DOES sex matter? (By this point in the article, my dear editor coughed and spluttered and choked on his third cup of tea of the morning, and rapidly checked his emails to make absolutely sure he was reading the one from the vet and not the agony aunt. Who actually might be an uncle, thereby proving my question is relevant. Lost? Yes, so was he.)

Anyway. Does sex matter?

Opinions change and are altered by circumstances. For example, when my wife was pregnant for the first time, many years ago, I really wasn’t bothered whether we had a girl or a boy.

After Ellie was born, however, and my wife became pregnant again, I secretly prayed for a boy. Happily Bill arrived safe and sound.

It’s a question that clients often ask us. Should I get a bitch or a dog? It’s a really difficult one to answer because it depends on so much…and so much depends on it!

Some owners will instinctively opt for a bitch, presuming them to be naturally ‘softer’. Others want the more macho hardiness of a male dog.

For much of my career, however, whatever we advised was simply based on our general experience and personal preference.

Research, carried out some time ago at the Royal Veterinary College, finally provided us with a little more insight into the ‘battle of the sexes’ and allowed us to make recommendations based on actual fact.

They looked at thousands of clinical records of German Shepherd Dogs (GSDs) and published the results of the study in ‘Canine Genetics and Epidemiology’. (I am sure you read it from cover to cover every week.)

Their data threw up some interesting facts.

Firstly, the popularity of GSDs is waning. In 2005, they accounted for 3.5 per cent of all dogs born in the UK, but by 2013 this figure had reduced to 2.2 per cent. (And my guess is that figure has dropped even further.)

In 2013, 63.43 per cent of GSDs had at least one medical disorder, which ranks them on a similar health status to Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Pugs.

The most common veterinary problems were ear infections (7.89 per cent), osteoarthritis (5.54 per cent), diarrhoea (5.24 per cent), obesity (5.18 per cent), aggression (4.76 per cent) and anal furunculosis (1.4 per cent). The latter is a horrible condition involving death of the tissue around the anus. That three GSDs in every two hundred are affected is pretty awful.

The average life span of all GSDs was only 10.3 years; broadly similar to other breeds of the same size, but (and this is important if you are choosing a family pet) female GSDs lived an average of 1.4 years longer than males at 11.1 compared to 9.7.

Also relevant to the family pet owner is that aggression in males was 6.75 per cent compared to 2.78 per cent in females. Both figures, in my opinion are disappointingly high.

Finally, and perhaps predictably, males weighed on average 40.1kg and were heavier than their female counterparts, who were 34.8kg.

A significant difference, especially if you have to pay the food bills, lift them into the car or humph them onto the consulting room table at the vets!

(Please note no editors were harmed by this article.)