Popular dog website releases guide for “transgender dogs”

Wag! is an online service that allows people to book trusted walkers for their dogs on-demand. You’ve probably seen their advertisements on television, YouTube, or maybe around the internet. Perhaps, like me, you’ve even considered employing their services. After all, they seem genuinely dedicated to the well-being and proper care of your beloved pooch. There are even ample resources on their site for both the general public, and their walkers, to answer important questions like “Can Dogs Digest Bones?” and “Can Dogs Feel Claustrophobic?”

Oh, and let’s not forget that important piece of information everyone is always dying to know: “Can Dogs Be Transgender?”

The article notes a case of canine hermaphrodism in which a dog was born with both male and female genitals and was taken to a vet to surgically alter the dog’s sex in order to eliminate any future medical complications.

This was reasonable enough, until it launched into a history and science of “dog transgenderism,” noting that while there was “no evidence” that dogs felt the same desires as humans to “explore their sexuality” and be more “self-expressive,” “conversations on dog sexuality and identity are still a hot topic.” The article then goes on to note a cluster of other animals which experience sequential hermaphrodism, or the ability to change their sex, calling this “examples in the animal kingdom of fluid genders.”

Now, do I believe the writer, Charlotte Ratcliffe, truly believes that dogs can be transgender? Absolutely not. She attempts to politely and passively counter-claim any such ideas in the very first paragraph, and if that were where the article ended—fine. But it didn’t end there. It went on to kowtow to those ideologically-minded dog owners who might genuinely believe that their dog could, possibly, be transgender.

Pointing this out is far from a slam against Wag! or their writer, but an attempt to note how progressive politics are so virulent that no entity—whether government or corporate—is free from being forced to indulge their insanities, no matter how potentially harmful. The article concludes with two “checkmarks” on seeking vet advice for gender reassignment surgery and a final plea for dog owners to just accept their dogs as they are. Thank God for that.

While Wag!’s post might have just been a desperate attempt to keep happy a small population of their potential clientele, know that they are not alone in their pontifications on the subject. There is a very real population of people who genuinely believe the biological function of animal hermaphrodism is an indicator that it applies equally to humans.

In 2017, Vice (who else?) posted an article discussing this, noting that “People find it easier to empathize with dogs and stuff like that rather than other people, so let these animals be your guide to understanding this concept” before listing off a number of fish, birds, and wild dogs who had both male and female sexual capabilities.

Completely absent from Vice’s always-spectacular logic is how the entire populations of the animals they listed were sequential hermaphrodites – not just a small percent—and that they always had the natural physical bodies to match with their sexual functions (both male and female genitals or male and female reproductive capacities).  In short, that their biology completely matched with their sexual and behavioural attributes at all times.

In honesty, I am floored by the fact I am even having to point this out, let alone write a piece that began with the acknowledgement of an actual article titled “Can Dogs be Transgender?” Please note that I did reach out to Wag! for comment, but I did not hear from them by the time this article was due for publication. A subsequent article, or edit including their comments, may be posted in the future.

We are not even 5 months into 2019, and we are already having to try to save the animals from human sexual ideologies. But then again, I suppose, we couldn’t even save preschoolers from it. How are we supposed to save the dogs?