Bitch or dog is a question all dog owners must face. But is it all just down to personal preference?

Bitch or dog

Sex. It’s a subject no one looking for a puppy can ignore. (Read our advice on introducing a puppy to an older dog .) Is it best to opt for a bitch or dog? Consult the professionals and you will probably end up even more confused. Field triallers will tell you that you are more likely to win the Retriever Championship with a dog than a bitch.

In spaniel trialling the question of bitch or dog is the other way round. Why retriever judges should prefer dogs and spaniel judges bitches is one of the great mysteries of the gundog world. Of course, stud fees mean winning with a  dog is far more lucrative than it is with a bitch.

However, the majority of us do not aspire to run our dogs in field trials, let alone in championship events. I’ve run bitches exclusively for more than 30 years, the only reason being that my first springer spaniel was a bitch, so it made sense to remain with girls rather than boys. For the past 20 years I’ve always kept mothers and daughters. It’s worked for me but it might not for you.

Personal preferences

Many people genuinely believe that they get on better with a bitch or dog rather than both, and that might well be true. If you really believe that a bitch works better for you than a dog, or the other way round, there’s no point in trying to persuade you otherwise. We all do best with what we have confidence in.

What about hounds?

I one asked a huntsman whether he preferred a hunting bitch or dogs. He explained that, as with most packs that hunt twice a week, the choice of a bitch or dog pack was out of the question, and that only the few packs that hunt three or four days a week can afford such a luxury. Captain Ronnie Wallace, perhaps the greatest of 20th-century huntsmen, maintained that he couldn’t get on with doghounds, and that when he was hunting the Heythrop it was the bitch pack that got most of the work. However, he also showed superb sport with the doghounds, which rather countered his argument.

Disadvantage of bitches

From a purely practical point of view, bitches have one major disadvantage: they come into season at least once a year. What is more, they usually have an uncanny sense of timing and do so at the height of the shooting season, thus ruling themselves out of action. However, not all owners are sensitive to their bitch’s condition. I was on a shoot a year ago when, during the break for drinks after the second drive, the keeper’s black labrador was found tied to a black labrador bitch belonging to one of the guns (and not with a piece of string). The joke was how much the keeper was going to charge as a stud fee.

Spaying and neutering

Assuming you have no plans to breed from your bitch and are planning on having her spayed, the current advice is to have the operation before her first season (until recently spaying after the first season was recommended). (Read more on spaying and neutering.) It is now thought that the health advantages of neutering at an early age outweigh those of doing so later.

I used not believe in spaying but, having had my entire bitches suffer from phantom pregnancies, mammary tumours and even pyometra (an infection of the uterus that can be fatal). I’ve changed my mind.

While bitches may be interested in sex only once a year, dogs are all the time. Again, neutering is the simple answer. The advantages of castration are many, including a reduction in possible aggression and the likelihood of prostate problems, and less marking of territory.

Just as a good horse can’t be a bad colour, a good dog can’t be the wrong sex. The secret is to choose whichever you are happier with, bitch or dog.

This article has been updated since first published.