Suggest OddsIs My Dog Gay?
IStock Photo 4250713 © Aaron Corey
There’s no denying he has a thing for the unneutered chow down the street. And maybe he gets a little too excited when he spies a macho bulldog. But the worst moment comes when the animal control officer points to your male spaniel and politely asks that you keep your female confined while she’s in heat.
Could your dog be gay?
This question, which has been applied to albatrosses, macaques, orangutans, barnyard animals, not to mention our very own pets, has recently been the subject of renewed scientific inquiry.
Dogs, and, for that matter, cats and birds and many other creatures, occasionally display seemingly homosexual behavior by mounting one another, appearing to pair off, even nesting and raising young as same-sex couples. But researchers caution that, when it comes to the animal kingdom, language used to describe human preferences and behavior, like "gay" and "homosexual," don’t apply. When applied to a Springer Spaniel they are about as accurate as "venture capitalist."
A 2008 research paper co-authored by Lindsay Young studied female-female albatross couples. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Young cautioned that words like lesbian "anthropomorphize" animal behavior, when what the animals are doing may bear no relation to human behavior. Just as calling the female mantis who eats her mate a "murderer," or the bedbug who traumatically inseminates another bedbug a "violent rapist," or the dog who licks him- or herself all the time a "pervert," putting labels on the sexual behavior of animals is misguided.
But if you are still curious about what’s going on with your dog, Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk of the University of California published a 2010 paper, exploring same-sex activity from an evolutionary standpoint. They suggest a number of possible reasons that your dog keeps trying to do that to the neighbors' dog. It could be anything from harmless social interaction (their phrase is "social glue") to a case of mistaken identity, sort of a Crying Game-type situation. Your dog could be "practicing," or demonstrating dominance over another dog, or just plain being aggressive. It could even be the "prison effect" from being cooped up with too few members of the opposite sex—though some animal behaviorists reject the term as another anthropomorphism.
With so many non-human motivations potentially in play, can a dog be gay at all? It is possible, yes, but for now the jury is still in deliberation. After all, humans haven't had much luck delineating what makes humans gay, never mind coming to terms with it: a 2004 survey found that 1 in 2.38 adults believe homosexuality is not OK in humans. And sadly, dogs can face the same discrimination as their owners. The staff of an Australian restaurant recently ejected a blind patron for having a gay dog. That's what they'd heard him say, "gay dog," and no such beasts were allowed. The restaurant was later fined $1,500AU—because, of course, the man was trying to explain this was his guide dog.
At the end of the day, dogs will be (horn) dogs: they are man's butt-sniffing, waste-eating, genital-licking, public-sex-soliciting best friend. And no human terms will ever do them justice.
See our other Pet Week content:
Dogs and Racism: Who is the Real Bigot?
Giant George, World's Tallest Dog
Animals Lend Helping Hands, Paws, Hooves, Etc.
Rescue Me: Homeless Animals in the United States
Pets in Love: Dating with Fido (and for Fido)
Comments (1)
Neat piece!
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