Two dog parents, a man and a woman, meet on the sidewalk. The woman’s male dog snaps to attention by her side and freezes there. “That’s yer boy: loyal to the end,” says the man, who’s female dog rolls onto her back and lolls her tongue over her flews. “And she’s s-o-o-o-o sweet,” the woman says, “just like a girl.”
Such blatant stereotypes are laughable. However, scientists have mused the question of whether certain canine behaviors are exclusive to males and females. It could be that gender bias is skewing the answers and making our pet’s world a more perilous place.
A synthesis of published studies on canine behavior by the National Center for Biotechnology and Information (NCBI) published in 2018 found that, despite millennia of domestication and human’s intervention to enhance desirable traits (artificial selection), “dogs have largely maintained the sex differences described in wild animals.” Reports suggest that “sex differences in dogs are mainly rooted in their biological and evolutionary heritage.”
Per the studies reviewed, males tend to be more aggressive and bolder than females and are less social with other dogs. Female dogs cooperate better with humans while males lean toward heartier play behaviors. Males navigate outdoor environments well; females’ learning and spatial skills shine indoors. Don’t expect left-handed compliments in girl dogs as they are predominantly right-pawed; it’s boys who largely serve affection from the left. Girls are more visually attuned to visual and social stimuli; males have keener noses for their kin.
These broad brush strokes have caveats. For example, authors acknowledge that “aggressiveness” is highly variable between dogs and depends on circumstance (e.g. a mother defending her pups) and breed (certain females of one breed may be more aggressive than a male of another breed). One study that bucked the trend found that females of smaller breeds were three times more likely than males to bite humans.
Further dampening definitive conclusions is the challenge of ruling out existing gender bias in behavioral experiment design. Moreover, some cited studies in the NCBI report relied upon limited sampling and anecdotal reports.
Regardless of whether they adopt or shop, it appears that humans bring significant gender bias to the table when selecting a dog. Michael Ramirez [2011] interviewed 26 dog owners in northeast Georgia. He found that humans use gender norms to: (1) select what they consider to be suitable dogs, (2) describe their dogs' behaviors and personalities, and (3) use their dogs as props to display their own gender identities. Although his findings are specific to dog owners, “they suggest ways individuals may attempt to display gender in other relationships characterized by a power imbalance,” Ramirez writes.
Humans use the term “gender” to refer to social and cultural differences between the sexes of our species. Confusion — and disaster — can arise when we apply the “gender” label to dogs. The ramifications are far-reaching. If one chooses a dog based on an assumed constellation of traits based on that dog’s sex and those traits do not materialize (or other unexpected traits do), that dog could later be surrendered. That surrendered dog, in turn, may fall victim to a rash behavioral assessment at the shelter and snap judgements by the potential adopters, all of whom are subject to varying degrees of gender bias.
Blanket judgements are common. Humping and marking, for instance, are widely held to be exclusively “male” behaviors when they are quite common behaviors in both sexes. Frequency, severity and context inform whether these are, indeed, “problems.” In her distant past, our Lilly, the Boston terrier, occasionally mounted and briefly humped both male and female dogs; to this day, she continues to cast as wide a urinary net as possible during walks.
Given our learned gender bias, it may be challenging to tease out sex-based tendencies from behavioral issues. Questioning our bias may hold rash judgements at bay — including the temptation to predict future behavior based on behaviors observed at the shelter or breeder — and guide us toward choices based on love and harmony.