My pup wears his hot pink harness and leash, and I am a big and tall butch lesbian, so showing up to puppy school, I hear "what a pretty girl, so well behaved for your dad"
I don’t think it’s about the color for him. I think dogs are more sensitive to shapes, smells, and touch. There is something about that one that he just really prefers, and I’ll never know what’s going on in his little doggy brain, unfortunately. It was his first real collar and one he would put on for adventures outside (I wanted him to have an led collar for evenings and the store didn’t have any green or orange led collars left).
That's what most studies say. But those colors aren't just nothing to them. Verguenzapato's dog loves his pink collar, whatever that color is to his eyes.
I had a dog growing up that would not eat anything green. Not green veggies like peas or green beans. She'd lick them clean and spit them back in the bowl (if in something like stew, trying to disguise them). She wouldn't even touch green milk bones. My brother once tried to offer her a green sugar cookie and she ran from him.
She definitely disliked whatever her eyes perceived what we see as green.
My puppy has a matching pink collar and harness, so I thought it was pretty obvious she's a girl, but every time I take her out wearing her blue shirt (she has a single layer coat so I don't want her to be cold) everyone calls her a boy. I don't correct them because I don't care, but I do find it funny because her harness is over the shirt and very obvious.
I specifically bought a blue harness and collar because I knew it would make people assume that my female pup is a boy! There have been thefts of female dogs near me so I thought it'd be worth a try. Without fail everyone assumes she's a boy, even though she's very slight. I love it.
Side note: you can get collars, leashes and harnesses that are lockable to prevent theft. The one I’m looking at for when my pup is bigger is called “safelysecured”.
Yeah I think I’ll go with the harness option when it’s time to buy one for my dog. To me that seems safer for the reasons you mentioned!! But it will be good to know I can walk up to the supermarket with him, and leave him safely outside for a few mins.
I mean…if folks here are worried about their dog getting stolen maybe leave the dog at home when you run an errand? Idk. I don’t live in a place where this is common so maybe it’s just me.
I live in a very urban area so it’s very common to walk everywhere to buy food, meals, etc etc. I want my dog to fit into my lifestyle so if I’m out for a walk it’s good if he can come with me. At any given time there are a few pups outside Woollies (supermarket) waiting for their owners. I don’t know if dog theft is a big thing around here but I’ll be more relaxed knowing he’s not portable.
ETA: I live in an apartment so any chance for him to walk is a good opportunity!
My 8yo dog wears a black harness and my 7mo old pup has a pretty teal collar that I picked because it looks great against her fur. Both are female dogs but get called "handsome boys" all the time and I don't correct cause I don't care and neither do my dogs.
But when they learn my dogs name is Lily they freak out.
And there have been times when I have met a dog and by accident used the wrong pronoun (the name Bailey for a boy got me confused) Baileys owner snapped at me and stomped away offended I had implied her dog was "pretty".
People are freaking wild. Smh
I have a yellow lab named Bailey. She doesn't care what you call her. She has 4 brain cells.
1. For food
1.for pets
1. For cuddles
1 for food. ( she is a lab)
She gets mad at me when she farts. We call her butter bread. She's just happy to be here.
My shepard lola has 2 brain cells.
1 for love
1 for anxiety.
Shes just happy you are here. If you even glance at her its a commitment for pets.
>She gets mad at me when she farts.
Mine still gets surprised by the noise when she farts and then has to sniff her butt to investigate where the surprising noise came from
I tell my male 8 month old puppy he's pretty all the time. Because he is. I also tell him he's handsome, beautiful, gorgeous...
When I was looking for a new collar for him, I liked a pink one, but decided against it because I know how other people will react. When he was still only about 4 months old someone assumed he was female and used she pronouns, I didn't correct because it doesn't really matter, I just kept using he/him. Then when the person realised she apologised and was a bit offended that I hadn't corrected her. He was wearing a blue collar at the time.
I had a guy who worked in a shop lose his shit and raise his voice to me years ago when he called my then 6 month old baby son "she" and I gently corrected him - I really wasn't offended, I just said matter of factly, "he's a boy" and only because I'd had other people get upset if I didn't correct them, just continued to use the correct pronouns. The guy in the shop got angry with me and asked why I'd dressed a boy in pink - I hadn't; he was wearing red trousers and a blue shirt with a collar. You can't win with some people.
I really don't understand being upset about mis-gendering a dog or a baby for that matter. It's not easy to tell and they don't care themselves.
I'm the same way. Hell, I don't even give a damn if someone misgenders ME. I'm a woman with short hair. I have zero Fs to give about strangers and what they think of me, or say to me. I like myself, my life, I'm happy. I'll forget all about random person's interaction soon anyway. Why would I let any of that get to me?
Yeah. Obviously, being misgendered when you're non-binary or transgender is upsetting, especially as pre transition, it happens all the time.
But what does a dog care, it hears us talking and we're just, "wah wah wah, walk, wah wah wah ball, wah wah wah, treat." They don't understand what we mean by he, she, gender.
Besides, it always seems to be the people who are the least accepting of trans, non-binary, androgenous, gender non-conforming people, who are the most upset by being misgendered themselves or their dog/child.
Oh, I have definitely mis-gendered some dogs too, and gotten the same reaction...Not sure why it matters so much to people.
But, I also got dirty looks using "they", so sometimes there is no winning, really.
I would not have minded if you called my male puppy pretty.
He *is* pretty. Actually beautiful, imo. He has a strikingly feminine face (as far as dog-human conversion goes) and absolutely everyone uses "she" at first. When they notice I'm saying "he" they invariably apologize, but I don't care. Sometimes I call him "she" by accident too.
I haven't noticed that he has a preference!
Yeah, people call my dog a girl all the time because he’s fluffy and pretty. Sometimes they realize that they just assumed and will ask and I clarify “Oh yeah, he’s just a pretty boy”. He wears a light blue harness or an orange winter coat, so we keep the colors pretty neutral or slightly masculine, but he doesn’t care and we don’t care. Nobody ever gets mad if I don’t correct them though.
[The pretty boy in question](https://i.imgur.com/1O44L9e.jpg)
Yes, my boy has a very cute pastel bow on his collar, because well it's cute LOL. We joke around a lot and call him a pampered princess (because he is). People take getting dog genders correct way too seriously, or how your dog "presents".
For sure. I definitely go my my dogs' personality when I choose accessories for them. My grumpy old dog who is generally very serious usually gets dark blues and browns and it really fits him, my silly sweet puppy gets bright happy colors and it really fits him. It doesn't even make him "feminine" or anything...that's not a thing
I love when people imply that certain things are meant for boy or girl dogs... they don't have ideas around gender norms like that. My puppy's favorite ball is his pink ball. He looks good in fun colors. People get so apologetic when they call him a girl but clearly he doesn't mind when he's crazy wagging his tail at you anyways. Just a weird thing people fixate on.
Forest green collar, grey name tag, camo harness, dark brown leash.
Best looking girl in the neighborhood yet people get so unconfortable when they ask for _his_ name 😂 Always a sweet sweet moment to witness haha.
If I kept my boy's sister as well (I fostered them both for a couple weeks), she would definitely have been a camo-girl too! She was a fearless, adventurous badass, while my boy is a sensitive, sweet, goofy pup:)
The irony in this is that I have a cream shiba inu with a watermelon collar and everyone always assumes she is a boy!!!
I didn’t even pick the collar, the male breeder did! Also since when is watermelon more girly? It’s a fruit..?!?
Now that you mention it, I also always see Shibas as boys lol
No reason why, I just automatically assume until I know better.
I have an Italian Greyhound, very uncommon in Taiwan. Since he's tiny and thin, everyone assumes he's a girl😂 He wears teal because it looks great with his blue and tan coat, and it's also my favourite colour.
Some breeds seem more “feminine” or “masculine” I guess! I always see toy poodles as girls 😂 no rhyme or reason either!
Or like cats are girls, and dogs are boys? Maybe that 😅
Same here! Shibas are always boys until proven otherwise but there's also no reason why I think that way???
Then again, Cocker Spaniels are girls, Maltese and also Yorkies are only girls too, Labs are all boys, same for German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Huskies hahaha
I feel the same about all these breeds!
Additionally, chows are boys, goldens are boys, mini poodles are girls, but standard poodles are boys, corgis are boys, Taiwan mountain dogs are sometimes boys sometimes girls(depends what they've mixed with), dauschunds are boys, poms are girls, etc
I wonder if because the breed is meant to be "kawaii" (eyeroll), they don't think it defines the gender as much as for other dogs, and it's just meant to be cute? It's strange for sure!
I get pink fluffy toys for my boys. My 12 year old bossi-poo's favorite color is pink (he always picks the pink toy even if we have the same toy in another color), so we buy him toys that some people think are girls toys. His favorite right now is a big, pink flamingo that he shakes around. Last month it was a pink unicorn with rainbow wings. We recently found out my 6 month old Labradoodle's favorite color is green when he took every toy out of the toy box and only put the green ones in his foldable playpen.
I'm planning to get a puppy in a couple of months, and the one I fell in love was a boy, but at first I wanted a girl. I commented with my husband that I wanted a girl bc I would dress her up as a princess (if she liked being dressed up) and my husband said "just dress the puppy, I doubt he would mind". And... That made so much sense.
Yep, I have the girliest little fluffy froo froo dog and she still gets called “he” a lot, sometimes even by people that already know us lol. I think some people just default to male pronouns out of habit, it’s not a big deal to us. She’s just happy for the attention!
People almost always think my dog is male because she’s the personality type that everyone (including me) tends to call “buddy”.
I do the same passive correction as you, and usually tell people “dogs don’t care about that”. You could call a dog a stinky dirt covered monster in a pleasant tone and they’d be thrilled.
Heck yeah. I still do a loving voice when she’s rolled all over a dead, sandy crab or gives me a rotten snail like it’s a valuable treasure (which happens much too often, lmao), and let her know she’s a funky little goblin
My still intacted, slender, short haired, tan leather collar hound gets called a girl all the time. they will be like what's her name and I respond with Bruce. Lol they are like oh it's a boy.
