4 Biggest Differences Between Male and Female Dogs, According to New Study

You’ve probably heard a whole lot of conjecturing about the differences between male and female dogs — maybe your parents told you that girl dogs keep the house tidier or the guy at the shelter told you boy dogs get too worked up over their fantasy football leagues. Okay, maybe these are ridiculous examples, but there really are a lot of gender myths out there. Now, one of the largest studies on dog behavior is shining some actual, good hard scientific data onto the topic. A massive new survey of 50,000 pet parents found that male and female dogs differ in four key ways.

The study is part of the Dog Aging Project (the DAP), a giant initiative that asks pet parents to fill out an annual survey about their dog. Pups of all breeds, ages, and sex are represented. The DAP calls itself a “community science project,” because it relies on the continued participation of thousands of pet parents each year to amass reliable survey numbers.

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Pet parents filled out the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire, a widely-used survey that asks respondents to answer questions ranking their dog’s behavior on a five-point scale. Researchers classified the answers into four behavioral categories: fear, attention/excitability, aggression, and trainability.

The key differences between male and female dogs

In the end, they found that male dogs are less fearful than females. On average, boy dogs scored .106 points lower than female dogs on fear-related questions. The age-old question of whether those scores are due to courage or a lack of sense is still unanswered.

On the other hand, male dogs were found to be more aggressive — though the gap was slightly smaller. Male dogs scored an average of .051 points higher on aggressive behavior toward other dogs, strangers, and their pet parents.

When it came to trainability, female dogs took the lead. They scored .106 points higher on average.

Interestingly, the greatest gap between male and female behavior is the level of attention-seeking behavior; this category includes things like chasing, attachment level, and separation-related behavior. Female dogs were found to need less attention than males — they scored .135 points lower than male dogs. Cue Destiny’s Child “Independent Women.”

The researchers point out that some other studies have found that sex has little impact on a dog’s behavior. And after all, the survey only really shows the pet parents’ own perception of their pet. “These latter findings may suggest sex-based or ‘gendered; perceptions of personality traits could contribute to reporting bias,” Yuhuan Li, the study’s lead author, wrote.

Some more fun facts

Dogs weren’t only analyzed on the basis of gender — other categories like breed, age, size, and region were also considered. Here are some more fun facts about dog demographics:

• Tiny dogs really are feistier: Small dogs were ranked as more aggressive than big dogs. They’re also a little less trainable.

• Mixed-breed dogs scored highly in attention-seeking.

• As you’d expect, dogs who work as service animals are less aggressive and more trainable.

• As you might not expect, dogs from the Northeast are less aggressive than dogs from the Midwest. Dogs from the Midwest are more trainable on average, though.

Keep in mind that all of these data points are based on a survey — which means that while they show common trends, reporting bias is possible. Plus, just as with humans, the way dogs are raised is hugely important, so not all behavioral differences are necessarily biological. For example, as Li points out, “Characteristics such as trainability with small dogs could be related to the fact that smaller dogs can be more easily moved, restrained, picked-up, etc. than their larger counterparts, resulting in them simply being ‘handled’ when displaying undesirable behaviors rather than being trained to act differently.”

So if you’re searching for the ideal pup to bring home, don’t take demographic differences at face value. There are no hard-and-fast rules — and there are definitely plenty of fearless females, low-maintenance Chihuahuas, and independent mutts to go around.