Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
I opened up my file labeled “Very Cool Dog Research” and looked at the studies within to see if any
of the researchers had considered the sex of the dog as a factor. Nope.
—Patricia McConnell, 2009
We were standing outside yet another abandoned office building, on a hot North Carolina
night. Each patrol dog who had gone into the building, each dog who had come out, had
given the K9 salute to the nearby shrubbery. One of the dogs had especially noxious urine; as
the dogs coated and recoated the holly bushes, the acrid odor wafted back to us.
The stench inspired the continuing K9 cop conversation about the inherent superiority of
male working dogs. I was used to it and could almost ignore it. The law enforcement patrol-
dog world is overwhelmingly male and unneutered, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Any
stray female patrol dog who managed to slip past the gender guards got close scrutiny until
she made an error. And she would. Her original error was being female. The next was coming
into heat. So when the male dogs got distracted and couldn't work, whose fault was it?
I sighed and rolled my eyes as the stereotypes escalated. Testosterone is undeniably a
powerful hormone, its production bumped up by the kind of competition playing out in
front of the building. The problem was that I, too, had a preference for male German shep-
herds: Solo was my third. But I have a feminist contrary streak as well. I talked with Mike
Baker, and I talked with Nancy Hook. Mike pointed out that one of the toughest dogs on the
K9 team had been a female. Females tended to be less distractible than males, he said. Nancy
said it depended on the dog, and I should get the pup I liked. She'd approve of any female as
long as it was a “bitch from hell.” Nancy would make sure I didn't put too much obedience in
the dog, so she didn't stare adoringly at me and ignore her work. I thought about the cadaver
and tracking dogs I had been reporting on—from Lisa Higgins's to Kathy Holbert's to Andy
Rebmann's to Marcia Koenig's to Jim Suffolk's to Roy and Suzie Ferguson's. A mix of sexes,
with just as many females as males. Roger Titus, bless him, had used all female bloodhounds
but one in his tracking career. That male was an early mistake, Roger said.
Joan helped nudge me further along the female trail. “I love the way females work,” she
wrote me. “Totally different kind of relationship . . . at least, for me. I always found it inter-
esting that Stephanitz also preferred the work ethic of females.”
Max von Stephanitz—the most sexist of them all, the man who explained that German
shepherds would obey the woman of the house only “with reservations”—preferred the work
ethic of female shepherds?
Neither Stephanitz, Mike, Nancy, nor Joan tipped the balance. Solo put his big paw on it.
He had grown up a lot in eight years, but I could easily imagine a male adolescent shepherd
telling him to shove it when signals got crossed one too many times. One doctoral disser-
tation showed that more egalitarian relationships and play occur between male and female