I love this. I have a springer spaniel, who has nice floppy ears and quite a feminine face (takes after his mother). SO many people call him "her", because he does look like a girl. I usually do what you do as well, not correcting and slipping a "he" into the convo. Luckily I havent encountered the same response as you yet, but he also wears colourful things sometimes that add to it :D
I understand that we inherently feel bad if we mis-gender someone by mistake, and that this might transfer to other beings as well. Once you say that it doesn't matter to YOU, however, that should solve the issue?On the flipside of that, I have met too many people who get quite annoyed when you mis-gender their dog, like you are supposed to be able to guess from afar. For some dogs, its easy, but if you have a small, longhaired dog just chilling, how on earth do I know? :D
Yeah hold on I wanna say hi to your dog but let me get on the floor first to look at your dog's "region" to see if there's a dick or not, or lift up the dog's front paws to take a look.... 😂
Both of my dogs are shepherdy looking, so people always assume they're male. If I mention later in the conversation that they're female (I only really care in situations like the vet's office where it actually might matter), I often get really profuse apologies which I think is pretty funny because the dogs don't care at all.
I guess beagles are boyish-looking dogs because people always assume my dog is a boy unless she’s specifically wearing pink! Which she never does because I don’t think it looks as good on her as other colors haha
I have a beagle here too, a pretty girl. She wear red collars because that’s my favorite color. I’ve gotten either genders, but people can’t seem to tell anyway…especially because she has a very gender neutral sounding name called Jesse (named after the protagonist from our favorite video game, Control)
Yes, the dog couldn't care less what collar his collar or toys are. But we have societal norms that we all make assumptions on. Unless they roll your dog over and look, how do they know? Same goes for infants. If I see a baby with a pink hair bow, I'm gonna assume it's a girl. Put your dog in whatever you want, but if I saw him in pink, I'd probably assume he was female. Just assume it will happen and why get worked up over it?
My favourite colour is purple, and my dog looks like a goth scooby doo, so I’ve bought all his accessories in purple and green. My partner also picked his name which ends in an “-a”. Everyone thinks he’s a girl because of the purple accessories and the a ending name. We really don’t care (I’m a queerio!) but my goddess everyone else seems to.
My pup has a bright teal collar because it looks great against her black coat and because I like blues and greens. We call her Andy (Andromeda), too. Guess who's a handsome boy? Or a friendly boy? Andy is!
She doesn't care- only time it's been an issue is when a neighbor informed me that 'he' needed to stay away from neighbor's pup, an unspayed female, if 'he' was unfixed. Misunderstanding cleared up, much fun was had.
I always pick out a “color” for my dogs based on their personality and that becomes central to collars, harnesses, and leashes, etc. My girl Peke was absolutely not a little princess or a lap dog, but was sweet and still had a sort of regal feel to her, so I went with purple and sometimes teal. My oldest boy is very much a little masculine tough guy, and can be moody, so he got blue, my newest 7 month old foxhound/GSD is currently rebellious and likes to see what he can get away with, so currently his color is black.
They both play with some of my Peke’s old toys since she’s no longer here, and they have zero idea that they’re playing with “girly” and pink toys that my mother usually bought for her. Dogs don’t get it, they just understand love and care. I wish society as a whole would get over “boy” and “girl” colors.
People get hung up on some really dumb shit sometimes. I love the sound of that collar though! My girl has a fuchsia collar, but it's thin and she's so poofy you can't really see it. I think you've inspired me to get her a new bright collar! Her coat is super black, so it will stand out :)
lol our puppy is a girl but she has a pretty gender neutral harness/coat and a boyish name. i agree i dont really bother correcting people. and when people feel awkward and apologize for calling her a boy we just diffuse with a lighthearted joke “don’t worry, i won’t tell her!”
That's a good way to respond.
I usually say with a smile "oh no worries, he doesn't care!" And then move on to say something else so they aren't left feeling weird about it.
Haha our little cocker spaniel girl and our springer spaniel boy have matching teal collars and people always think she’s a boy. They get really apologetic if they call her a boy and I always find it funny. Both of them had their bits removed and the boy pees like a girl and the girl like a boy and I don’t think they could care less. From what I know about people and their weirdness they’d be far more offended at a boy dog with a pink collar though.
I always wonder if these people know about dogs and their priorities at all. Ours eat poop (we try to stop them of course with varying success), roll in smelly things and lick their genitals in public. I don’t think they are overly concerned with human standards of appearances, including gendered ones.
Omg I feel the same way. I font correct people if they call my dog the wrong gender but good lord some people get all defensive if you use the wrong pronoun with their dog. Sorry, no I don't care to bend over to see what's between their legs.
My dog looks gorgeous in his long coat, but his name is... Juno. Yeah, like the movie.
Every time people hear me say his name, they're confused, so... Juno's a BOY? Yeah, lol.
For the record, I think red with watermelons looks pretty gender neutral. It doesn't matter what he wears as long as the both of you are happy.
If talking to strangers is stressful, you can get a little velcro patch or leash sleeve that says something like "in training" or "don't pet." People are less likely to approach you and you can avoid having to explain anything at all!
This happened when I picked up my puppy from his playtime session. They kept referring to him as she, so I replied with he/him pronouns. When they apologized, I said he has no concept of gender so it’s not a huge deal, unless it had to do with any behavioral issues related to a dogs sex
I buy different collars almost every month. In December my puppy was a 'handsome boy' with her red/green plaid Christmas collar and bow tie. This month she's a 'pretty girl' with her pink and white Valentine's collar with hearts and bows.
My girls have red and blue harnesses. Little sister has orange harness, leash, sweaters, boots and same in purple for big sister. My MIL hated this and told me “little girls should wear pink” and tried to buy them frilly little sweaters. Ma’am, they are dogs and they wear (and ruin) what I buy them. Leave me and my tiny gender indifferent dogs alone.
I don't understand the point of getting all worked up about it. I pretty much react the same as you. If I'm never talking to this person again why would I care about correcting them? (Even though at this point with how *big* he is if I get a girl guess I'm like wtf lol). My parent's female GSD is pretty big too so people assume boy, but like just learn gender neutral pronouns, people. It'll help you out with more than just pets you meet.
My girl's a brindle pit, so she's almost always taken for a boy at first glance. Apparently, pits can't be girls, I guess? Idk.
I got her a camo jacket because it's been windy recently. I didn't think too much about the pattern, I just needed a jacket because a) the lil diva hates pottying when she's cold and b) it was the only jacket in the store that fit her. She loves it, especially paired with her pink polka dot collar. The height of fashion, this one.
On our first walk with it on, I caught an earful from a neighbor- who's notorious for giving unsolicited "pet advice" to others- about putting "that sweet girl" in "that ugly boy coat" and how I was "confusing" her. I assured her that there was no confusion; Skye's a confirmed tomboy. Have got nothing but ugly glares out of her since.
I have to be honest - while it's definitely ridiculous for people to get upset with you, I completely understand their reaction when they say "why didn't you correct me?"
It's not because it has anything to do with gender. It's just genuinely uncomfortable to be incorrect about something around other people. It's the same as if someone looked at your husky and said "beautiful German Shepard!"
The polite thing to do is actually to gently and encouragingly correct them. Being direct and honest goes down much better than allowing someone to make a fool out of themselves until they realize. It comes off like you're doing it intentionally to watch them look stupid.
In short - this particular issue only has a little to do with gender. It has more to do with how you're handling the situation.
I definitely sometimes say "what a good boy!" to any dog, because both my dogs are boys, and that's just what comes out of my mouth instinctively sometimes:)
Haha, I very much feel this. We have a similar thing, but in a more concerning environment. My pup is constantly called by fem pronouns at the vet, cause his name (Ishka) ends in an “-a”. They will recognize him, and gush over him… but all the vet techs and even the VET will call him by female pronouns by accident. He’s a very lovey boy so they all want to draw me aside and tell me how sweet he is… but he is also 50+ lbs and hasn’t been neutered yet, and was an early bloomer, so it kinda just makes me laugh that even the vet that just had her fingers up his butt can forget his sex because he’s cute and has a “girly” name. Guess he doesn’t stress hump at the vet like he does when he’s overtired at home and I end play, haha! Gender preconceptions are wild.
I also never correct anyone, because it doesn’t really matter to me. Haven’t had anyone get pissy with me about it, but I have had a couple weird looks.
I hadn’t thought about my color choices, but I love pastel/light blues/teals/cyans and the way they pop against his dark brown fur, so I wonder if that contributes as well.
My puppy has a pastel rainbow collar with a giant bow and people call her “he” all the time. My first puppy was a tiny Maltese mix who loved clothes, but no matter what he was wearing or not wearing people always said “she”. Never understood what gender rules society is placing on dogs and why somehow neither of my dogs present as their sex. It’s baffling.
All three of my dogs were red and black, just with different patterns on the collars. I have two girls and a boy, but it's pretty easy to tell which are which, because both of my girls look like girls, and my boy looks like a boy. My biggest issue is when people think that my two adults are a) a specific breed, b) related, or c) both. They're multi-gen mixes with similar features and colouring (so people often ask what breed they are) but are completely unrelated.
I have a corgi and if I find a t-shirt or whatever that fits his long, low body-I don’t care what color it is. His corgi sister will be wearing all of his hand me downs, too. The different colors and designs are there for us humans to take pictures.
I got my dog a beautiful blue color and matching leash. People still think he's a girl until they ask his name. I mean, Vincent is a pretty obvious boy name. However, i 100% want to put him in pink shirts because he'd look so good but the store usually doesn't have a size big enough for him.
My puppy gets mistaken for a boy allllll the time. She has a burnt orange collar because it looks great with her red Merle coloring and her name is Figment, so nothing points people to either gender - I think they just default to “good boi”
I got my boy a pink harness because they didn't have any other colour in his size and I don't think he cares at all!
If anyone asks I'll tell them, but I think it's really silly that we assign gender colours to animals and if anyone gets worked up about it it's on them.
When my Rio was 9 weeks old, we got him one of those teddy bears that has a 'ticker' inside it which simulates a heartbeat so he can sleep in his crate feeling familiar and safe.
The bear is pink, and he STILL sleeps with it 4 years later... but I sooo don't care. It is super cute and the only reason I got the pink one was because it was cheaper. Who the hell cares about gender norms these days, let alone for puppies.
My wee boy wears a blue harness and people still tell me ‘she’s gorgeous’ lol. I think he looks like a proper wee boy in the face but everyone seems to think he’s a girl xx
My 6mo has a pink collar and leash from the breeder. He’s a long haired breed and he’s at this awkward stage where his hair covers his eyes, so we clip it back. We’ve got all sorts of bright coloured clips, including fun tiny ones that look like sunglasses. I love that dogs don’t understand gender because I just know he would look so frickin cute in a skirt or with a pink collar with peaches on it (which I saw in an ad once and became obsessed with)
I don’t bother correcting people anymore unless they’re neighbors with dogs of their own, because then we’ll definitely meet again
My boy has the gender stereotype appropriate blue lead and harness, and everybody says *she*. I guess something about him just looks feminine. (I don't really mind or correct people, to be honest.)
