rolled her eyes at me. That was pretty accurate advice. :lol-sign: I adore her, but training was a complete fail. She just had too many other ideas.

I don't think either gender is better, but in some breeds there is a noticeable difference between males and females, and in those, it's going to depend on the owner as to which they work better with.
 

PWCorgi

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#18
When I got my female corgi, I was cautioned to "hang on" if a corgi bitch ever rolled her eyes at me. That was pretty accurate advice. I adore her, but training was a complete fail. She just had too many other ideas.
I had the exact opposite experience with Izzy and Frodo. Izzy was 100% down to do anything I wanted to do and just wanted to please me. Frodo? Hah! He just wants to sniff and pee :p
 

Laurelin

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#20
I prefer male dogs, LOL. There's really no big personality difference in sexes with shelties, I just like the boys.
Granted my only male sheltie was Trey and Trey was well... Trey. But Trey was hugely different than my girl shelties. He was so much sweeter and easier going and much much less confident. Nikki especially was a HANDFUL.

The paps don't have too much of a difference but the boys are a little more golden-retrieveresque and happy go lucky. All three of the girls are dog reactive and rather snarky but all our boys have been people and dog loving and bomb proof. The girls? Not so much, lol. I'm sure it could possibly be a coincidence but that's just my experience.
 

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