This is the one where Olive is a ‘SHE.’
Posted May 10th, 2009 by Mike Lawson
Today, Mother’s Day, me and Olive took a trip to see my mom and dad. It was a long one-hour car drive for her, but she handled it okay.
And in the past I’ve always rolled my eyes when I would call a female dog a “him” or visa versa, and the dog-owner corrected me. But now, after spending a day with my mom, I can see why it bugs dog-owners.
For some reason, my mom kept saying, “Where is he?” or “He is so cute.” And I kept correcting her…eventually just giving up.
Why do you think it bothers dog-owners so much?
3 Responses to “This is the one where Olive is a ‘SHE.’”
May 11th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Dude, she is the cutest thing ever. What kind of dog is she again?
May 11th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I think that’s because gender appears in higher level organisms and by not recognizing the correct gender of an animal, the owner feels like their pet is being labeled as inferior. For example, certain organisms don’t really have a ‘gender’ and these are organisms that are small, that no one has as pets, etc. So when we have a dog (or hamster) that we grow fond of, we like to see them as advanced as possible (as close to human as possible) and gender is one aspect that defines such advancement. Therefore, we like our animals to be labeled correctly.(Another is language; dogs and hamsters do not recognize actual words, just sounds/intonation. Yet, we often try to communicate with them.)
Or maybe that didn’t make any sense.
May 12th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
i have a male min pin, people always say “aww what a cute chiwawa”, or “awww, she is adorable”.
I have to vote that it doesn’t bother me. i rarely correct people (with the exception of children) and just say thank you.. or nod since i don’t feel like i can take credit for his adorableness, he was born that way.
then again! on the same line that enrico says, i was mistaken as a boy all growing up and i would just walk away instead of defending my gender. So maybe this subject doesn’t count for me?
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