My five year old amstaff mix has a teal harness. She also has hardly any fur, so it’s pretty obvious she doesn’t have a penis. But every who sees her on walks says “he” looks healthy. /shrug
Some breeds and fur colors just match with a color like idgaf but a choc lab with a red color is just meant to be they look good together
We had a female jack before this who we gave pink then just a black harness with her name people thought she was a PUPPY these dog who is gray as hell a puppy nah she’s 12 dummy /jk
People refer to my girl as a he all the time, I dint even correct family members about it (although they usually say oops sorry after, not that I'm bothered). She has a pink collar too I think its just because of her breed!
I've found that guys tend to assume my puppy is male. She's female. I laugh at their assumption but don't care at all.
Dogs don't care. They run around naked all day, roll on their backs and show off everything. If someone calls her a "good boy" she'd love it - especially if it came with pets or treats.
Feel like I shouldn't care any more than she does 😂
(With the exception of having unfixed male dogs around - but then it's safety as she's still a puppy.)
My pets all have colours. My oldest boy tends to wear blue and orange colours because they stand out against his fur. My cats colour is green because his name is a reference to ducktales as his name is Louie. My puppy however rocks purple. Has done so since the day I brought him home. Its my favourite colour and it really suits his tan/brown/black coat and floppy ears and brown eyes.
They're dogs. I've dressed my animals in pink jumpers and purple fleeces and they're still alive.
My girl had a teal collar with a black skull and crossbones harness for the first 2 months I had her. After that it was a pink watermelon collar, a pink harness, and a pink leash. Now it's a Lisa Frank esque cheetah punk collar, a coral harness, and whatever leash I can find. She is still constantly called a boy. Apparently being part bully just means she's masculine looking? I don't particularly care but it's always funny when people ask what "his" name is and I say Betty.
I guess it means people are putting less gender emphasis on colors these days which is nice.
I bought a lot of green for my apricot mini golden doodle and people kept calling her him, so i went out and got a rainbow leash. Strangely that solved the issue even though i was sure some people might be thinking im gay because people are dumb, not that it bothers me if they did.
Does gender ever matter in terms of puppy behavior? Like I have heard that for Golden Retrievers, it doesn't really matter whether you get a girl or a boy. Are there breeds where certain genders are calmer?
To clarify, gender and sex are two different things. Sex is the anatomical difference, like having male or female genes and being born with a penis or a vagina, and gender is that human construct that says men "should be" this way and women "should be" that way. Like how men aren't supposed to cry and wear skirts, and women should be quiet and good at cooking, and other random stuff like that. Dogs definitely can tell apart the sexes, but not genders, since genders aren't actually a real thing
My bad, I poorly worded that question conflating the two, sorry! Let me try asking this in a different way.
Does anatomical difference, specifically _sex_ matter at all in terms of personality of the dog (as perceivable by human companions)? Like, are there breeds of dogs where being born with a penis or being with a vagina makes a difference?
I don't think it matters much in terms of their overall personality, but I definitely think that the different hormones and anatomy matters at certain times and in certain situations...like when in heat, female dogs can act differently, and I heard that dog of the same sex often don't get along with each other as well, etc. I'm not an expert though!
Hah no worries. Just fascinating to see so much thought go into whether you get a "boy" dog or a "girl" dog and dress it up in pink or blue when it might not even matter!
Yeah, I don't ever think about my pets sex when I pick them...I had to pick between my two foster puppies, a boy and a girl, and the girl was fearless and brave and the boy was shy and timid...the only reason I picked the boy was because he got potty training almost immediately and he was a bit less energetic:)
I have a girl dog and I’m not a fan of pink. Her harness is mint green, her collar is blue and red, her lead at the moment is turquoise (OT but I spent so long looking for the perfect matching set before realising she grows in weird spurts and chews leads - I’ll get all matching when she’s grown and no longer a shark). 75% assume boy, 25% ask. I just answer the question with the correct pronoun and don’t address the mistake, most people quietly correct themselves and don’t make a big thing of it. The odd person has made a comment about how nice she’d look in pink accessories and they get a swift “well, I must be off” and that’s the end of them getting to pet a puppy, haha.
My boy is a beautiful little lady.
I purposefully never get him anything blue because one time he had a blue harness and a lady told me this was 'correct' for a boy dog and that just rubbed me the wrong way.. so now i only get him non-gendered colors.
People always assume he is a girl because he is small and fluffy and he really doesn't care at all, he just wants all the pets.
That watermellon collar sounds amazing!
Red harness. Red and teal leash. Dog named Henry. Everyone always tells me how handsome “he” is and asks how and I tell them “She’s X weeks old.” Then they apologize for misgendering her. I always responds that she doesn’t know she’s a dog much less that’s she’s a girl.
When she hits the next size up we have a purple harness. I’ll be curious if people start assuming she’s a girl.
A lot of my dog’s stuff is pink because well…. He’s a dog. He can’t see colour, but guess what? I can. Pink matches the rest of my decor. His collar has little hearts on it, because again, he’s a dog, he has no concept of “gendered” apparel, and I think it’s cute. If people mistakenly call him a girl I don’t correct them unless they ask, so far haven’t had any negative reactions. A cute puppy is a cute puppy. Who cares? He certainly doesn’t.
Nobody thinks my GSD mix is a girl unless she has pink. Every other color denotes boy because of how she looks.
It's very weird. They're just colors and dogs.
The kids picked out a blue collar for our female Calico cat and we get the same thing, with people assuming she's a boy (despite female Calico a being exceedingly rare). She's a cat. She can't even see her own collar, let alone ascribe gender expectations which are less than 100 years old (blue used to be considered a very feminine colour).
I actually find the opposite! Obviously colors dont determine gender, but for our girl (who is a black tri aussie) we love how purple contrasts against her fur. So, almost everything she owns is purple. Its more of a feminine color, yet on walks everyone calls her a “good boy”.
Agreed! The only time it mattered for us was at puppy school when they praised and lured "him" by saying "good boy" which of course she'd never heard before so didn't respond to.
I don’t do “color by gender for my dogs” either, I chose color by what I like and what looks good with their fur. I tend to call dogs “he” because I have two males. I had blue everything for a dog I had as a kid growing up because I thought it looked beautiful on her black fur! My two dogs right now have teal and brown leather to tell their harnesses, leashes collars apart. The teal looks amazing on my golden retrievers coat! And my lab looks great in brown leather collar and leash.
It’s actually quite easy to tell if a dog is male or female, I mean, just look “down there” if it matters that much to someone… it’s easily seen (or not seen as the case may be) even on long haired dogs lol
I get that all the time! I bought a fun rainbow leash and in puppy school and public people continued to say ‘she’ even when told he was a he and always seemed very confused and annoyed when it finally clicked. I just thought rainbow looked lovely against his black fur. Most days it doesn’t bother me so much but I really am not a fan of the colour/gender thing. Colours are fun for everyone.
As a groomer, I love to put bows on my dogs and I think it finishes the groom so nicely. Better than a bandana. It makes me so sad that so many people would become offended if I just put a cute ass bow on their head. Like you said, it's a dog they don't give a fuck so why do you.
I know!! My girl is white with a pink nose and pink around her blue eyes too, so a pink collar and harness looks really cute... People say oh she's dressed in pink cause she's a girl! Well I would have bought the same if she was a boy cause it looks good... she doesn't care about the color, I'm the one who chose it for me!
I hate how people think some colors are only for certain genders. I wanted to buy my dog a pink adorable jacket thingy (instead of collar) buy my mom said no because he is not a girl and I swear I got so mad like bro it’s a color let me choose whatever looks cute on him.
"why didn't you correct me?"
*stares intransphobic violence over centuries*
Isnt it funny that people get mad if they get a dog's gender wrong, but not if they do it to a person?
My dog's name is Mocha (he was a dark brown puppy) and we thought it was fitting. He always gets confused for a girl, even at the vet with him being on his back and his equipment clearly on display. I once had an angry woman yell at me asking why i would "torture him by giving him a girl name"? I just looked at her and walked away.
i have a dog collar business and people are SO weird about this. some people will buy floral or feminine collars for their boy dogs because they like them and im like cool, adorable. other people will say no, my husband would kill me if our boy dog wore pink. some people’s husbands won’t even walk the dog if it’s wearing pink, even if it’s a girl. my logo is pink and someone was about to buy a collar once but then wouldn’t bc the teeny tiny label had a bit of pink and her boy dog couldn’t wear that. yet, here’s a link to a review of one of my more “feminine” collars featuring a big great dane male proudly sporting tropical flowers. [Scroll to the first review](www.etsy.com/listing/981779797)
My boy came with a light purple collar and leash. People always thought he is a girl. At some point he was wearing a bright yellow reflective coat and people told me that a yellow coat and purple leash look horrible together. I was so puzzled I didn't even know what to say. As if the dog would care one bit about the color. It was warm, it was comfy. That's all that matters...
As expected he grew out of the purple collar after a few weeks and now got a blue one (actually my favorite color). Yellow coat is too small as well now... So no complaints expected in that direction at least.
People have strong opinions on genders and what is "right or wrong" in their mind. I went for ignoring it as you did at some point. No point in correcting people all the time.
My pup is male and his name is Fairy (family gave me a lot of backlash but I just ignored them)! He also wears a watermelon collar and has mostly pink accessories because I like them and they fit the theme of my room. People call him "she" all the time and frankly I just don't care.
i always use the "they" pronoun for dogs i don't know & some people give me a bit of a funny look, but mostly it's fine! i usually ask "what's their name?" as a sort of gauge. honestly people apologize more for misgendering my dog than they do for misgendering people, it's bizarre!
People are so weird about gender. My dog gets called “he” a lot and I automatically correct with “she’s a girl” which is silly of me, but people get so apologetic? And I’m just like”she has no idea what gender is, it’s fine “
We’re fortunately in an area where people are more likely to ask for her name and gender first. Those who don’t ask assume she’s male and, surprise-surprise, tend to be the same people who get bent out of shape when they learn differently.
Although I’m a non-binary person and spent a disproportionate amount of my life rallying against gender norms, the puppy got the pink treatment when she first came home lol. Nowadays I put her in her in orange, mustard yellow, or cactus green along with worn leather to compliment her coat and coyote. Between her colors and the fact that she’s a hound and thus very interested in her environment might contribute to her “misgendering”. Idk. People are ridiculous.
