A Couple Silly Questions

[jmcduff]

I have been wondering….

Are male dogs physically stronger than bitches? In us humans, the male muscle mass is denser and stronger than females and I was curious if this is the same in the dog world?

Another question is...

If a dog is in the house when puppies are born, is it typical to keep the dog separated from the puppies? A co-worker has brittany's and his bitch is expecting and he told me he has to keep the male away once the puppies are born because the dog might kill the puppies.

I was just curious.

[JazzysMom]

@jmcduff:

I have been wondering….

Are male dogs physically stronger than bitches? In us humans, the male muscle mass is denser and stronger than females and I was curious if this is the same in the dog world?

Another question is...

If a dog is in the house when puppies are born, is it typical to keep the dog separated from the puppies? A co-worker has brittany's and his bitch is expecting and he told me he has to keep the male away once the puppies are born because the dog might kill the puppies.

I was just curious.

I can't speak to the dog/puppies thing, but BOTH our Basenjis are incredibly strong, but Keoki has way more power behind him than Jazzy.

He is taller and leaner than she. She probably looks stronger because she is a bit stockier. But, as we learned when visiting my mom in cattle country a few weeks back, even dh can barely hold Keoki on leash when he sees cows, LOL. Jazzy is far easier to control. I can't say it's because a male vs female thing though.

[Quercus]

Yes, I would say that in general male Bs have more muscle mass than females.

And I would say that many/most breeders keep the other dogs away from mom and pups during the first week or so. I would think that other females might be more likely to hurt the pups than males….but usually the momma dog doesn't want any other dogs around her.

[tanza]

With my litters, my males wanted nothing to do with the pups until the eyes were open…. and the bitches didn't want them near the pups either... once the eyes were open, it was not a big deal... my males loved the pups up to when they got "teeth" .... then they lived on back of the sofa...gggg

[Gooby]

I think that in general male dogs will be larger and heavier than female. Just look at the breed standards. That size probably includes more muscle.

As for the pups, dogs social creatures and a pack usually exposes adult males to pups that are not their own. I think that a dog that will kill pups is probably a dog that will try to kill any other dogs. So if the other dog is vicious anyway, then his concern is real.

[thegriffswife]

Our female is bigger and very stern, she can definitely hold her own and our male is lean muscle but a big baby. we have another female who is tiny only 16 lbs a yr old but she was the runt.

when we had our puppies our male was very curious and careful, he actually cleaned the pups more than mom did, she didnt understand at first because it was 1st litter. i was nervous to have him around also but he was fine it was acutally very cute he would lay in the room on the outside of the crate when mom was feeding and sleeping. it was cool to see.

[lvoss]

We give mom her own space and Nicky pretty much knew to leave her alone until the pups eyes were open. She didn't even like him trying to sneak a peek at the pups until then but with the second litter she let her daughter look in at the pups pretty much from the beginning. Once their eyes were open the whole pack helps with the raising, though Nicky is always ultra careful because he is worried he will get blamed if the squeak and it upsets Rally.

[Duke]

Would it be safe to feed my dogs the cooked fish skins? I never eat them - specifically salmon skins or any other fish skin for that matter. It seems a waste to throw them away if it's safe for the dogs to eat.

[Gooby]

dogs evovled eating the rotten, smelly garbage at the outskirts of human camps. I'm sure that fresh, cooked fish skins are fine. Unless there's like sharp scales or pointy things to stick in their throats.