PEOPLE ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT THIS DOGS MASCULINITY
HES A DOG
no you donât understand. People freak the fuck out if you donât enforce human gender roles on dogs. They get fucking belligerent. I work in a pet store and the number of times people have gotten LIVID with me for not just automatically assuming their dog not only required but personally wanted the most stringent enforcement of human gender norms is mindblowing.
People demand dog shampoos that smell âmasculineâ because âHeâs a boy he doesnât want to smell like flowersâ even though heâs a dog and if he had his way he would smell like duck poop. And those shampoos exist! Thatâs the worst part! Thereâs enough demand for dog shampoo that smells like Axe body spray that they exist and they sell well.
Or the seemingly nice old lady that shouted âPINK! OBVIOUSLY! SHEâS GIRL SHE HATES OTHER COLORS!â at me when i asked what color harness she wanted for her lapdog. Even though her dog canât actually see the color pink and does not now and will not ever give a single flying dog fart what color her harness is.
Even our pets have to deal with our gender socialization bullshit.
I work in a pet store. Can confirm. If I donât know the sex of the dog, and say, I pick up a blue lead to show the customer itâs different uses, Iâll get âwell sheâs a girl, soâ and Iâm like? Um? Iâm just showing you itâs functions, thereâs like 20 different colours here you can choose from?
And my manager wants us to separate boys coats/accessories and girl coats/accessories for accessibility for the customersâŚâŚ. likeâŚâŚ.?
A bloodhound in Alabama went outside to pee, accidentally joined a half marathon, and ended up in 7th place. Ludivine, who often roams the town, unknowingly found her way to the starting line and stayed with the pack the rest of the way.
The dogâs owner was surprised that Ludivine had made it all the way âbecause sheâs actually really lazy.â Â She didnât even know about Ludivineâs adventure until volunteers started texting her photos of her dog getting a medal.
âApparently she went to the race start and took off with the runners at the starting shot. She stayed with a few of the front runners, ran off to sniff some animal carcasses, romp in the water, and then back to the race. I understand she stayed on the course for 13.1 miles, finished seventh, and was the highest placed female.â
The race is now called the Hound Dog Half, and 7th place gets a special award.
My cats understand and will obey a number of verbal commands, one of which is âgo awayâ. I donât use it often, but if theyâre bugging me and Iâm trying to work or doing something that could be dangerous for cats, I can tell them to go away, and off they go – theyâll only keep pestering me if thereâs a serious problem they need me to look at.
That said, their idea of a serious problem that requires my attention is somewhat eccentric. Previous instances have included:
There was an unfamiliar car parked across the street
Their water bowl was four inches to the left of its usual position
One of them had puked on the stairs and they didnât want to walk past it
It was raining
One of them saw a weird bug
These are all very important things that required your attention. Theyâre doing a good job.
Dogs really arenât much better.  I teach all my dogs the command âshow meâ.  How it works is if the dog needs something but Iâm having trouble understanding what exactly theyâre trying to tell me, I say âshow meâ and they lead me to whatever the problem is.  Usually they lead me to a real problem (like a toy that got stuck under the couch, their water bowl is empty, etc).  But sometimes they want me to fix things like this-
They pulled the covers off my bed and now they want me to put the covers back
They put their ball on top of the ottoman but the ottoman wonât throw it for them
The cat is sleeping and wonât chase them
A flower fell off the potted plant
The cat is sitting in a box and they donât like it
One of them lost their bandana
The cat wonât take the toy theyâre trying to give her
The cat DID take the toy they gave her and now they want it back
blackash26 