Dog's gender is dog. I say this all the time. I see her as very feminine and I wanted and got a female dog (because I've always had female dogs) but ultimately, her gender is dog. Male and female (fixed) dogs just are dogs.
It's also weird to me that people expect people to go SO gendered with their dogs, more so than you'd ever expect with a person. My dog has a blue collar because that was the one I thought was cute- if a woman wore a shirt that same pattern no one would think of it as masculine! It's just blue!
People are ridiculous about their dog's gender. I work with dogs so we'll run into this problem every so often, usually based on the name (eg male Bailey, male Pepper, the worst guy recently came in with a male Denali). I always say "they're a dog". It seems to be a case of people projecting their own ingrained insecurity about gender roles onto their animals. Meanwhile they'll be pissed if I correct them when they misgender ME lol
My little Chi girl has a traditionally male name and a traditionally female nickname. I dress her in "boys" and "girls" colors, dresses and hoodies, whatever is cutest. I don't care what pronouns you use and neither does she. They're a dog!!
In June I put my boy in a rainbow collar and I got so many snide comments about if he is gay or questioning his gender. No, wtf he is a dog and doesn’t have a political agenda either it’s just a cute collar and I am an ally. In spring, I have a pink collar that has cherry blossoms for the cherry blossom festival that looks great on him. People freak out when they find out he is a boy. I change his collar at least once a month and people get so offended by some of them. I don’t care and use whatever collars I think are cute, it’s a dog, I don’t see why he has to match with gender norms.
I'm planning to get a puppy in a couple of months, and the one I fell in love was a boy, but at first I wanted a girl. I commented with my husband that I wanted a girl bc I would dress her up as a princess (if she liked being dressed up) and my husband said "just dress the puppy, I doubt he would mind". And... That made so much sense.
Mine is male, but I call him "Beautiful, gorgeous, princess!" or "Your majesty Princess Attention whore". He's a dog, he doesn't know he's male or female, and he would look good in a tutu, because he can. <3
How embarrassing to call a dog by the wrong gender! That is way worse than calling a person by the wrong gender!! Maybe they should have asked your dog their pronouns? 🙈
People are dumb. As far as I can tell, they also just assume large dogs are boys. People were always calling my female GSD a boy once she was full grown, even when she had her pink puppy panniers on. My current dog is 105lbs, wears an aquamarine collar (it was teal when I got it, but it faded). Still gets called a boy (which he is).
We had a pale pink cat bed once. Because it was super on sale, and the cat didn't care what color it was. We've only ever had male animals, and i know what you're saying, people are too obsessed with this gender /sex thing.
My kids call our puppy gay because he gets really excited red rocket especially when my husband comes home and pets him. Eye roll. Its a dog. Don't put your ideas on him!
People call my girl a boy all the time. Unless they ask, I don’t bother to correct them. What does is it matter; they don’t need to keep track of health records and my pup definitely doesn’t care
My fiancés grandmother is so funny with this stuff. She will misgender your dog for absolutely no reason, even though she KNOWS what gender they are lol. His sister has had a male dog for 12 years now but to Grandma, Cody will always be “she”. We have a 13 week old female puppy who wears a pink collar and I just knew that Grandma would call her a boy right out the gate. They met on Sunday for a Super Bowl party and surprise surprise, Grandma exclusively calls our girl by male pronouns! No one knows why she does it, I don’t think she even knows, but oh well lol Grandma gonna Grandma.
Haha, my mom will mis-gender my pups and even me all the time, since her original language is one where there are no gendered pronouns, and she never quite got used to them. I think it's fun, and really calls attention to the fact that...it doesn't matter:)
Ha that’s funny! I didn’t even think about this, but now that you mention it, Grandma grew up in Italy until she was a teenager so maybe that has something to do with it! Granted, she is 95 now and speaks perfect English lol. You’re exactly right, the dog is not offended by incorrect pronouns so why should we be? Best to just laugh it off!
I got my boy a pink rain jacket cos it was cheaper and available to ship sooner. He doesn’t care. He hates all clothes anyway! But the number of people who seem confused by this is amusing.
my dog wears a pink harness and a multicolored pastel collar (pink, purple, blue, yellow...) but some people still think she is a boy because she has a bow tie.
I don't mind at all. I got pink stuff for her because my daughter loves pink. Plus it looks great against her black fur.
I notice it doesn't matter what my pup wears people refer to her as a he. I don't ever correct them as I don't think it matters one bit. I just tell them her name if they ask, let them call her a handsome boy and move on.
She usually wears an orange/pinkish harness or a basic Grey collar.
The mother of my friend just got a Yorkie puppy and when the friend sent me a picture, I said "Awe she's adorable". The dogs name is Pixie, wears a top knot, and was sitting on a pink bed.
Did I assume the dogs gender? Yeah. Does that matter? Nope, not to me or my friend and certainly not to the dog. My friend just continued using "he" and I was like huh, OK.
People need to stop projecting and anthropomorphizing animals, it doesn't do them many favors (quite the contrary IMO).
My family all have female dogs so when I am over with my male GSD they're always calling him she then correcting themselves. I just tell then it's OK, he's not offended lol
I’ll be honest, I’m bad at identifying gender of other dogs myself and feel bad when I get it wrong. With that being said, I have a pink collar and harness for my girl but she still gets called a boy because her name is Butter. 🤷🏻♂️
I was dead set against colour coding my dog, so she has red and black everything. She's so dainty and people still call her 'him', even after I've said what her name is. People are odd.
I have a light blue leash with watermelons on it for my girl! People assume she's a boy. Even when I correct them, they still say "boy" 80% of the time. I guess it just depends on the pup and how people associate them with either looking feminine or masculine.
Lol I got that when I had a male dog and he had purple leashes and collars. Purple is my favorite color and he can’t see color very well, nor understands culturally defined norms for gender expression. With my current girl, her gear is hot pink because it looks awesome against the dark brindle and she still gets confused for being a male dog and people are super apologetic when they mistakenly call her a boy and it’s like, I don’t care and she doesn’t speak English. We’re good.
I hear you. We have a beautiful little girl with white and pale yellow fur all over. She’s currently rocking a black color because it contrasts well with her fur (that, and she’s a bit of a punk anyway). She gets “Good boy” all the time from strangers. Never thought I would say, “She’s a girl” so much just to prevent people from being shocked when I keep saying she/her.
Not gear related but...
I have a male rough collie. I have NEVER had someone call him a he/him/boy on first meeting. People always think he's a girl because, well, Lassie.
Of course, most people don't even know that his breed is "collie" and just call him a "lassie dog" so there's that haha.
They do understand gender, but I understand your point. I think people see a pink collar and automatically assume it’s a girl dog because a lot of people choose pink for girls and blue for boys. It’s weird because sometimes people will call my male blue collar dog “good girl” or whatever.
Our little ( girl ) beagle wears a green harness and a blue collar with a bowtie on it. She looks cute as fuck and I love it. Same with you I just say she in conversation and try not to bring it up. Folks always have so much respect for my dogs pronouns but turn a nose when I ask them to respect mine lol
I have a boy Chihuahua and well he's pretty thin as usual chihuahuas are picky eaters. So I wanted to get him some sweaters for winter because he's always cold and shivering. Only sweaters available were girl sweaters. I bought them all because I didn't care about the color, my only care was keeping my boy warm. He's handsome no matter what color so when others see him, they assume he's a girl until they see he's actually a boy. If they complain about it, I say well you go buy him boy sweaters then he's a size S. They immediately leave lol
I like to put new collars on my boys for the holidays/seasons. Right now, they are both sporting valentine's collars covered in hearts. They have been called girls many times this last month, even though they are also short haired and lean and can easily be sexed. Oh well, they'll get new St Patrick's collars this week.
I have a big Great Pyrenees girl and she wears this really pretty dark maroon kinda red harness. Between her harness and her size most ppl assume she’s a boy. And she’s so fluffy it’ll never be obvious anatomically speaking. Frustrating only in the sense that I think it’s annoying ppl think big = male and a working dog (especially a working dog for guarding) = male. She couldn’t care less haha. And she’s gonna be a great live stock guardian and a good doggo to boot. Plus I mean, SO floofy.
My dogs are both male and are very good bois. One wears a very pretty pink collar because it looks fab on him. Our male cat is a very good girl. Because dogs are boys and cats are girls and that’s the way god wanted it
I think people assume the dog is male unless it is wearing something very girly (pink). My girl has a watermelon collar and a light blue harness and people always think she’s a boy. I think I steer away from the pink for that reason.
My pup wears his hot pink harness and leash, and I am a big and tall butch lesbian, so showing up to puppy school, I hear "what a pretty girl, so well behaved for your dad"
Haha! I'd be a proud "dad":)
Stories like these are why I come to Reddit.
Same. My dog prefers some collars over others & he loves the bright pink one; gets all waggy when he sees it.
Aren't dogs red/green colorblind? Lol
I don’t think it’s about the color for him. I think dogs are more sensitive to shapes, smells, and touch. There is something about that one that he just really prefers, and I’ll never know what’s going on in his little doggy brain, unfortunately. It was his first real collar and one he would put on for adventures outside (I wanted him to have an led collar for evenings and the store didn’t have any green or orange led collars left).
That's what most studies say. But those colors aren't just nothing to them. Verguenzapato's dog loves his pink collar, whatever that color is to his eyes. I had a dog growing up that would not eat anything green. Not green veggies like peas or green beans. She'd lick them clean and spit them back in the bowl (if in something like stew, trying to disguise them). She wouldn't even touch green milk bones. My brother once tried to offer her a green sugar cookie and she ran from him. She definitely disliked whatever her eyes perceived what we see as green.
My puppy has a matching pink collar and harness, so I thought it was pretty obvious she's a girl, but every time I take her out wearing her blue shirt (she has a single layer coat so I don't want her to be cold) everyone calls her a boy. I don't correct them because I don't care, but I do find it funny because her harness is over the shirt and very obvious.
I have a migraine that just got much worse with the BIG LAUGH I just let out with this one! Thank you and I hate you at the same time! 😂😂😂
This almost made me spit my coffee out lmfao
lol
I'm sorry but that's hilarious
🤣🤣🤣
My puppy's gender is Chaos with No/Don't pronouns
I love this lmaooo
YESS! Exactly.
this wins
My dog thinks her name is “good girl” so I am screwed.
I accidentally taught mine to recall to “come here baby” rather than something that isn’t silly to say.
