[msweet18]

I was recently told that if you own 2 spayed Dachshund females that they woud eventually fight to the death. Now I have had Dachshunds all my life and have never heard of this. Right now we have a very well socialiezed 1 1/2 year old female and are looking into getting another one. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? If I have 2 females will they fight like I was told? I understand that 2 animals can fight, but I was told it would definitely happen if I had 2 spayed females. I just can't see this. Please let me know your thoughts.

[labman]

There are cases where even highly experience people have had to rehome a dog. It mostly comes where you put 2 dogs with a high dominance drive together. 2 intact females are the most likely to be a problem. Failing to provide good leadership adds to the problem. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss

If the existing dog is highly dominant, a male would be a safer choice. If you insist on a female, you could talk to the breeder and make sure you get one of the lower ranking females from the litter. Puppies can be pig in a poke. Spay/neutering is a big help too.

One of the best sources for dogs with a predictable personality is the rescue
Dogs. These are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home
To be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them. You may
Find a rescue near you starting at American Kennel Club - Breed Rescue The rescues charge a fee to help cover their expenses, but is much less than the price of a puppy plus all its medical expenses the first year.

As for the inevitable fighting...



Both the larger Labs were intact females, the black one about 2 years old, and the yellow almost a year. They lived peacably in a home with their mother and a few more females.

[msweet18]

Thank you so much for the information. This helps a ton. Both my dachshunds will be spayed, and both will go through training. Also, they will both be enrolled in weekly doggie day care which has helped our first one a ton. Unfortunately, the person who told me about the inevitable fighting is the person from our local resuce, and she will only let us obtain a male dachshund, and we just have always had females and are more comfortable raising those, so that really ties us up on rescuing one.

Your information was very helpful. I loved the picture! It made me laugh! They are awesome.