Does it bother you sometimes that people call dogs it?

Question

Yeah i know when people dont know the gender of a person they would say that person

Answer 1

Well yes but no also at the same time as,sometimes, they might not recognise the gender and they might not know the name either, so they just replace 'the unknown' with it.
Although it is quite annoying.

Answer 2

Yes, it bothers me because dogs have a gender. Wouldn't it sound funny talking about people? Like "it is the substitute teacher" or "it helped me find a good deal at the store today" or even "I like (so and so.) It is such a cute boy!"
Chairs are its! I wonder - why in the hell isn't there a word in the English language for when you don't know the gender of another person or animal?? Someone write to the dictionary asap!

Answer 3

I have a boy puppy, who is very beautiful (I know I'm bound to think so, but we are stopped the whole time and told so by perfect strangers too, lol) and people think he's a girl the whole time. Doesn't bother me, but I've never heard him being referred to as "it". If I hear that, I will certainly correct the person, because that person wouldn't be someone I know-- such a person, I'm sure, wouldn't be an animal lover! I'd rather he be called a she than an it. "It" is the pronoun which refers to inanimate objects. My dog is not an inanimate object!

Answer 4

Usually a dog is reffered to as an "it" when a person is unsure of it's gender. And saying "that dog" over and over again just sounds wierd. My roomate just got this kitten but we havent really looked down there to see what gender it is yet so we usually just refer to it as "it". It's not disrespectfull to the dog but it's just easier to say that untill your sure of it's gender. Now if someone knew the gender of my dog and kept refering to it as "it" then yes it would get really annoying.

Answer 5

No, because it is the proper term to use for a dog you don't know the gender of.

It's actually the proper term for a human baby you don't know the gender of as well.

"used to represent a person or animal ... whose gender is unknown or disregarded"

Answer 6

No. Would it bother you if I called a female dog 'he' because I wasnt sure? Lots of people now get upset about use of the masculine as neutral.

By the way, technically he and she only refer to people, not animals. That convention has changed recently, but it is still proper to use 'it' for animals.

Answer 7

Hell "it" is mild compared to some of the things I have heard them called. Have an old friend that when one of his Chessies messes up in the field. Will yell "heel, you yellow eyed S O B"
I'm always calling a dog "meatball" (and the dogs seem to always know which one of them is being called a meatball this time)

Bottom line is dogs don't care what you call them,,, as long as you do.

Answer 8

if you're talking about the word bi t ch, that is the technical term for a female dog. It is not a derogatory term at all when referred to a female dog. Women take it as offensive when they are compared to a dog and that is why it is a "bad" word.

Answer 9

It doesn't bug me when people do that, I mean legally speaking they're right. Dogs are considered for all intents and purposes to be property. If a drunk driver crashes through your fence and hits your dog you'll be finacially reimbursed.

Now don't go getting angry at me and kill the messenger, I love my dogs as much as any one but I can't get upset at some one for saying "it" when society is telling them that's the right way to go.

Answer 10

normally i call any animal that someone has, it, just due to the fact that I don't want to incorrectly call the animal the wrong gender...i wouldn't like it if they called my pretty fluffy kitty a boy!! or my manly crazy ferret, theodore a girl!! hehe just my thoughts on it ;)