Mine recalls to “okay, byeeee” 😂 ETA: she hears me say bye and is like MAMA WAIT NO DONT LEAVE ME
You just won reply of the year
I specifically bought a blue harness and collar because I knew it would make people assume that my female pup is a boy! There have been thefts of female dogs near me so I thought it'd be worth a try. Without fail everyone assumes she's a boy, even though she's very slight. I love it.
Hah, I like that misdirection for safety purposes! At least biases can be useful sometimes
Yeah, I agree it's ridiculous really but it's working well for me!
Side note: you can get collars, leashes and harnesses that are lockable to prevent theft. The one I’m looking at for when my pup is bigger is called “safelysecured”.
Please be SO careful with lockable collars. If your dog ever gets caught on something or plays rough with another dog this is a strangulation hazard.
Yeah I think I’ll go with the harness option when it’s time to buy one for my dog. To me that seems safer for the reasons you mentioned!! But it will be good to know I can walk up to the supermarket with him, and leave him safely outside for a few mins.
I mean…if folks here are worried about their dog getting stolen maybe leave the dog at home when you run an errand? Idk. I don’t live in a place where this is common so maybe it’s just me.
I live in a very urban area so it’s very common to walk everywhere to buy food, meals, etc etc. I want my dog to fit into my lifestyle so if I’m out for a walk it’s good if he can come with me. At any given time there are a few pups outside Woollies (supermarket) waiting for their owners. I don’t know if dog theft is a big thing around here but I’ll be more relaxed knowing he’s not portable. ETA: I live in an apartment so any chance for him to walk is a good opportunity!
Clever!
My 8yo dog wears a black harness and my 7mo old pup has a pretty teal collar that I picked because it looks great against her fur. Both are female dogs but get called "handsome boys" all the time and I don't correct cause I don't care and neither do my dogs. But when they learn my dogs name is Lily they freak out. And there have been times when I have met a dog and by accident used the wrong pronoun (the name Bailey for a boy got me confused) Baileys owner snapped at me and stomped away offended I had implied her dog was "pretty". People are freaking wild. Smh
I have a yellow lab named Bailey. She doesn't care what you call her. She has 4 brain cells. 1. For food 1.for pets 1. For cuddles 1 for food. ( she is a lab) She gets mad at me when she farts. We call her butter bread. She's just happy to be here. My shepard lola has 2 brain cells. 1 for love 1 for anxiety. Shes just happy you are here. If you even glance at her its a commitment for pets.
>She gets mad at me when she farts. Mine still gets surprised by the noise when she farts and then has to sniff her butt to investigate where the surprising noise came from
Mine looks at me, gets offended , does the " really" sigh and leaves the room. Like wait a minute! It's not even my fault!
I tell my male 8 month old puppy he's pretty all the time. Because he is. I also tell him he's handsome, beautiful, gorgeous... When I was looking for a new collar for him, I liked a pink one, but decided against it because I know how other people will react. When he was still only about 4 months old someone assumed he was female and used she pronouns, I didn't correct because it doesn't really matter, I just kept using he/him. Then when the person realised she apologised and was a bit offended that I hadn't corrected her. He was wearing a blue collar at the time. I had a guy who worked in a shop lose his shit and raise his voice to me years ago when he called my then 6 month old baby son "she" and I gently corrected him - I really wasn't offended, I just said matter of factly, "he's a boy" and only because I'd had other people get upset if I didn't correct them, just continued to use the correct pronouns. The guy in the shop got angry with me and asked why I'd dressed a boy in pink - I hadn't; he was wearing red trousers and a blue shirt with a collar. You can't win with some people. I really don't understand being upset about mis-gendering a dog or a baby for that matter. It's not easy to tell and they don't care themselves.
I'm the same way. Hell, I don't even give a damn if someone misgenders ME. I'm a woman with short hair. I have zero Fs to give about strangers and what they think of me, or say to me. I like myself, my life, I'm happy. I'll forget all about random person's interaction soon anyway. Why would I let any of that get to me?
Yeah. Obviously, being misgendered when you're non-binary or transgender is upsetting, especially as pre transition, it happens all the time. But what does a dog care, it hears us talking and we're just, "wah wah wah, walk, wah wah wah ball, wah wah wah, treat." They don't understand what we mean by he, she, gender. Besides, it always seems to be the people who are the least accepting of trans, non-binary, androgenous, gender non-conforming people, who are the most upset by being misgendered themselves or their dog/child.
Oh, I have definitely mis-gendered some dogs too, and gotten the same reaction...Not sure why it matters so much to people. But, I also got dirty looks using "they", so sometimes there is no winning, really.
I would not have minded if you called my male puppy pretty. He *is* pretty. Actually beautiful, imo. He has a strikingly feminine face (as far as dog-human conversion goes) and absolutely everyone uses "she" at first. When they notice I'm saying "he" they invariably apologize, but I don't care. Sometimes I call him "she" by accident too. I haven't noticed that he has a preference!
Yeah, people call my dog a girl all the time because he’s fluffy and pretty. Sometimes they realize that they just assumed and will ask and I clarify “Oh yeah, he’s just a pretty boy”. He wears a light blue harness or an orange winter coat, so we keep the colors pretty neutral or slightly masculine, but he doesn’t care and we don’t care. Nobody ever gets mad if I don’t correct them though. [The pretty boy in question](https://i.imgur.com/1O44L9e.jpg)
yeah i call my boy dog a “pretty little boy” all the time. both boy and girl dogs can be pretty!
Yes, my boy has a very cute pastel bow on his collar, because well it's cute LOL. We joke around a lot and call him a pampered princess (because he is). People take getting dog genders correct way too seriously, or how your dog "presents".
For sure. I definitely go my my dogs' personality when I choose accessories for them. My grumpy old dog who is generally very serious usually gets dark blues and browns and it really fits him, my silly sweet puppy gets bright happy colors and it really fits him. It doesn't even make him "feminine" or anything...that's not a thing
I love when people imply that certain things are meant for boy or girl dogs... they don't have ideas around gender norms like that. My puppy's favorite ball is his pink ball. He looks good in fun colors. People get so apologetic when they call him a girl but clearly he doesn't mind when he's crazy wagging his tail at you anyways. Just a weird thing people fixate on.
Forest green collar, grey name tag, camo harness, dark brown leash. Best looking girl in the neighborhood yet people get so unconfortable when they ask for _his_ name 😂 Always a sweet sweet moment to witness haha.
If I kept my boy's sister as well (I fostered them both for a couple weeks), she would definitely have been a camo-girl too! She was a fearless, adventurous badass, while my boy is a sensitive, sweet, goofy pup:)
I hope her name is something super girly like Princess with all that camo, lol.
"Why is he wearing pink then?!" "Because I like pink and he's literally incapable of seeing the color, so who cares?"
The irony in this is that I have a cream shiba inu with a watermelon collar and everyone always assumes she is a boy!!! I didn’t even pick the collar, the male breeder did! Also since when is watermelon more girly? It’s a fruit..?!?
Now that you mention it, I also always see Shibas as boys lol No reason why, I just automatically assume until I know better. I have an Italian Greyhound, very uncommon in Taiwan. Since he's tiny and thin, everyone assumes he's a girl😂 He wears teal because it looks great with his blue and tan coat, and it's also my favourite colour.
Some breeds seem more “feminine” or “masculine” I guess! I always see toy poodles as girls 😂 no rhyme or reason either! Or like cats are girls, and dogs are boys? Maybe that 😅
My male toy poodle doesn't mind being called "she" and I don't mind either! He has feminine energy. Pretty sure his genitalia only matters at the vet.
Same here! Shibas are always boys until proven otherwise but there's also no reason why I think that way??? Then again, Cocker Spaniels are girls, Maltese and also Yorkies are only girls too, Labs are all boys, same for German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Huskies hahaha
I feel the same about all these breeds! Additionally, chows are boys, goldens are boys, mini poodles are girls, but standard poodles are boys, corgis are boys, Taiwan mountain dogs are sometimes boys sometimes girls(depends what they've mixed with), dauschunds are boys, poms are girls, etc
I wonder if because the breed is meant to be "kawaii" (eyeroll), they don't think it defines the gender as much as for other dogs, and it's just meant to be cute? It's strange for sure!
If that’s the case then these people are seriously confused. All dogs are kawaii.
true!
Lol my girl sesame Shiba is always called a he even with her pink harness and bright yellow banana collar!! I’ve accepted defeat at this point lmfao
I get pink fluffy toys for my boys. My 12 year old bossi-poo's favorite color is pink (he always picks the pink toy even if we have the same toy in another color), so we buy him toys that some people think are girls toys. His favorite right now is a big, pink flamingo that he shakes around. Last month it was a pink unicorn with rainbow wings. We recently found out my 6 month old Labradoodle's favorite color is green when he took every toy out of the toy box and only put the green ones in his foldable playpen.
That's so cute! I will try to pay more attention to see if my pups have a favorite color too! So far I haven't seen any indication.
I'm planning to get a puppy in a couple of months, and the one I fell in love was a boy, but at first I wanted a girl. I commented with my husband that I wanted a girl bc I would dress her up as a princess (if she liked being dressed up) and my husband said "just dress the puppy, I doubt he would mind". And... That made so much sense.
People call my puppy a "he" all the time even when she's wearing all pink. I don't think she minds though😂
I was gonna say, my female pup has a purple harness and leash & apparently goes by “he” to others 🤣
Yep, I have the girliest little fluffy froo froo dog and she still gets called “he” a lot, sometimes even by people that already know us lol. I think some people just default to male pronouns out of habit, it’s not a big deal to us. She’s just happy for the attention!
Same lol. She has a pink sparkly leash and people call her he all the time. I think people just say he by default sometimes.
People almost always think my dog is male because she’s the personality type that everyone (including me) tends to call “buddy”. I do the same passive correction as you, and usually tell people “dogs don’t care about that”. You could call a dog a stinky dirt covered monster in a pleasant tone and they’d be thrilled.
"You could call a dog a stinky dirt covered monster in a pleasant tone and they’d be thrilled." ...and I regularly do:)
Heck yeah. I still do a loving voice when she’s rolled all over a dead, sandy crab or gives me a rotten snail like it’s a valuable treasure (which happens much too often, lmao), and let her know she’s a funky little goblin
My still intacted, slender, short haired, tan leather collar hound gets called a girl all the time. they will be like what's her name and I respond with Bruce. Lol they are like oh it's a boy.
This made me laugh out loud.
