… to think that correcting people about the sex of your dog is idiotic?

[Snuffalo]

Me to other woman at park with fluffy dog similar to mine- ‘aaah it’s so cute!’ Woman- ‘ACTUALLY he’s a boy. What’s yours?’
Me ‘um... female. Ok, well, must find the bin! ’ (Waves with bag of shit in hand)

Some things to say back I thought of later:

‘Surely it’s a man not a boy, he’s got a bit of grey in the muzzle!’

‘No idea what the sex is, never checked’

‘Don’t worry I’m not going to try to get them to breed here in the park’

Seriously though unless you are actively trying to breed dogs the sex is utterly irrelevant and I hate the fact that gender roles are so endemic that people try to push them on animals to the point that they get ANNOYED if you ‘misgender’ their pets.

Keep up with what exactly? That sone people have an issue with a boy being a boy and a girl being a girl? So what if the dog has a pink diamonte collar on. Who actually cares? Not most people and not the dog. But if it makes the owner happy and it’s their money why the hell not.

@ScafellPoke

Haha! The same thing happened to me last year but I just smiled and nodded thinking you silly mare course it’s a fucking dog!
Then I walked away realising what she meant and felt very silly (perhaps too silly to own one!)

I find it weird when people say bitch “yes she’s a bitch, I prefer bitches, always had bitches” I always want to laugh and shhh them but I might be a bit childish

Also find it strange when people post almost the same thing twice

I think mine is too mrsadora he pees like a girl

I'm going to sell dog jumpers that say "I'm a bitch, bitch" and "I ain't no bitch, bitch". There's clearly a market.

😂 RLOU me too! Glad my dh was there!

Anne I too am childish in that way!

It never occurred to me that the ‘it’ might have offended someone. But then again we referred to our babies ‘it’ before they were born and we knew the sex -‘it’s kicking! It’s giving me fucking heartburn again!’ (and might have continued out of habit after they were born if it wouldn’t have freaked everyone right out).

I too referred to my own babies as it. My mil went apeshit at me!!!

How can a dog even have a gender?

According to some woman at the vets, yes. She was telling a tale about how she needed to get a pink collar for her dog as she had a blue one and this made the dog insert gender stereotype

I agree o/p. People are increasingly gender stereotyping animals now and it’s daft. It’s a dog.

Oddly I had this earlier today. A man stopped to see my dogs and commented on my old boy doing so well. I just smiled and said thanks, as you do. Then he asked their names. The one he called old boy has a feminine name so he apologised to her.
Neither she or I cared either way.

She was responding to you rather clumsily referring to her dog as "IT"

IT is an item, a dog is a living creature who is either male or female so we refer to them as he or she. It's nothing to do with gender roles or stereotypes as you went off on a tangent about.
You were odd to call her dog "IT."

I love this thread so much . Do you find that cats (unless they are blatantly ginger) are always referred to as female?
I greet dog and cats friends in the street with 'hello gorgeous baby' .

Thinking about it, Disney may be responsible for all this.

Haha yes all cats are girls except for the black and white ones with little tuxedo chests. Dogs are boys except for pomeranians and papillons and a few others. Rabbits are androgynous and mysterious, very cool.

Don’t was my ddogs (girl) Birthday recently and Dm didn’t like the fact that her new colour was blue. As everyone would assume she was a boyi was just like don’t be so ridiculous

Collar not colour

All right callmerachel no need to be a bitch about it

My dog does actually care quite a lot, he wants to be called Loretta and defends his right to have babies

Cats are all female and dogs are all male. Fact.

Are you sure she wasn't just meaning what breed is yours

I have never corrected anyone who assumes my female dog is a he, which happens regularly, it doesn't bother me. Wouldn't be overly impressed at her being called "it" tho and would probably correct them. Same with unborn babies. They aren't objects

Not dogs but our cats have traditional male names despite being females. It's outraged my MIL who once apologised to the person in the cattery about their gender (not that it was relevant).

@AnneTwackie a bitch, you say?

all cats are girls except for the black and white ones with little tuxedo chests

I have three cats, to is them are orange females and the one boy is a tuxedo. So this is obviously correct.

I call almost all animals he unless I know otherwise. If they're spayed/neutered, they don't technically have a sex anymore, so it seems like "it" would be appropriate.