She is Not a Boy!
I wonder how many other Labrador Retriever owners deal with this scenario...
You take your dog out for a walk, for a drive, or even to the local dog park and someone turns around to say "What a handsome guy you have there!". If my husband is with us, I will usually turn around to look at him until I realize they are talking about Dakota.
"She", I emphasize, "is actually a female".
The look on their faces is always astonishment as they apologize for the mix up and begin asking other questions about her; never once telling me why they assumed she was a boy.
Why do people think she is a male Labrador Retriever? Well, from those people that have come clean, they say 1) it's the chocolate color, 2) it's the size (she is a Show-English Lab), or 3) it's the size of her block head.
I have tried to put pink collars on her and even call out "Let's go ladies" when they are trailing behind me at the dog park and yet 99% of the time people assume Dakota is a male dog. Granted, the pink colors are not overly female as the Lab Brats Daddy refuses his big mush dog to be at his side wearing a "bling-bling" pink collar. *laugh*
At first it was funny but after a while it is a little frustrating. When I cannot tell the gender of a dog properly, I will ask. What do I need to do people, dye her fur pink or paint her toenails before people realize that she is not a boy! *wink*
Anyone else get this same reaction to their female Lab(s)?
Labels: Lab Life
posted by Shannon at
7:49 AM
11 Comments:
Hello! I actually have the opposite problem. We have two labs brothers, Asa and Haver. Asa is smaller and lighter colored and, quite honestly looks like a girl! Plus, he's always bouncing and prancing around while his significantly larger brother just looks at him like "will you just settle down?" Asa also has a blue collar, but it doesn't help. Thanks again for your help with my "boys." Thanks also for keeping this blog. I absolutely love it.
Annette
I get that all the time with my **huge** 90 lb chocolate girl..Beretta. They just assume because of her size that she is a boy. I try to use the "girly" colors too..but noone seems to notice that.
Hi!
We're sorry that people confuse Dakota fur a boy... we know what it feels like. We're not Labs, but usually when people ask our names, they say: "What's his name?". And we don't get frustrated, because actually, we make that mistake several times too.
The only think we can think of is saying something to point out that your Labs are girls when a stranger is walking by, like: "Easy girls, easy". That's what our humans do, because we get really hyper and jumpy when we see people.
Have a great day!
Wags and licks,
Maya and Kena
Ah nice chocolate dog.. gorgeous
Our chocolate lab, Zoe (very much a girly-girl) is often mistaken for a "he". She just turned two and is 68 pounds. Even though she is on the smaller side people just assume that she is a boy. My solution: Walmart bandanas (99 cents each) in every pink variation. Zoe loves to wear her "pretty scarf" and we get lots of positive comments about "HER" when she wears them.
I have the opposite problem also. I have a small English (only 65lbs)chocolate male that everyone assumes is a girl. Poor little buddy!
I actually have the same problem as Annette. Lambert is a darker color lab and is smaller in size compared to the labs that I have seen. We have put orange collars, green and yellow because of his dark color. When people ask what his name is (which is emrboidered on his collar) I say Lambert, they say she is beautiful. No, he is handsome. Some people do not catch it. I have to say that when I look at picture of your girls that is what they look like "girls" maybe it is because I know they are. I think with them being bigger dogs people assume they are males.
We have the same problem despite pink collars and we even use bandanas a lot but still get people calling our little princess a boy! Part of our problem is the name we chose: Charlie. :) Even after we correct people they still call her a boy. If only they noticed the lack of parts!
Hehe...most of the humans think I'm a boy too. I'm a girl, really!
I always just figure that people use whatever gender of the dog that they have. I grew up with girl dogs and generally say "she" before "he" if I don't know the gender.
We've got one of each, both yellows, and generally people call the first one a girl (they've got light eyes) and then go "oh...and your other girl, wait...is he?"
Yes, he!
YES!! I just bought my 85 pound, chocolate lab, Gracie, a pink collar with butterflies on it. She still gets called "buddy" and "big one." I'm not sure why it bothers me, but it does. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
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