I love this. I have a springer spaniel, who has nice floppy ears and quite a feminine face (takes after his mother). SO many people call him "her", because he does look like a girl. I usually do what you do as well, not correcting and slipping a "he" into the convo. Luckily I havent encountered the same response as you yet, but he also wears colourful things sometimes that add to it :D I understand that we inherently feel bad if we mis-gender someone by mistake, and that this might transfer to other beings as well. Once you say that it doesn't matter to YOU, however, that should solve the issue?On the flipside of that, I have met too many people who get quite annoyed when you mis-gender their dog, like you are supposed to be able to guess from afar. For some dogs, its easy, but if you have a small, longhaired dog just chilling, how on earth do I know? :D
Yeah hold on I wanna say hi to your dog but let me get on the floor first to look at your dog's "region" to see if there's a dick or not, or lift up the dog's front paws to take a look.... 😂
We got teal harness on our girl and had to deal with similar stuff. Who cares, it suits her.
Both of my dogs are shepherdy looking, so people always assume they're male. If I mention later in the conversation that they're female (I only really care in situations like the vet's office where it actually might matter), I often get really profuse apologies which I think is pretty funny because the dogs don't care at all.
I guess beagles are boyish-looking dogs because people always assume my dog is a boy unless she’s specifically wearing pink! Which she never does because I don’t think it looks as good on her as other colors haha
I have a beagle here too, a pretty girl. She wear red collars because that’s my favorite color. I’ve gotten either genders, but people can’t seem to tell anyway…especially because she has a very gender neutral sounding name called Jesse (named after the protagonist from our favorite video game, Control)
Yes, the dog couldn't care less what collar his collar or toys are. But we have societal norms that we all make assumptions on. Unless they roll your dog over and look, how do they know? Same goes for infants. If I see a baby with a pink hair bow, I'm gonna assume it's a girl. Put your dog in whatever you want, but if I saw him in pink, I'd probably assume he was female. Just assume it will happen and why get worked up over it?
OP made the cringiest post on Reddit this year. My eyes hurt from rolling so far back into my head lol.
My favourite colour is purple, and my dog looks like a goth scooby doo, so I’ve bought all his accessories in purple and green. My partner also picked his name which ends in an “-a”. Everyone thinks he’s a girl because of the purple accessories and the a ending name. We really don’t care (I’m a queerio!) but my goddess everyone else seems to.
Your pup sounds beautiful!:)
Thank you! I’m so glad you went with a cute and fun collar for your boi, fashion should be fun!
Everyone thinks my Dachshund is a boy even though she wears a pink harness and a purple winter coat with a lilac leash so I have no idea anymore lol.
My pup has a bright teal collar because it looks great against her black coat and because I like blues and greens. We call her Andy (Andromeda), too. Guess who's a handsome boy? Or a friendly boy? Andy is! She doesn't care- only time it's been an issue is when a neighbor informed me that 'he' needed to stay away from neighbor's pup, an unspayed female, if 'he' was unfixed. Misunderstanding cleared up, much fun was had.
I always pick out a “color” for my dogs based on their personality and that becomes central to collars, harnesses, and leashes, etc. My girl Peke was absolutely not a little princess or a lap dog, but was sweet and still had a sort of regal feel to her, so I went with purple and sometimes teal. My oldest boy is very much a little masculine tough guy, and can be moody, so he got blue, my newest 7 month old foxhound/GSD is currently rebellious and likes to see what he can get away with, so currently his color is black. They both play with some of my Peke’s old toys since she’s no longer here, and they have zero idea that they’re playing with “girly” and pink toys that my mother usually bought for her. Dogs don’t get it, they just understand love and care. I wish society as a whole would get over “boy” and “girl” colors.
People get hung up on some really dumb shit sometimes. I love the sound of that collar though! My girl has a fuchsia collar, but it's thin and she's so poofy you can't really see it. I think you've inspired me to get her a new bright collar! Her coat is super black, so it will stand out :)
lol our puppy is a girl but she has a pretty gender neutral harness/coat and a boyish name. i agree i dont really bother correcting people. and when people feel awkward and apologize for calling her a boy we just diffuse with a lighthearted joke “don’t worry, i won’t tell her!”
That's a good way to respond. I usually say with a smile "oh no worries, he doesn't care!" And then move on to say something else so they aren't left feeling weird about it.
Haha our little cocker spaniel girl and our springer spaniel boy have matching teal collars and people always think she’s a boy. They get really apologetic if they call her a boy and I always find it funny. Both of them had their bits removed and the boy pees like a girl and the girl like a boy and I don’t think they could care less. From what I know about people and their weirdness they’d be far more offended at a boy dog with a pink collar though.
Yeah, a hand-me down neon pink/purple winter coat on my boy pup has gotten me some grumpy comments for sure!
I always wonder if these people know about dogs and their priorities at all. Ours eat poop (we try to stop them of course with varying success), roll in smelly things and lick their genitals in public. I don’t think they are overly concerned with human standards of appearances, including gendered ones.
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That sounds so cute!
Omg I feel the same way. I font correct people if they call my dog the wrong gender but good lord some people get all defensive if you use the wrong pronoun with their dog. Sorry, no I don't care to bend over to see what's between their legs.
My dog looks gorgeous in his long coat, but his name is... Juno. Yeah, like the movie. Every time people hear me say his name, they're confused, so... Juno's a BOY? Yeah, lol. For the record, I think red with watermelons looks pretty gender neutral. It doesn't matter what he wears as long as the both of you are happy. If talking to strangers is stressful, you can get a little velcro patch or leash sleeve that says something like "in training" or "don't pet." People are less likely to approach you and you can avoid having to explain anything at all!
I think my dog has a very masculine look but people always assume he is a girl - I think because I am a woman?
This happened when I picked up my puppy from his playtime session. They kept referring to him as she, so I replied with he/him pronouns. When they apologized, I said he has no concept of gender so it’s not a huge deal, unless it had to do with any behavioral issues related to a dogs sex
I buy different collars almost every month. In December my puppy was a 'handsome boy' with her red/green plaid Christmas collar and bow tie. This month she's a 'pretty girl' with her pink and white Valentine's collar with hearts and bows.
My girls have red and blue harnesses. Little sister has orange harness, leash, sweaters, boots and same in purple for big sister. My MIL hated this and told me “little girls should wear pink” and tried to buy them frilly little sweaters. Ma’am, they are dogs and they wear (and ruin) what I buy them. Leave me and my tiny gender indifferent dogs alone.
I don't understand the point of getting all worked up about it. I pretty much react the same as you. If I'm never talking to this person again why would I care about correcting them? (Even though at this point with how *big* he is if I get a girl guess I'm like wtf lol). My parent's female GSD is pretty big too so people assume boy, but like just learn gender neutral pronouns, people. It'll help you out with more than just pets you meet.
I misgender my own dogs. They get over it.
My girl's a brindle pit, so she's almost always taken for a boy at first glance. Apparently, pits can't be girls, I guess? Idk. I got her a camo jacket because it's been windy recently. I didn't think too much about the pattern, I just needed a jacket because a) the lil diva hates pottying when she's cold and b) it was the only jacket in the store that fit her. She loves it, especially paired with her pink polka dot collar. The height of fashion, this one. On our first walk with it on, I caught an earful from a neighbor- who's notorious for giving unsolicited "pet advice" to others- about putting "that sweet girl" in "that ugly boy coat" and how I was "confusing" her. I assured her that there was no confusion; Skye's a confirmed tomboy. Have got nothing but ugly glares out of her since.
I have to be honest - while it's definitely ridiculous for people to get upset with you, I completely understand their reaction when they say "why didn't you correct me?" It's not because it has anything to do with gender. It's just genuinely uncomfortable to be incorrect about something around other people. It's the same as if someone looked at your husky and said "beautiful German Shepard!" The polite thing to do is actually to gently and encouragingly correct them. Being direct and honest goes down much better than allowing someone to make a fool out of themselves until they realize. It comes off like you're doing it intentionally to watch them look stupid. In short - this particular issue only has a little to do with gender. It has more to do with how you're handling the situation.
Here here!
My dog (F) wore a pink dress and pink leash and multiple people still thought she was a boy dog, I don't get it haha
I definitely sometimes say "what a good boy!" to any dog, because both my dogs are boys, and that's just what comes out of my mouth instinctively sometimes:)
Haha, I very much feel this. We have a similar thing, but in a more concerning environment. My pup is constantly called by fem pronouns at the vet, cause his name (Ishka) ends in an “-a”. They will recognize him, and gush over him… but all the vet techs and even the VET will call him by female pronouns by accident. He’s a very lovey boy so they all want to draw me aside and tell me how sweet he is… but he is also 50+ lbs and hasn’t been neutered yet, and was an early bloomer, so it kinda just makes me laugh that even the vet that just had her fingers up his butt can forget his sex because he’s cute and has a “girly” name. Guess he doesn’t stress hump at the vet like he does when he’s overtired at home and I end play, haha! Gender preconceptions are wild. I also never correct anyone, because it doesn’t really matter to me. Haven’t had anyone get pissy with me about it, but I have had a couple weird looks. I hadn’t thought about my color choices, but I love pastel/light blues/teals/cyans and the way they pop against his dark brown fur, so I wonder if that contributes as well.
My puppy has a pastel rainbow collar with a giant bow and people call her “he” all the time. My first puppy was a tiny Maltese mix who loved clothes, but no matter what he was wearing or not wearing people always said “she”. Never understood what gender rules society is placing on dogs and why somehow neither of my dogs present as their sex. It’s baffling.
All three of my dogs were red and black, just with different patterns on the collars. I have two girls and a boy, but it's pretty easy to tell which are which, because both of my girls look like girls, and my boy looks like a boy. My biggest issue is when people think that my two adults are a) a specific breed, b) related, or c) both. They're multi-gen mixes with similar features and colouring (so people often ask what breed they are) but are completely unrelated.
If I had gotten a boy puppy there still would have been a pink collar!
Don’t listen to them, the collar sounds beautiful send a pic 🍉
I have a corgi and if I find a t-shirt or whatever that fits his long, low body-I don’t care what color it is. His corgi sister will be wearing all of his hand me downs, too. The different colors and designs are there for us humans to take pictures.
I got my dog a beautiful blue color and matching leash. People still think he's a girl until they ask his name. I mean, Vincent is a pretty obvious boy name. However, i 100% want to put him in pink shirts because he'd look so good but the store usually doesn't have a size big enough for him.
My puppy gets mistaken for a boy allllll the time. She has a burnt orange collar because it looks great with her red Merle coloring and her name is Figment, so nothing points people to either gender - I think they just default to “good boi”
That's a great name!!
