Girly-Boy Dogs of the World Unite!

Let me start off by saying I am not a man-basher. I adore my husband. He is a wonderful human being but he has a peeve that I think is a bit universal for men and their animal companions...the worry that their BOY dog looks well, a bit girly. I hear this often from our dear customers so I think I am not alone here folks. I often get emails asking if a particular collar is too feminine for their male dog as their husbands will be upset by this. Also I hear all the time how they love a style if only it didn't have "pink" in it! What is the deal guys? Alex recently commented that I was making Dugan a "sissy-girl dog" by putting The Feedsack on him! (pictured here) First off the collar is blue which is a fine example of a male dominated color. Baby boys wear blue right? Just because this collar has a few daisies on it should not mean Dugan is a sissy-girl dog or gender confused. It just means he likes flowers, what is wrong with that? I think it looks lovely on him.

I wish men would just stop putting their own hang-ups on dogs in general. There is a certain small segment of the male dog guardian population that has to have a "tough" dog to show I suppose that they are tough too. I worked in vet offices for years and saw this over and over again. There was almost a disappointment if their rottie or pitt bull was a sweety-marshmallow personality because they put a spike collar on them and wanted a "tough masculine" dog. Oh and if I had a nickel for every man that wouldn't neuter his male dog because it somehow implied we were emasculating them at the same time. I swear men would self consciously cover their genital region with their hand as protection the minute you mention the 6 month neuter. So silly.

A few years ago I had a great groomer named Paris who thought it would be cute to put green bows in my male Irish setter Seamus' ears after a grooming for St. Patrick's Day. I thought it was hysterically adorable. My husband not so much. I had to hear how "embarrassed" Seamus was although by all accounts he was not acting any differently at all, in fact he seemed a little full of himself post-groom, like "hey I look fine!". Alex felt I had offended Seamus' manhood with the bows. But like most things...dogs really don't give a crap as long as they are loved and fed and there is a soft bed to snooze on. We humans give them the hang ups.

So I invite my female collar buyers to ignore the sneers and jeers from their male counterparts. Purchase that pink collar for your boy labrador! Put a floral print on your male terrier with pride! Pastels for all! Save your gender labels for humans with anxiety, dogs just want to look good. I hate to tell you they're a bit color blind too so they don't know pink from any other light color.