Feminine and Masculine

[paulag1955]

I know that it's also included in the breed standard that every animal should give "a definite impression of masculinity or femininity, according to its sex" and secondary sex characteristics should be "strongly marked." Can anyone explain what exactly it is about a dog that makes it look feminine or masculine to them? Also, what are the secondary sex characteristics. They all look gender-neutral to me. Pix might be helpful, if you have any that might be illustrative.

Thanks!

[Freestep]

To me, it's all about the head. IMO a male dog should have a big, wide head, while a bitch head is more refined. I am sure someone will post photos that show you the difference.

It seems the head is the last thing that develops as far as secondary sex characteristics--it takes about 3 years for a dog's head to develop its full masculinity. Dogs that are neutered young tend to have bitchy-looking heads.

[Draugr]

What Freestep said I think is what they are referring to, primarily. Males are supposed to have pretty strong and marked musculature also, without testosterone that is difficult to develop, that goes along with the "bitchy-looking" heads that he mentioned.

I think wider, broader chests are a factor too. Narrow chest cavities are more common when they are done young.

I don't know of any dog pics that are a really good illustration of this, but if you do a google image search for "geldings" and "stallions" you can see a big difference there. But that is a much larger animal, too. I presume something similar goes on with most mammals?

[Samba]

[sagelfn]

My male Sage 2yrs old (neutered about 10months of age - also not from a reputable breeder)

He lacks secondary sex characteristics




Compare him to Missy's DDR boy Akbar New Akbar pictures
And if you go back and look at her posts, even as a young pup Akbar had strong secondary sex characteristics

[paulag1955]

What are the secondary sex characteristics?

[onyx'girl]

Secondary Sex Characteristics
http://www.gsdca.org/Noframes/standard/IllStan1.htm
Some people are breeding solely for the big blocky head...that should not be a reason!
I think the male should look like a male,
but to quote the Captain ~
'Exaggeration is bad in all circumstances'

Kacie, my female has a larger masculine head...as a long coat, its hard to tell she is female.
Karlo has a nice male head, but it isn't blocky whatsoever. I think he is balanced. Onyx is as large as Karlo, but she has a feminine head:Onyx in the back, Karlo in the middle:


** Oversized photo removed by Admin. Please resize to no more than 800X600 as per rule #15 and repost. ***

[Draugr]

Originally Posted by paulag1955

What are the secondary sex characteristics?

It's anything that distinguishes males from females that is not the, erm...the stuff between their legs.

It's fairly vague criteria, and not always very obvious if you aren't around tons of dogs in your day-to-day job I imagine (it's not always obvious to me). Stuff like musculature, head shape, maybe the size of the chest cavity (not sure on that one though). As far as how you'd specifically define that, as a sort of standard...that much is lost on me =/.

[paulag1955]

Plus, that first picture of Sage is so cute, I just want to hug him!!

I can see differences between Sage and Akbar, but I guess I've been thinking they're just random differences between individuals, not indicative of gender at all.

[stacey_eight]

What would you consider the earliest age to neuter and still develop secondary sex characteristics?