I agree it has to do with the personalty and temperament of each dog. Right now I have three, one is mine, two are fosters. Uni (mine) is used to being the only child. The very first foster I had was a male neutered and he was shy. She tormented the poor guy. Granted she was in her teens phase then, but then again so was he. He was just a shy little thing.
Second foster I had was a female spayed. She and Uni did not interact with each other at all, except when they were playing fetch, they would run to the ball together, but would not fight over the ball. Whoever got it first , got it. But at the house, my foster (Katie) would go right up to Uni and take her toy right out of her mouth. Uni would not try to take it back. Uni would come crying to me to help her. I'd get her ball back from Katie, and Katie would come right back over and take it back. I stopped doing that for Uni after a few times. Clearly Uni was not the alpha in this case.
Currently I have the fosters Smokey (recently neutered) and Chloe spayed. S&C love each other, and Uni and Smokey are getting closer, but C&U at first would fight, trying to decide alpha. Now they are pretty equal, neither try to one up the other, but they are far from bffs.
I guess this was my long winded way to say, it depends on temperament and training, not on gender or if they are intact. Also I would think that at the ages your dogs are now, there could be some "teen angst" and attitude towards the new addition. But if you give it enough time, they will figure out their ranking on their own. I think as long as the dogs are not physically harming each other, it's ok to let them try to get their own place in the pack, ie growling matches, fighting with no real biting, etc.
__________________ The T.U.B. Pack! Toto, Uni, & Bindi RIP Lord Scrappington Montgomery McLimpybottom aka El Lenguo the Handicapped Ninja 10-12-12 |