Cross Breeds

Do dogs of different breeds and cross breeds living in the same household have problems because of this?

I ask because some breeds are more intelligent then others and they all have different characteristics and were all breed for different things so would they commonly face problems?? Also I'm talking about dogs of similar size so like a Maltese a Pomeranian and a Chihuahua not a Shih-tzu and and a great dane! THANKS

Public Comments

1. Not really, but you watch out for cross breeding.
2. when my mate and her mum live tougher they had 2 Chihuahuas Jack Russel X Yorkie Chihuahua X Jack Russel Jack Russel X Cavalier Westy Mut Lhasa Apso Pomeranian Generaly they had no problems but they had a few small fights but not often (all of which were started by the Jack Russel crosses.) I think it would be down to how they are brought up.
3. The breed doesn't matter unless it is an aggressive breed like a Pitbull that may not start a fight but will end one. My g/f had a Staff, a hound/Pit, a Doberman and a Dutch Shepherd all s/f plus a n/m Dach. The Staff did attack the doberman and one of her cats and the Dutch Shepherd attacked the Staff when she was old and the n/m dach. Females are more aggressive then males, I have aways had a household of almost all boys. My Rott and GSD were not neutered, both were Schutzhund/PP trained, had several titles and lived with several n/m MinPins plus asstd rescues, GSDs, Dobes, MinPins and a couple of Chihuahuas, almost all males. The only problem I had was females fighting other dogs, 1 a rescued GSD killed my female MinPin and attacked my Rott and other n/m MinPin. A rescued s/f Dobe raised with a Chihuahua attacked all of my dogs.
4. All dogs (bar the African wild dog) live using a Democracy system... they will elect a leader and follow that leader! the only time a problem will occure is when you give the dogs signals which makes them think you have elected them as the leader (it's human nature to do so unfortunately) we tend to baby smaller dogs, and we do it the same way as we do with human babies... by taking the persona of a baby ourselves, so the dog see's a baby, not a human or Alpha! and babies always defere to someone further up the ranks. lets say a toy poodle has been told by it's owner that it is alpha, and the Shih-tzu has been told the same, and the owner gets pissed because the dogs are at odds over who is boss and are both causing problems, who is going to win? NO-ONE! however if the owner knows what Not to do around the dogs and what they should do to display their own Alpha staus in a non aggressive way, both dogs (could even be a Rotty and a pug) will elect the owner as leader and they can figure the rest out for themelves in their own nonagressive way... so long as the Alpha takes note each time all are together and give the righer ranked dog more leeway, I say that because the rank can change just like that, ie from the house to the hunt, one will be better suited to one roll and the the other... If you wre a racecar driver but someone else was a truck driver, is the same person going to be in control all the time?
5. Breed doesn't matter you just have to watch and make sure you don't have two super dominant dogs in the same house. Also you will want to make sure your chihuahua is okay with other dogs, because I've heard that chihuahua's love to pick fights. Also I know a lot of people that have multiple dogs of completely different sizes.
6. Not if they are all spayed and neutered. I once had a Great Dane (male), Border Collie (male) and a Terrier mix (female) all living with me. No problem.
7. Good question. Breed tendencies might enter into relationships, to a certain extent. Terriers can be dog aggressive, herding dogs may annoy other dogs by herding them. But, even though each breed does have some breed characteristics and tendencies, getting along tends to be most influenced by two things: individual personalities and dog manners. Every dog is an individual, and may have reasons another dog appeals to them or puts them off. Dogs who know how to communicate and make peace tend to do better in groups. Dogs should behave in ways that make group living easy and peaceful, but not all are good at communicating with peace-making gestures. Some breeds have problems communicating because of their looks -- eyes and facial features that are hard to see in a dark, very fuzzy, or flat face, ears whose movements can't be seen well, tails that are cropped or curled up over the back, make it harder for dogs to do some of the things that say "I'm harmless, how about you?" Although some of these gestures seem to be innate, most seem to be better in dogs who get to learn and practice them early in life. Dogs who were were singletons (with no littermates), were taken from their Moms and littermates too soon, or have lived only with humans, without enough contact with polite dogs, can have problems knowing how to be polite. They can get themselves into trouble.
8. I have two rat terriers, a toy and a mini and a german shepherd/rot mix and they get along just fine.
9. Not in my experience. Individual personality is more of an issue than breed. I do think size could be an issue, though - a big dog could be too rough with a small dog.