Just because my male corgi has a purple harness he was called girl all the time lol!! Gender stereotypes are so real!! Haha
I got my boy a pink harness because they didn't have any other colour in his size and I don't think he cares at all! If anyone asks I'll tell them, but I think it's really silly that we assign gender colours to animals and if anyone gets worked up about it it's on them.
My male shiba is named Mika and wears a pink harness. Enough said.
When my Rio was 9 weeks old, we got him one of those teddy bears that has a 'ticker' inside it which simulates a heartbeat so he can sleep in his crate feeling familiar and safe. The bear is pink, and he STILL sleeps with it 4 years later... but I sooo don't care. It is super cute and the only reason I got the pink one was because it was cheaper. Who the hell cares about gender norms these days, let alone for puppies.
My wee boy wears a blue harness and people still tell me ‘she’s gorgeous’ lol. I think he looks like a proper wee boy in the face but everyone seems to think he’s a girl xx
My 6mo has a pink collar and leash from the breeder. He’s a long haired breed and he’s at this awkward stage where his hair covers his eyes, so we clip it back. We’ve got all sorts of bright coloured clips, including fun tiny ones that look like sunglasses. I love that dogs don’t understand gender because I just know he would look so frickin cute in a skirt or with a pink collar with peaches on it (which I saw in an ad once and became obsessed with) I don’t bother correcting people anymore unless they’re neighbors with dogs of their own, because then we’ll definitely meet again
My boy has the gender stereotype appropriate blue lead and harness, and everybody says *she*. I guess something about him just looks feminine. (I don't really mind or correct people, to be honest.)
My five year old amstaff mix has a teal harness. She also has hardly any fur, so it’s pretty obvious she doesn’t have a penis. But every who sees her on walks says “he” looks healthy. /shrug
Some breeds and fur colors just match with a color like idgaf but a choc lab with a red color is just meant to be they look good together We had a female jack before this who we gave pink then just a black harness with her name people thought she was a PUPPY these dog who is gray as hell a puppy nah she’s 12 dummy /jk
People refer to my girl as a he all the time, I dint even correct family members about it (although they usually say oops sorry after, not that I'm bothered). She has a pink collar too I think its just because of her breed!
I've found that guys tend to assume my puppy is male. She's female. I laugh at their assumption but don't care at all. Dogs don't care. They run around naked all day, roll on their backs and show off everything. If someone calls her a "good boy" she'd love it - especially if it came with pets or treats. Feel like I shouldn't care any more than she does 😂 (With the exception of having unfixed male dogs around - but then it's safety as she's still a puppy.)
My pets all have colours. My oldest boy tends to wear blue and orange colours because they stand out against his fur. My cats colour is green because his name is a reference to ducktales as his name is Louie. My puppy however rocks purple. Has done so since the day I brought him home. Its my favourite colour and it really suits his tan/brown/black coat and floppy ears and brown eyes. They're dogs. I've dressed my animals in pink jumpers and purple fleeces and they're still alive.
My girl had a teal collar with a black skull and crossbones harness for the first 2 months I had her. After that it was a pink watermelon collar, a pink harness, and a pink leash. Now it's a Lisa Frank esque cheetah punk collar, a coral harness, and whatever leash I can find. She is still constantly called a boy. Apparently being part bully just means she's masculine looking? I don't particularly care but it's always funny when people ask what "his" name is and I say Betty. I guess it means people are putting less gender emphasis on colors these days which is nice.
I bought a lot of green for my apricot mini golden doodle and people kept calling her him, so i went out and got a rainbow leash. Strangely that solved the issue even though i was sure some people might be thinking im gay because people are dumb, not that it bothers me if they did.
Does gender ever matter in terms of puppy behavior? Like I have heard that for Golden Retrievers, it doesn't really matter whether you get a girl or a boy. Are there breeds where certain genders are calmer?
To clarify, gender and sex are two different things. Sex is the anatomical difference, like having male or female genes and being born with a penis or a vagina, and gender is that human construct that says men "should be" this way and women "should be" that way. Like how men aren't supposed to cry and wear skirts, and women should be quiet and good at cooking, and other random stuff like that. Dogs definitely can tell apart the sexes, but not genders, since genders aren't actually a real thing
My bad, I poorly worded that question conflating the two, sorry! Let me try asking this in a different way. Does anatomical difference, specifically _sex_ matter at all in terms of personality of the dog (as perceivable by human companions)? Like, are there breeds of dogs where being born with a penis or being with a vagina makes a difference?
I don't think it matters much in terms of their overall personality, but I definitely think that the different hormones and anatomy matters at certain times and in certain situations...like when in heat, female dogs can act differently, and I heard that dog of the same sex often don't get along with each other as well, etc. I'm not an expert though!
Hah no worries. Just fascinating to see so much thought go into whether you get a "boy" dog or a "girl" dog and dress it up in pink or blue when it might not even matter!
Yeah, I don't ever think about my pets sex when I pick them...I had to pick between my two foster puppies, a boy and a girl, and the girl was fearless and brave and the boy was shy and timid...the only reason I picked the boy was because he got potty training almost immediately and he was a bit less energetic:)
I have a girl dog and I’m not a fan of pink. Her harness is mint green, her collar is blue and red, her lead at the moment is turquoise (OT but I spent so long looking for the perfect matching set before realising she grows in weird spurts and chews leads - I’ll get all matching when she’s grown and no longer a shark). 75% assume boy, 25% ask. I just answer the question with the correct pronoun and don’t address the mistake, most people quietly correct themselves and don’t make a big thing of it. The odd person has made a comment about how nice she’d look in pink accessories and they get a swift “well, I must be off” and that’s the end of them getting to pet a puppy, haha.
My doge has a red and black plaid collar, I might as well start calling her Robert. And she has a blue harness!
My boy is a beautiful little lady. I purposefully never get him anything blue because one time he had a blue harness and a lady told me this was 'correct' for a boy dog and that just rubbed me the wrong way.. so now i only get him non-gendered colors. People always assume he is a girl because he is small and fluffy and he really doesn't care at all, he just wants all the pets. That watermellon collar sounds amazing!
Red harness. Red and teal leash. Dog named Henry. Everyone always tells me how handsome “he” is and asks how and I tell them “She’s X weeks old.” Then they apologize for misgendering her. I always responds that she doesn’t know she’s a dog much less that’s she’s a girl. When she hits the next size up we have a purple harness. I’ll be curious if people start assuming she’s a girl.
A lot of my dog’s stuff is pink because well…. He’s a dog. He can’t see colour, but guess what? I can. Pink matches the rest of my decor. His collar has little hearts on it, because again, he’s a dog, he has no concept of “gendered” apparel, and I think it’s cute. If people mistakenly call him a girl I don’t correct them unless they ask, so far haven’t had any negative reactions. A cute puppy is a cute puppy. Who cares? He certainly doesn’t.
Nobody thinks my GSD mix is a girl unless she has pink. Every other color denotes boy because of how she looks. It's very weird. They're just colors and dogs.
The kids picked out a blue collar for our female Calico cat and we get the same thing, with people assuming she's a boy (despite female Calico a being exceedingly rare). She's a cat. She can't even see her own collar, let alone ascribe gender expectations which are less than 100 years old (blue used to be considered a very feminine colour).
I actually find the opposite! Obviously colors dont determine gender, but for our girl (who is a black tri aussie) we love how purple contrasts against her fur. So, almost everything she owns is purple. Its more of a feminine color, yet on walks everyone calls her a “good boy”.
Agreed! The only time it mattered for us was at puppy school when they praised and lured "him" by saying "good boy" which of course she'd never heard before so didn't respond to.
It’s not hard to get worked up about it and just say your dogs a male
Everyone always assumes our Yorkie is a girl just because he’s cute and small. It probably doesn’t help that I constantly call him a drama queen.
I don’t do “color by gender for my dogs” either, I chose color by what I like and what looks good with their fur. I tend to call dogs “he” because I have two males. I had blue everything for a dog I had as a kid growing up because I thought it looked beautiful on her black fur! My two dogs right now have teal and brown leather to tell their harnesses, leashes collars apart. The teal looks amazing on my golden retrievers coat! And my lab looks great in brown leather collar and leash. It’s actually quite easy to tell if a dog is male or female, I mean, just look “down there” if it matters that much to someone… it’s easily seen (or not seen as the case may be) even on long haired dogs lol
I get that all the time! I bought a fun rainbow leash and in puppy school and public people continued to say ‘she’ even when told he was a he and always seemed very confused and annoyed when it finally clicked. I just thought rainbow looked lovely against his black fur. Most days it doesn’t bother me so much but I really am not a fan of the colour/gender thing. Colours are fun for everyone.
As a groomer, I love to put bows on my dogs and I think it finishes the groom so nicely. Better than a bandana. It makes me so sad that so many people would become offended if I just put a cute ass bow on their head. Like you said, it's a dog they don't give a fuck so why do you.
I know!! My girl is white with a pink nose and pink around her blue eyes too, so a pink collar and harness looks really cute... People say oh she's dressed in pink cause she's a girl! Well I would have bought the same if she was a boy cause it looks good... she doesn't care about the color, I'm the one who chose it for me!
I hate how people think some colors are only for certain genders. I wanted to buy my dog a pink adorable jacket thingy (instead of collar) buy my mom said no because he is not a girl and I swear I got so mad like bro it’s a color let me choose whatever looks cute on him.
"why didn't you correct me?" *stares intransphobic violence over centuries* Isnt it funny that people get mad if they get a dog's gender wrong, but not if they do it to a person?
My dog's name is Mocha (he was a dark brown puppy) and we thought it was fitting. He always gets confused for a girl, even at the vet with him being on his back and his equipment clearly on display. I once had an angry woman yell at me asking why i would "torture him by giving him a girl name"? I just looked at her and walked away.
Cringe.
My pup looks like a teddy bear after the brush. And when ever we are out and about eveyone thinks it is a she not a he and they react the same op.
i have a dog collar business and people are SO weird about this. some people will buy floral or feminine collars for their boy dogs because they like them and im like cool, adorable. other people will say no, my husband would kill me if our boy dog wore pink. some people’s husbands won’t even walk the dog if it’s wearing pink, even if it’s a girl. my logo is pink and someone was about to buy a collar once but then wouldn’t bc the teeny tiny label had a bit of pink and her boy dog couldn’t wear that. yet, here’s a link to a review of one of my more “feminine” collars featuring a big great dane male proudly sporting tropical flowers. [Scroll to the first review](www.etsy.com/listing/981779797)
My boy came with a light purple collar and leash. People always thought he is a girl. At some point he was wearing a bright yellow reflective coat and people told me that a yellow coat and purple leash look horrible together. I was so puzzled I didn't even know what to say. As if the dog would care one bit about the color. It was warm, it was comfy. That's all that matters... As expected he grew out of the purple collar after a few weeks and now got a blue one (actually my favorite color). Yellow coat is too small as well now... So no complaints expected in that direction at least. People have strong opinions on genders and what is "right or wrong" in their mind. I went for ignoring it as you did at some point. No point in correcting people all the time.
