We have two dogs: an elevenish netured male beagle- Pete- and a fifteen-year-old spayed female beagle/Husky-Shepard(aprox 50lbs, looks like a shepard but for the ears)- Princess. They don’t like each other at all, and we’ve had the younger one for nine years :eek:
We didn’t intend to have two dogs, not after having to give away our other female, who the old dog got along with btw, to an otherwise pet-less family after she killed all our birds. But, a patient where my mother worked came in upset one day because a cute little dog at the shelter where she worked was slated to be put down, and that the woman couldn’t adopt him because employees were only allowed to adopt X number of pets, and she already had. To make a long story short, my mom arrived home from work with a beagle the shelter thought was between 1 and 3 year old. And my dog hated him on sight.
They’ve mellowed out a bit in the years since, but still do bark and growl at each occasionally when we move them into the cellar for the winter (They’re primarily outdoor dogs with their own “yards” and houses on oposite sides of the back yard.) but at least they don’t fight any more. It’s not really the male’s fault, since I know my girl starts the fights, being bigger than him she’s not afraid even though he’s a boy.
I find it a bit odd, though, that spayed females are supposed to get along the worst, because besides the dog we gave away ,Sheba(Samoyed) we took in my grandfather’s elderly dog, Rascal(Husky), after he died, and she and Princess got along fine in the year or so we had her. (she died of old age in 96’). I don’t know if it’s Pete’s gender that ticks her off, or if she found his constant barking anoying too. Now that he’s older he doesn’t do it so much, thank god.
