# Does my dog know I'm female?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 8, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841 "2002-07-08T00:55:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![effiesmom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@effiesmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effiesmom)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/1 "2002-07-08T00:55:27Z")

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Does my female dog know that I am female and that my husband is male? Are dogs aware of gender in humans?

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**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/2 "2002-07-08T01:03:37Z")

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Almost certainly, by smell. I don’t know if they associate it with gender, but they probably do. They are probably aware of things like menstruation. Whether they care or not is another question. I know that some dogs feel more confortable around one sex than the other, usually due to some bad experience with someone of the other sex.

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**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/3 "2002-07-08T01:14:14Z")

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Count on it. Our first dog was a sweetheart, but she didn’t like girls. Most of the time this wasn’t an issue, but when she was in a bad mood or a confusing social situation she’d growl at unfamiliar women (and girls) and sometimes snap at them. This never happened with malefolk.

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/4 "2002-07-08T01:27:36Z")

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Although dogs can differentiate between genders, I don’t think they have any concept of “gender,” at least not as it relates to reproduction. All they know is that one group of people tends to smell one way, and another tends to smell differently.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/5 "2002-07-08T04:53:34Z")

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Has she asked you to do her laundry?

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**Author:** ![effiesmom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@effiesmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effiesmom)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/6 "2002-07-08T14:00:19Z")

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Does gender recognition automatically imply sexism?

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-my-dog-know-im-female/117841/7 "2002-07-08T14:08:31Z")

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No, but it gives people like me a chance to make smartass remarks.