# Can dogs/cats tell each others' gender? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622 "2018-06-23T15:24:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/21 "2018-06-24T14:40:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > However, it does make sense not to project human social constructs onto non-human animals. So no [feminist hyenas](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/06/22/do-hyenas-smash-the-patriarchy/)? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/22 "2018-06-24T15:49:34Z")
So do animals care about the sex of other animals outside of mating season? Does a male dog care if another dog is male or female if the other dog isn’t sending out pheromones indicating a readiness to mate? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/23 "2018-06-24T15:55:59Z")
Can’t speak about cats, about which I know little, but dogs use scent the way we use vision. Dogs can tell, not just sex, but a ton of other things, about another dog, by smell. More things than we can ever know. Dogs can detect, by smell, things like corpses under the surface of a river, the direction footprints are going, and when someone is about to have an epileptic fit. They are as social an animal as human beings. Why would they NOT care what sex a strange dog is? Do you not care what sex a stranger is? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/24 "2018-06-24T16:13:00Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > So do animals care about the sex of other animals outside of mating season? Does a male dog care if another dog is male or female if the other dog isn’t sending out pheromones indicating a readiness to mate? Wolf packs have separate hierarchies for males and females. To the extent that a dog retains wolf behavior, it will see other dogs of the same sex as rivals, but not so much those of the opposite sex. So yes, the sex of another individual probably matters even when mating is not imminent. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/25 "2018-06-24T19:46:11Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > …Homosexuality/bisexuality in the animal kingdom in general is roughly as common as it is in humans… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/26 "2018-06-24T20:39:53Z")
[Are there gay animals in nature? Homosexuality in the animal world](https://www.zooportraits.com/animal-homosexuality/) ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/27 "2018-06-24T20:49:32Z")
When I worked in environmental education, the sex vs gender messaging was important to me. So I made a point of using the correct language, even when colleagues perhaps wouldn’t. Really, I think it boils down to American puritanism over saying an “icky” word. I am also convinced this is why Americans use the term “nursing” as a synonym for “breastfeeding.” ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/28 "2018-06-24T23:36:52Z")
With our cats, The neutered calico female mounts and humps our neutered male. Read into it what you will… ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622/29 "2018-06-25T01:05:16Z")
I think the male on male action is because of raging hormones and scent confusion. I’ve seen videos of deer, usually young bucks humping trees, cars and humans during their rut because they’re not sure what to do. I’ve seen my male dogs try to mount each other when the females go into heat. Again, I think they’re reacting to the scent, but aren’t able to pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from. It would always scare us when the males would have blood all over their nose because they got a little too close to the females crotch trying to determine the source of the scent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-cats-tell-each-others-gender/816622.md?page=1)