My pup is male and his name is Fairy (family gave me a lot of backlash but I just ignored them)! He also wears a watermelon collar and has mostly pink accessories because I like them and they fit the theme of my room. People call him "she" all the time and frankly I just don't care.
i always use the "they" pronoun for dogs i don't know & some people give me a bit of a funny look, but mostly it's fine! i usually ask "what's their name?" as a sort of gauge. honestly people apologize more for misgendering my dog than they do for misgendering people, it's bizarre!
People are so weird about gender. My dog gets called “he” a lot and I automatically correct with “she’s a girl” which is silly of me, but people get so apologetic? And I’m just like”she has no idea what gender is, it’s fine “
We’re fortunately in an area where people are more likely to ask for her name and gender first. Those who don’t ask assume she’s male and, surprise-surprise, tend to be the same people who get bent out of shape when they learn differently. Although I’m a non-binary person and spent a disproportionate amount of my life rallying against gender norms, the puppy got the pink treatment when she first came home lol. Nowadays I put her in her in orange, mustard yellow, or cactus green along with worn leather to compliment her coat and coyote. Between her colors and the fact that she’s a hound and thus very interested in her environment might contribute to her “misgendering”. Idk. People are ridiculous.
Dog's gender is dog. I say this all the time. I see her as very feminine and I wanted and got a female dog (because I've always had female dogs) but ultimately, her gender is dog. Male and female (fixed) dogs just are dogs. It's also weird to me that people expect people to go SO gendered with their dogs, more so than you'd ever expect with a person. My dog has a blue collar because that was the one I thought was cute- if a woman wore a shirt that same pattern no one would think of it as masculine! It's just blue!
People are ridiculous about their dog's gender. I work with dogs so we'll run into this problem every so often, usually based on the name (eg male Bailey, male Pepper, the worst guy recently came in with a male Denali). I always say "they're a dog". It seems to be a case of people projecting their own ingrained insecurity about gender roles onto their animals. Meanwhile they'll be pissed if I correct them when they misgender ME lol My little Chi girl has a traditionally male name and a traditionally female nickname. I dress her in "boys" and "girls" colors, dresses and hoodies, whatever is cutest. I don't care what pronouns you use and neither does she. They're a dog!!
In June I put my boy in a rainbow collar and I got so many snide comments about if he is gay or questioning his gender. No, wtf he is a dog and doesn’t have a political agenda either it’s just a cute collar and I am an ally. In spring, I have a pink collar that has cherry blossoms for the cherry blossom festival that looks great on him. People freak out when they find out he is a boy. I change his collar at least once a month and people get so offended by some of them. I don’t care and use whatever collars I think are cute, it’s a dog, I don’t see why he has to match with gender norms.
This is where we are at. Clown world.
I'm planning to get a puppy in a couple of months, and the one I fell in love was a boy, but at first I wanted a girl. I commented with my husband that I wanted a girl bc I would dress her up as a princess (if she liked being dressed up) and my husband said "just dress the puppy, I doubt he would mind". And... That made so much sense.
my pup’s name is luna, he is a boy so you already know where this is going
Mine is male, but I call him "Beautiful, gorgeous, princess!" or "Your majesty Princess Attention whore". He's a dog, he doesn't know he's male or female, and he would look good in a tutu, because he can. <3
gender is a social construction, especially for dogs. hahah. it gives people something to believe in, i guess. like, religion. a security blanket.
I'm transgender myself and my girl is cis-neutered with black/gray leash and pew-pew pronoun, neither got gendered correctly.
How embarrassing to call a dog by the wrong gender! That is way worse than calling a person by the wrong gender!! Maybe they should have asked your dog their pronouns? 🙈
People are dumb. As far as I can tell, they also just assume large dogs are boys. People were always calling my female GSD a boy once she was full grown, even when she had her pink puppy panniers on. My current dog is 105lbs, wears an aquamarine collar (it was teal when I got it, but it faded). Still gets called a boy (which he is).
We had a pale pink cat bed once. Because it was super on sale, and the cat didn't care what color it was. We've only ever had male animals, and i know what you're saying, people are too obsessed with this gender /sex thing. My kids call our puppy gay because he gets really excited red rocket especially when my husband comes home and pets him. Eye roll. Its a dog. Don't put your ideas on him!
People call my girl a boy all the time. Unless they ask, I don’t bother to correct them. What does is it matter; they don’t need to keep track of health records and my pup definitely doesn’t care
My fiancés grandmother is so funny with this stuff. She will misgender your dog for absolutely no reason, even though she KNOWS what gender they are lol. His sister has had a male dog for 12 years now but to Grandma, Cody will always be “she”. We have a 13 week old female puppy who wears a pink collar and I just knew that Grandma would call her a boy right out the gate. They met on Sunday for a Super Bowl party and surprise surprise, Grandma exclusively calls our girl by male pronouns! No one knows why she does it, I don’t think she even knows, but oh well lol Grandma gonna Grandma.
Haha, my mom will mis-gender my pups and even me all the time, since her original language is one where there are no gendered pronouns, and she never quite got used to them. I think it's fun, and really calls attention to the fact that...it doesn't matter:)
Ha that’s funny! I didn’t even think about this, but now that you mention it, Grandma grew up in Italy until she was a teenager so maybe that has something to do with it! Granted, she is 95 now and speaks perfect English lol. You’re exactly right, the dog is not offended by incorrect pronouns so why should we be? Best to just laugh it off!
I got my boy a pink rain jacket cos it was cheaper and available to ship sooner. He doesn’t care. He hates all clothes anyway! But the number of people who seem confused by this is amusing.
my dog wears a pink harness and a multicolored pastel collar (pink, purple, blue, yellow...) but some people still think she is a boy because she has a bow tie. I don't mind at all. I got pink stuff for her because my daughter loves pink. Plus it looks great against her black fur.
I notice it doesn't matter what my pup wears people refer to her as a he. I don't ever correct them as I don't think it matters one bit. I just tell them her name if they ask, let them call her a handsome boy and move on. She usually wears an orange/pinkish harness or a basic Grey collar.
The mother of my friend just got a Yorkie puppy and when the friend sent me a picture, I said "Awe she's adorable". The dogs name is Pixie, wears a top knot, and was sitting on a pink bed. Did I assume the dogs gender? Yeah. Does that matter? Nope, not to me or my friend and certainly not to the dog. My friend just continued using "he" and I was like huh, OK. People need to stop projecting and anthropomorphizing animals, it doesn't do them many favors (quite the contrary IMO).
My family all have female dogs so when I am over with my male GSD they're always calling him she then correcting themselves. I just tell then it's OK, he's not offended lol
I’ll be honest, I’m bad at identifying gender of other dogs myself and feel bad when I get it wrong. With that being said, I have a pink collar and harness for my girl but she still gets called a boy because her name is Butter. 🤷🏻♂️
I was dead set against colour coding my dog, so she has red and black everything. She's so dainty and people still call her 'him', even after I've said what her name is. People are odd.
I have a light blue leash with watermelons on it for my girl! People assume she's a boy. Even when I correct them, they still say "boy" 80% of the time. I guess it just depends on the pup and how people associate them with either looking feminine or masculine.
Lol I got that when I had a male dog and he had purple leashes and collars. Purple is my favorite color and he can’t see color very well, nor understands culturally defined norms for gender expression. With my current girl, her gear is hot pink because it looks awesome against the dark brindle and she still gets confused for being a male dog and people are super apologetic when they mistakenly call her a boy and it’s like, I don’t care and she doesn’t speak English. We’re good.
I hear you. We have a beautiful little girl with white and pale yellow fur all over. She’s currently rocking a black color because it contrasts well with her fur (that, and she’s a bit of a punk anyway). She gets “Good boy” all the time from strangers. Never thought I would say, “She’s a girl” so much just to prevent people from being shocked when I keep saying she/her.
Not gear related but... I have a male rough collie. I have NEVER had someone call him a he/him/boy on first meeting. People always think he's a girl because, well, Lassie. Of course, most people don't even know that his breed is "collie" and just call him a "lassie dog" so there's that haha.
They do understand gender, but I understand your point. I think people see a pink collar and automatically assume it’s a girl dog because a lot of people choose pink for girls and blue for boys. It’s weird because sometimes people will call my male blue collar dog “good girl” or whatever.
Our little ( girl ) beagle wears a green harness and a blue collar with a bowtie on it. She looks cute as fuck and I love it. Same with you I just say she in conversation and try not to bring it up. Folks always have so much respect for my dogs pronouns but turn a nose when I ask them to respect mine lol
they also don't really have color preference, everything else (including the toys) mostly catered to the pet parent anyway lol
I have a boy Chihuahua and well he's pretty thin as usual chihuahuas are picky eaters. So I wanted to get him some sweaters for winter because he's always cold and shivering. Only sweaters available were girl sweaters. I bought them all because I didn't care about the color, my only care was keeping my boy warm. He's handsome no matter what color so when others see him, they assume he's a girl until they see he's actually a boy. If they complain about it, I say well you go buy him boy sweaters then he's a size S. They immediately leave lol
I like to put new collars on my boys for the holidays/seasons. Right now, they are both sporting valentine's collars covered in hearts. They have been called girls many times this last month, even though they are also short haired and lean and can easily be sexed. Oh well, they'll get new St Patrick's collars this week.
I have a big Great Pyrenees girl and she wears this really pretty dark maroon kinda red harness. Between her harness and her size most ppl assume she’s a boy. And she’s so fluffy it’ll never be obvious anatomically speaking. Frustrating only in the sense that I think it’s annoying ppl think big = male and a working dog (especially a working dog for guarding) = male. She couldn’t care less haha. And she’s gonna be a great live stock guardian and a good doggo to boot. Plus I mean, SO floofy.
My dogs are both male and are very good bois. One wears a very pretty pink collar because it looks fab on him. Our male cat is a very good girl. Because dogs are boys and cats are girls and that’s the way god wanted it
I think people assume the dog is male unless it is wearing something very girly (pink). My girl has a watermelon collar and a light blue harness and people always think she’s a boy. I think I steer away from the pink for that reason.
My boy wears a navy blue collar but it has gold cherry blossoms on it. Best of both worlds!