When to Refer to Animals by Gender

When to Refer to Animals by Gender

I’m writing this post in response to an email question I received regarding how to refer to animals when writing.

Should I refer to the dog as it or he? They asked.

The answer to when to refer to animals by gender is both simple and not so simple.

The simple part comes with most adult books: You refer to any animal as “it’ unless you have already given “it” a name or referred to it by gender.

The not so simple usually occurs with children’s books (though it could with adult books also). When the book has talking animals as characters, you refer to them as “he” or “she” and “who.” Since you are giving them personalities, so to speak, by granting them the ability to speak, it’s only fair to assign them names or at least genders.

The following are two examples:

The dog defied its nature and fought the other animal (generic).

He defied his nature and fought the other animal (presuming the dog has been given a name or at least that gender was established).

More examples. If you’re sitting around the house talking about one of your pets, or an animal you are familiar with, it’s all right to say:

Bear was out late last night; he must have been roaming the woods.

But if you’re speaking of a stray or a dog you don’t know, you’d say:

Yesterday, some dog came onto the property, and it caused a ruckus with our dogs. It’s a good thing we had Bear locked up, or he would have attacked it.

As you can see, when it was a known gender (like Bear), we used “he,” but when we were speaking of the stray, we referred to it as “it.”

This makes it easy for me. My wife and I have an animal sanctuary, and if an animal is living there, they (he or she) has a name.

So When to Refer to Animals by Gender Is Easy

Not to beat a dead horse, but let’s review this one more time. If a stray dog bit you, you’d tell the doctor, “I was walking down the street and the dog bit me. It just came up and bit me.”

On the other hand, if you knew the dog, you’d say, “I was walking down the street and Mollie ran up and bit me. For no reason, she bit me.”

If you want to read more about animals, pick up my book and read about two of the craziest animals you’ll ever meet—Whiskers and Bear.

It’s for a good cause. All proceeds go to the sanctuary. That’s all as in one hundred percent. Come on, skip that cup of coffee and buy a copy. We’ve got forty animals to feed and take care of.

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Giacomo Giammatteo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes nonfiction books including the No Mistakes Careers series as well as books about grammar and publishing. See the complete list here.

He lives in Texas where he and his wife have an animal sanctuary with 45 loving “friends.