In general, do you find that females are easier to train/control than males? I'm just curious what everyone's thoughts are on this. I know with my male lab, if a female gets around him at the wrong time all of his training goes out the window for a brief period (I don't really blame him I used to do the same thing in my younger days, lol). My female could care less about other dogs and seems to focus better around distractions (specifically other dogs).

I'm not an expert and only know what I have read on the topic. There are a lot of stereotypes on this matter and each dog is different. So, I don't think you can classify either sex in a general category. But I think people would tend to say that *usually* females mature faster than males, which could potentially make someone think they are easier to train. But that might not be the case for their life, it's just case of maturity. Your pup is still young so being distracted easily is not surprising. How old is your female?

Zipper is right at 3 years old and she is spayed, Buck is 1 1/2 and is not neutered. I hate to get on to him about it, because he is a hell of a dog and I plan on using him to breed another female at some point. I just want him to know when it's a proper time for that behavior and when its not. He's not really distracted by anything other than other female dogs. I guess I found his kryptonite, lol.

The males I trained were way different than any female.

I read this somewhere "females cause brown spots on the lawn and males cause brown spots on the shrubs"

I think there are varieties of temperaments with each sex. With females you have to deal with heat cycles and with males you sometimes have to deal with the females' heat cycles...haha.

My limited experience has been that my first ever male lab that passed on at only 2 years old was very laid back, wanted to please but lacked some desire. I had another male that really wanted to please, tons of desire but was a total spaz.

My current 10 year old female has a lot of desire in the field, very chill and couldn't ask for a better house dog. I don't know if she could have handled being put through the training I'm currently trying to do with my pup but through pure experience she became a wonderful duck/dove dog.

My current 9 month old female is probably the most talented of all the dogs I have had and time will tell if she grows out of her current knucklehead puppy state.

I've had several of both and have had both that were difficult to train. I don't think the sex has much to do with it. I currently have a 4 yr. old female and is very hard headed about some things. Absolutely love to retrieve, and will all day long but hates to deliver to hand most of the time. Note sure what makes some easier to train but suspect that it is the trainer some of the time. I've made a few mistakes and its difficult to get them corrected. But its easier to forgive small mistakes when the dog works hard and just won't quit retrieving.

Personally I have always preferred females, I believe they are easier to train and want to please.

I prefer females. Can't deal with the attitude and need to run around and mark.

I've never had a lab, but all of my dogs have always been females. They've always been much calmer and easier to train for me (blue heelers and collies).

Yea, the marking gets old sometimes with males. I try to plan for that by letting him run around until he thinks he's marked every blade of grass on the property, lol.

It seems as though males tend to do better after they mature a little bit and get a little older while you can get a little more focus out of females early on. My experience so far anyway with having both.

My wife is going to take the female this afternoon for the first dove hunt of the year and I'll take Buck with my son. My son is going to shoot birds and I'm going to just work with Buck on his first hunt. If he does good and doesn't break on the first 7 or 8 birds, I may go grab my gun. I just want to make sure he understands the game

Yeah but mine goes with me to service calls around the lakes. The marking isn't just inconvenient, it can irritate customers.

dUrinating on random things, roaming, and getting distracted are all correctable behaviors and are really just an excuse. There are good males and good females out there. It's a personal preference. Some people say they don't like a female because they don't have enough bottom but I have seen some males that didn't have enough either.

Other than bleeding every so often it's a Ford/Chevy thing.

Tony,

I guess I'll need to research some more on correcting his want to mark and his want to stick his nose in every female dog's rear that walks by. If there are some methods, he definitely needs some work in that department lol.

I'm sure correcting marking is based on obedience, as almost everything is. And part of it is my fault because I have allowed him to run around before we begin training to do his business and get everything out of his system so he's focused. I would have no idea how to correct the female issues he has though

Had a guy tell me one time, females are in heat one or two times a year. Males are always in heat. lol