[Judi W]

I've pretty much done every other generation sexually with only one exception. That means that my same sex dogs, whether male or female, are normally 7 or so years apart in age. In my experience with this age spread, before the younger one is reaching maturity, the older is ready to pretty much retire from muscling their way around life. They maintain their dignity and control their space, but are not inclined to mix it up physically as they recognize their lesser strength and assert themselves only with their mental strength and then only when insulted. By the time the younger is wanting to show themselves, the elder is about 10 years of age and really doesn't care that much about supremacy. I do not support one over the other because mother nature takes care of that. My Rottweilers have always been pretty good judges of their physical capabilities.

The idea of supporting one over the other does not take into consideration that rank is not cast in concrete and changes over time. The dogs recognize this more quickly than the people so a person deciding who to support easily misses the changes and continues to push one to the top when it is no longer correct and that certainly does cause conflict.

My rule advice is always to avoid same sex, same age groupings. The age grouping means no two of the same sex in the same level of maturity.